NESCAC

[camosfan]

Bowdoin looks very good, but we have entered the knockout stage, and anything can happen.

[PaulNewman]

For those of us who may not recall...who were the "original four horsemen"?

I think some dudes from Notre Dame...in like the 1930s or 40s...Knute Rockne, maybe, lol.

And if you meant NESCAC....Conn, Amherst, Tufts, Midd.

[northman]

By the way, one of my friends grew up in Auburn, MA and played football for the local high school.  I remember him telling me that their coach was one of the four horsemen...not Rockne, obviously...but still kinda cool.

[Mr.Right]

Conn v Wesleyan is a big game for both teams .

Conn's 2022 season may be coming down to the wire here.  Down 2-1 with about 15 minutes to go.

Incidentally, anyone know why Wesleyan's normal keeper Liam Devanney did not start this game?  Maybe it was mentioned in the broadcast, but I missed most of the game.  His backup, Mathis Blanc, is a good GK from a Northern California MLS next club, but he's a freshman who has played 34 minutes all season.  Pretty big game to get your first start of your college career.

I think he got sacked after the Bowdoin Game. He is a Captain and a Senior. You are exactly correct about the Frosh #1 Mathis Blanc. 1st Half I think he was a little nervous (all Frosh are somewhat nervvy in 1st Games, just shows more in Goal being on an island of sorts) and did not particularly impress me but DAMN 2nd Half this kid looked like a top of the league GK with composure and confidence. Making veteran decisions and some fine saves.

Thanks Mr. Right.  I didn't see the Bowdoin game.  Kind of harsh to be benched for a 2-1 loss as a senior captain.  Still, there's also a danger of not playing your backup almost at all and then going into the next season with the kid wondering all year what it would be like to play meaningful minutes in a regular season college game.  Nerves are a big issue at GK, obviously, and they typically affect decision-making, which is where most goals are scored, so regardless of why Blanc played, this will likely give him confidence going forward.

I doubt it was just 1 Game as these things tend to build over a couple games. Still a tough decision for any HC in any Sport when you are dealing with a Captain. In the end you have to do what you think is best for your team.

[PaulNewman]

On the playing all conference games at the same time theme, kinda sucks not being able to stagger the games as a viewer, which appears to be the case for the quarterfinals.

[hiyasoccer]

PN you're giving a lot of weight on how good Conn is to them being champs last year... I'm not sure I agree. College soccer is a high turnover sport and teams can change quickly. They're probably better than your average 8th place NESCAC team by a good degree, but they're still a team that's lost half its conference games. Maybe they've been unlucky and underperformed and we should expect better results going forward but I think that still benchmarks them as a 4-6 team. Tufts I think is a bit different, they've only lost twice but haven't been able to get W's. I think NESCAC quarters will be more open this year than normal, but Bowdoin I think has clearly earned the #1 spot and favorite, below that's I think it's pretty mish moshy from Williams to Tufts, but I personally am almost worried about the polar bears against the next three teams, who I think deserve their spots there. Williams and Amherst and coming into form at the best possible time, and Midd is just good and has been for most of the season.

[PaulNewman]

PN you're giving a lot of weight on how good Conn is to them being champs last year... I'm not sure I agree. College soccer is a high turnover sport and teams can change quickly. They're probably better than your average 8th place NESCAC team by a good degree, but they're still a team that's lost half its conference games. Maybe they've been unlucky and underperformed and we should expect better results going forward but I think that still benchmarks them as a 4-6 team. Tufts I think is a bit different, they've only lost twice but haven't been able to get W's. I think NESCAC quarters will be more open this year than normal, but Bowdoin I think has clearly earned the #1 spot and favorite, below that's I think it's pretty mish moshy from Williams to Tufts, but I personally am almost worried about the polar bears against the next three teams, who I think deserve their spots there. Williams and Amherst and coming into form at the best possible time, and Midd is just good and has been for most of the season.

Yeah, not sure what you're disagreeing about.  Bowdoin has totally earned the #1 seed and has been the best team.  I'm pulling for them actually.  They have their NCAA spot wrapped so they don't have to win this game.

As for Conn, obviously they have not been the same team, even though they returned nearly everyone.  Jaran is a wild card.  But beyond that Conn hasn't lost a game by more than a goal.  They beat Williams and Babson.  They drew with Tufts and Amherst.  And the Camels imo must win this game or their season is over.  They are not short on talent. I don't see Djerdjai and Yeonas going out without a max effort.  Also think they will play well on Bowdoin's nice field.

[hiyasoccer]

Ah I interpreted you saying you'd be "mildly surprised if the four horsemen of the NESCAC aren't the semifinalists" (paraphrasing) as you thinking Conn is likely to beat Bowdoin.

Yeah it's clearly a must win game for Conn, and Bowdoin I expect to show up as well - I'd be shocked if they were looking ahead to NCAA's rather than focusing on winning NESCACs. Not how they operate.

Conn certainly has some solid results and talent, but the talent has been inconsistent and they have as many or more bad results than good. If it was that easy to just show up, put it all together, and put in the effort, Conn would have already done it. Not that easy.

[PaulNewman]

That's fair. I am picking Conn to prevail. When you say bad results, not sure which ones you mean. Draw with Wheaton? Loss to Colby? They in general were playing pretty good teams.

It's actually  interesting to look back at Bowdoin's win earlier in New London.  I watched most of that game and that was Bowdoin's coming out party before any of us had any idea about the season they were gonna have.  Iirc, Bowdoin scored pretty late in that game a little bit against run of play which I know doesn't mean much given Bowdoin's style.

Anyway,  I guess this is what I think...very tight game again that Conn advances out of IF Jaran available.  Otherwise,  I'll go with Bowdoin.

[PaulNewman]

Here's an interesting question....all 4 games at the same time...which one will folks watch or at least have as his/her feature screen with others on additional devices...or will most flip back and forth?

Conn-Bowdoin is the most compelling to me while saying the other three are definitely compelling and I won't be really surprised by any of the outcome scenarios.

[nescac1]

Williams has been playing well despite some pretty severe injury issues of its own.  It sounded like Felitto's injury early in the season was season-ending, just from how it was described, which if true is a shame because he was really playing at a very high level and was a huge loss for the Ephs.  Another important starter, Felipe Gutierrez, has missed the last two games, Daniel Zhang also seems to be injured, and Jamie Holland, who had not seen the pitch for a few weeks, saw just a few minutes of action vs. Middlebury.  Perhaps the Ephs get 1-2 guys back for the post-season?  Brady Foehl missed a big chunk of the season as well, but obviously came up big vs. Middlebury.  Unsurprisingly, Siebert has relied on his own first group of recruits quite heavily in the vets' absence, as two first years started and three more saw action (two of them significant action) off the bench in the Midd game. 

[TrueGrit]

Williams with solid D and  Boardman having another  great season  Unfortunately with the injuries they've had and him back on D they are very weak in the midfield. Freshman are freshmen. They play the perimeter, a lot of long balls, have no real play making in the middle of the field and have scored very few goals as of late.  Word is they have some playmakers on the reserve team including a Sullivan recruit from England but have not heard much more.  And 8 ties? Boring.   D3 needs to go back to OT.

[camosfan]

Williams with solid D and  Boardman having another  great season  Unfortunately with the injuries they've had and him back on D they are very weak in the midfield. Freshman are freshmen. They play the perimeter, a lot of long balls, have no real play making in the middle of the field and have scored very few goals as of late.  Word is they have some playmakers on the reserve team including a Sullivan recruit from England but have not heard much more.  And 8 ties? Boring.   D3 needs to go back to OT.

I think these games will have OT and PK shootout.

[northman]

I believe that's correct.  I just checked the online tournament manual.  Here are the instructions to announcers:

Please read the statement below if game is tied at the end of regulation (before the start of overtime):

Fans, this season the NCAA adopted a new overtime format for postseason contests. Overtime will consist of two 10-minute overtime periods, which will be played to completion, regardless of the score.

[Flying Weasel]

Yes, overtime is used for all conference and NCAA tournament games that are tied at the end of regulation.  The full 20 minutes (two 10 minute periods) will be played in all cases regardless of goals scored (i.e., no "golden goal" or "sudden death/victory").