NESCAC

[Gray Fox]

One poster elsewhere pointed out that an Amherst senior, an Oxy senior and an Oxy sophomore all played on the same high school team.
It rained for two days straight in San Antonio last week.  So a wet grass field will not be a shock to the tigers.

[camosfan]

It is supposed to rain on Saturday!

[coach analytics]

Big time Players

Big time players step it up in big time games.  The NESCAC is blessed with a lot of big time players.  I have looked at how the front four/top four scorers for each of the remaining teams have stepped up and produced in big time games.  I looked at the number of goals (not including the 12 yard charity stripe) and assists each player has produced in the big moments of the season - conference games, conference playoffs and NCAA games.

Middlebury has shown the most production, not surprising since they have set a program record for goals (maybe that was the motivation behind the early season blowouts where starters racked up big numbers).  My analysis also highlights that Conn has struggled a bit to produce against big time competition, although in fairness they had the toughest first weekend of NCAA games.

Here is the data (the first number is conference regular season, second number is conference and NCAA playoff production)

Middlebury
JSL 4 plus 4 = 8
Payne 4 plus 2 = 6
Randolph 6 plus 2  = 8
Nillson 6 plus 2 = 8

Tufts
Traynor- 5 plus 2 = 7
Feigin - 5 plus 1 = 6
Brady - 6 plus 1 = 7
Yanez - 2 plus 3 = 5

Amherst
Nuhu 4 plus 3 = 7
Ada 4 plus 0 = 4
Cubbedu 6 plus 0(hurt) = 6
Sung 5 plus 2 = 7

Conn
Creus 6 plus 1 =7
Scaffone 4 plus 0= 4
Spatz  3 plus 0 = 3
Pilson  3 plus 0 = 3

[SKUD]

Interesting stat. Not sure it says anything about a clutch gene unless you take out Trinity, Colby and Bates.

Other than a Scaffone assist the bottom 3 teams listed-players did nothing vs their non conference common opponent.

[coach analytics]

Big Time Players - Part 2

The NESCAC is blessed with many big time players.  By virtue of an 8 team conference tournament which provides up to 3 games per year as well as long runs in the NCAA tournament, NESCAC players get ample opportunity to produce on the big stage.

I would like to highlight four players, who may be playing in their last year, who have unmatched playoff experience and have stepped up and produced in big moments.

Ada Okoroheye - Amherst
Ada, 2023 NESCAC player of the year, has had a remarkable career.  He has 2 NESCAC championships and has competed in a remarkable 27 playoff games where he has produced 4 goals and 4 assists.  His production probably understates his importance to the Mammoths where his break down ability on the outside creates the long throws, corners, and set piece opportunities where Amherst thrives.  His highlights are many but the late game assist last season where he beat 2 players and served up one to Aidan Curtis to force OT against a Mary Washington team in the 2022 NCAA sweet 16 round was a big time play.

Jordan St Louis - Middlebury
JSL has also been a high producers for 3 years, especially when hitting the NCAA tournament.  His 5 goals and 7 assists, (although heavily skewed toward the opening round) over 13 playoff performances is remarkable production.  As pointed out before, he also converts PKs at a high rate. His highlight passing was best seen in the 2021 first round match up where he found Shane Farrell in the box for the game winner late in the game just seconds after his GK Grady made a finger tip save to keep them alive.  This goal showed off his dribbling, composure and vision.

Jake Creus - Conn College
Creus, an All NESCAC performer and National Champion, has participated in a remarkable 16 playoff games and produced 3 goals and 3 assists despite mostly coming off the bench.  He notched the regulation goal this past weekend by taking advantage of a rebound to help his squad get to PKs and then sealed the 7th round PK.  He has probably the single greatest NESCAC individual performance.   In the 2021 NCAA quarterfinals, in just a 20 minutes span, Creus had a goal and 3 assists, including a one time banger into the upper 90 to open the second half.  This performance changed the dialogue in D3 soccer by keeping Tufts from a likely 3 peat.

Sean Traynor - Tufts
If you are counting trophies, Traynor has the title with 2 NESCAC championships and a ring for a National Championship.  He has played in a remarkable 3 NESCAC finals and a total of 19 playoff games, putting up 4 goals and 3 assists, including 2 game winners.  In addition to his game winner this weekend over Rochester, his top highlight was the game winner in the 2021 NESCAC finals where he picked the defenders pocket and went 50 yards to beat the goalie.

[SKUD]

Hahahaha!

[nescac1]

Amherst with its third title game loss in the last four tourneys, which has gotta burn.  Still, everyone else who didn't win a title would much rather go out in the title game, than to do so far earlier.  There are endless pages of conversation about the Amherst program's culture on the 2023 NCAA Tournament thread -- a lot of folks were rooting for Amherst to lose in the final four, fairly or unfairly.  Amherst suffers some big losses to graduation in particular Ada Okorogheye, but with Nuhu around for another three years and loads of returning talent overall they will surely continue to be in the mix.  As will whichever teams finish in the top 4-5 in NESCAC ...

Disappointing year for Williams soccer which started off badly with lots of defections from the program and bad juju reported here.  The good news is that the future COULD be very bright if that problem has resolved itself, as Williams played competitively with an incredibly young roster this year, and one of the only two seniors to play, star GK Ben Diffley, is coming back for his COVID year.  14 of Williams' 19 goals came from underclassmen (only one from a senior), as did 14 of 17 assists (again, only one from a senior).  About half of the total production was from the talented first year class.  Hopefully taking some lumps with an incredibly young squad will pay dividends next season.  The Ephs tended to beat the lesser teams on the schedule but struggled against the top four teams in the conference, and if at least a few of the young guys make a big jump they should be able to close that gap considerably ...

[College Soccer Observer]

Cross posting from NCAA Tournament thread
Combining the reply to this question with several others about willingness of referees to give cards.  This is a complicated issue.
I have compiled data for the last four complete seasons https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oVIm2Bv1lgbTZqF0aZdec-2YzZJvBGK-bhBkbZr0fBU/edit?usp=sharing  This is data for all 40 of the conferences that have an automatic qualifier in division 3 men's soccer.  I have highlighted conferences based in New England in yellow (you will see why if you bear with me).  A summary of the findings:  There are seven conferences that are primarily in New England:  Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), Little East Conference (LEC), Massachusetts State Athletic Conference (MASCAC), New England Women and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC), New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and North Atlantic Conference (NEC).

National Ranking in yellow cards per team for 2023
MASCAC 12th
LEC 15th
NESCAC 27th (and it was much lower before the NCAA tournament)
NEWMAC 33rd
NAC 38th
CCC 39th
GNAC 40th

2022 Rankings
MASCAC 33rd
NEWMAC 34th
NAC 35th
NESCAC 36th
GNAC 37th
LEC 38th
CCC 39th

2021 Rankings
LEC 23rd
NESCAC 24th
NEWMAC 29th
GNAC 31st
NAC 36th
MASCAC 38th
CCC 40th

2019 Rankings
LEC 13th
MASCAC 19th
CCC 30th
NAC 32nd
NESCAC 34th
NEWMAC 36th
GNAC 39th

The LEC and the MASCAC are the only New England Conferences to finish in the top half of the yellows per team ranking, and each did so twice.

[College Soccer Observer]

Refs and Cards Part 2

As you can see by my prior post, New England referees in general are very slow to give cards compare to the rest of the country. So why is this the case?  First, several of these conferences are assigned by the same individual (NESCAC and GNAC).  With respect to the NESCAC, the coaches get what they want.  They do not want players suspended for card accumulation, and they do not want referees who give out a lot of cards on their matches.  The coaches are very influential in picking the assignor.  NESCAC games in particular are perceived to be among the best college games in the country, and referees want to be chosen to do those games, so they adjust their behavior accordingly.  A second complicating factor is that within New England, states such as Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine do not have a broad base of highly competitive youth and amateur leagues that are crucial to referee development.  Massachusetts and Connecticut do have this, but these referees are incentivized by #1 above.  Third, while the NCAA can and does issue points of emphasis and provide referee education, the bottom line is that referees are more concerned about pleasing their regular season assignor than an organization that only assigns post-season games.

[soccerpapa]

Coach appropriately, have a good team culture and you do not need to worry about yellow card accumulation.....

[College Soccer Observer]

No disagreement with you there.  I am describing the way things are and trying to offer explanations.  It is definitely not my preferred state of affairs. 

[camosfan]

Thanks for the insight, even a casual observation seems to point out your finding.

[JimmyPP]

Justin Serpone....the Marv Levy of NCAA D3 Soccer! (if you're young and you don't know Coach Levy.....look it up!)

What a clown. With Amherst's talent over the years, any decent coach would have won 5 titles. Big time poser.

He's a much better waterboy than coach....he should go back to Duke or Northwestern. They could use a hype-man like him on the sidelines, especially for halftime entertainment.

[FanofNescac]

You really have to question Serpone's tactics now losing in 3 national finals.

2019 they got outplayed but we can let that go because that Tufts team was legit.

2021&2023 were similar themes: Amherst was exhausted. If you go back to both finals, Amherst has players who cannot walk because they have pulled muscles etc. This is directly correlated to tactics. Amherst comes out flying and tries to win the game in the first half. As seen with Conn and St. Olaf, both teams had the better of the play in the second half once Amherst got tired. 2023 W&L in the semis dominated the game in the last 20min + OT.

Also, in 2021, Wu (centerback) had to be taken off the field in OT because he pulled his hamstring, but then somehow is allowed to take the first penalty kick? That makes no sense. In fact, Amherst let 3 defenders take the first 3 pks in 2021 and lost. That's the players fault or coach? You would think Giammattei, Ada, Cubeddu would have taken a kick but no.


Impressive to win the nescac and to constantly compete for a title, but you would think there would be some better decision making in the last two finals.

[Newenglander]

You really have to question Serpone's tactics now losing in 3 national finals.

2019 they got outplayed but we can let that go because that Tufts team was legit.

2021&2023 were similar themes: Amherst was exhausted. If you go back to both finals, Amherst has players who cannot walk because they have pulled muscles etc. This is directly correlated to tactics. Amherst comes out flying and tries to win the game in the first half. As seen with Conn and St. Olaf, both teams had the better of the play in the second half once Amherst got tired. 2023 W&L in the semis dominated the game in the last 20min + OT.

Also, in 2021, Wu (centerback) had to be taken off the field in OT because he pulled his hamstring, but then somehow is allowed to take the first penalty kick? That makes no sense. In fact, Amherst let 3 defenders take the first 3 pks in 2021 and lost. That's the players fault or coach? You would think Giammattei, Ada, Cubeddu would have taken a kick but no.


Impressive to win the nescac and to constantly compete for a title, but you would think there would be some better decision making in the last two finals.

Ada missed his PK this year vs W&L so it may not always be clear cut....