NESCAC 2014

[Ocean 1]

Game of the week looks to be Bowdoin v Conn. Massey is projecting a tie.  Any thoughts or predictions?

Having seen them both play v. Williams, suggest that Bowdoin, the tougher opponent, will prevail 1-0. It is a home contest for the Polar Bears with a 50% chance of rain that makes all things possible.

[Ocean 1]

D3 Soccer site has an in-depth description of the NCAA regional ranking process leading-up to The Big Dance. The link can be found at:

http://www.d3soccer.com/columns/christan-shirk/2014/ncaa-regional-rankings-coming-next-week

[All NESCAC]

Game of the week looks to be Bowdoin v Conn. Massey is projecting a tie.  Any thoughts or predictions?

Having seen them both play v. Williams, suggest that Bowdoin, the tougher opponent, will prevail 1-0. It is a home contest for the Polar Bears with a 50% chance of rain that makes all things possible.

Have to turn the table on you Ocean 1--Lady Camels should get a result....they are very deep and their depth will carry them in the 2nd half....a young team who has gained confidence as the season has progressed.

[Ocean 1]

Game of the week looks to be Bowdoin v Conn. Massey is projecting a tie.  Any thoughts or predictions?

Having seen them both play v. Williams, suggest that Bowdoin, the tougher opponent, will prevail 1-0. It is a home contest for the Polar Bears with a 50% chance of rain that makes all things possible.

Have to turn the table on you Ocean 1--Lady Camels should get a result....they are very deep and their depth will carry them in the 2nd half....a young team who has gained confidence as the season has progressed.

Let the best team prevail!

[jumpshot]

Williams women take down an obviously frustrated Middlebury team this afternoon 1-0 ---in the face of the Panthers extraordinary physical play, including throwing Williams players to the ground, tackles from behind, tripping, lots of whining from the sideline, and other marginal tactics such as constantly being told by the referee to move back on throw-ins, corner kicks, etc.

In a game in which the referee"let them play", the Williams women kept their poise, whereas Middlebury was more focused on roughness instead of the crisp playing they displayed in the first half. Williams completely controlled the last 15 minutes of the game, including constantly keeping the ball in the corner.

[GUBFL]

Saw Bowdoin/Conn game over the weekend.  Good game. Conn has a much higher skill level this year than I have seen in the past and came out of the gates very fast, but Bowdoin, thanks to a couple of good saves held them at bay.  Bowdoin slowly took over the game about the middle of the first half and while they did not have many scoring chances, made the most of them. I didn't think that Conn got as good goalie play as Bowdoin did.  Bowdoin has been playing without its top offensive player that last few games, but the other girls seem to be stepping things up.  Very entertaining game between two of the stronger teams in the NESCAC.

[jc2]

Can someone detail the playoff race? Has any team been mathematically eliminated? Which teams have clinched a playoff spot?

[Becks]

Can someone detail the playoff race? Has any team been mathematically eliminated? Which teams have clinched a playoff spot?

I don't think any team has been eliminated yet. Last place Wesleyan has 3 games left and could, in theory, finish 3-6-1, which could get them in. If they lose to Trinity on Wednesday, they will be mathematically eliminated. Amherst, Williams and Bowdoin are locked in, but everyone else still has work to do.

1 - Amherst 7-1-0, 21pts (GTP: Conn, Trinity), max pts 27
1 - Williams 7-1-0, 21pts (GPT: Bates, Hamilton), max pts 27
3 - Bowdoin 6-2-0, 18pts (GTP: Colby, Tufts), max pts 24
4 - Conn 5-2-0, 15pts (GTP: Amherst, Trinity, Wes), max pts 24
5 - Middlebury 4-5-0, 12pts (GTP: Wes), max pts 15
6 - Bates 3-5-0, 9pts (GTP: Williams, Colby), max pts 15
6 - Hamilton 3-5-0, 9pts (GTP: Tufts, Williams), max pts 15
8 - Trinity 2-4-1, 7pts (GTP: Wes, Conn, Amherst), max pts 16
8 - Colby 2-5-1, 7pts (GTP: Bowdoin, Bates), max pts 13
10 - Tufts 2-5-1, 7pts (GTP: Hamilton, Bowdoin), max pts 13)
11 - Wesleyan 0-6-1, 1pt (GTP: Trinity, Middlebury, Conn), max pts 10

[jc2]

Can someone detail the playoff race? Has any team been mathematically eliminated? Which teams have clinched a playoff spot?

I don't think any team has been eliminated yet. Last place Wesleyan has 3 games left and could, in theory, finish 3-6-1, which could get them in. If they lose to Trinity on Wednesday, they will be mathematically eliminated. Amherst, Williams and Bowdoin are locked in, but everyone else still has work to do.

1 - Amherst 7-1-0, 21pts (GTP: Conn, Trinity), max pts 27
1 - Williams 7-1-0, 21pts (GPT: Bates, Hamilton), max pts 27
3 - Bowdoin 6-2-0, 18pts (GTP: Colby, Tufts), max pts 24
4 - Conn 5-2-0, 15pts (GTP: Amherst, Trinity, Wes), max pts 24
5 - Middlebury 4-5-0, 12pts (GTP: Wes), max pts 15
6 - Bates 3-5-0, 9pts (GTP: Williams, Colby), max pts 15
6 - Hamilton 3-5-0, 9pts (GTP: Tufts, Williams), max pts 15
8 - Trinity 2-4-1, 7pts (GTP: Wes, Conn, Amherst), max pts 16
8 - Colby 2-5-1, 7pts (GTP: Bowdoin, Bates), max pts 13
10 - Tufts 2-5-1, 7pts (GTP: Hamilton, Bowdoin), max pts 13)
11 - Wesleyan 0-6-1, 1pt (GTP: Trinity, Middlebury, Conn), max pts 10

Most helpful. I'm almost afraid to ask but what are the tie-break rules?

[Ocean 1]

Can someone detail the playoff race? Has any team been mathematically eliminated? Which teams have clinched a playoff spot?

I don't think any team has been eliminated yet. Last place Wesleyan has 3 games left and could, in theory, finish 3-6-1, which could get them in. If they lose to Trinity on Wednesday, they will be mathematically eliminated. Amherst, Williams and Bowdoin are locked in, but everyone else still has work to do.

1 - Amherst 7-1-0, 21pts (GTP: Conn, Trinity), max pts 27
1 - Williams 7-1-0, 21pts (GPT: Bates, Hamilton), max pts 27
3 - Bowdoin 6-2-0, 18pts (GTP: Colby, Tufts), max pts 24
4 - Conn 5-2-0, 15pts (GTP: Amherst, Trinity, Wes), max pts 24
5 - Middlebury 4-5-0, 12pts (GTP: Wes), max pts 15
6 - Bates 3-5-0, 9pts (GTP: Williams, Colby), max pts 15
6 - Hamilton 3-5-0, 9pts (GTP: Tufts, Williams), max pts 15
8 - Trinity 2-4-1, 7pts (GTP: Wes, Conn, Amherst), max pts 16
8 - Colby 2-5-1, 7pts (GTP: Bowdoin, Bates), max pts 13
10 - Tufts 2-5-1, 7pts (GTP: Hamilton, Bowdoin), max pts 13)
11 - Wesleyan 0-6-1, 1pt (GTP: Trinity, Middlebury, Conn), max pts 10

Most helpful. I'm almost afraid to ask but what are the tie-break rules?

Some value-added perspective including the question posed...also available on the NESCAC website:

2014 Women's Soccer Championship Information

Quarterfinals - Saturday, November 1
No. 8 Seed at No. 1 Seed
No. 7 Seed at No. 2 Seed
No. 6 Seed at No. 3 Seed
No. 5 Seed at No. 4 Seed

Semifinals - Saturday, November 8

Hosted by Highest Remaining Seed
Highest Remaining Seed vs. Lowest Remaining Seed
Other Quarterfinal Winners

Championship - Sunday, November 9
Hosted by Highest Remaining Seed
Semifinal Winners

Format

The top eight teams in the conference will qualify for the NESCAC Women's Soccer Championship. Quarterfinal games will be conducted on Saturday, November 1, 2014 with the semifinals and championship games conducted on Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9, respectively. The tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

Seeding

Seeding will be based on final conference standings of round robin play. Standings will be based on points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie). The 8th seed will play at the 1st seed, the 7th seed will play at the 2nd seed, the 6th seed will play at the 3rd seed, and the 5th seed will play at the 4th seed. Teams will be re-bracketed after first round games and the lowest remaining seed will face the highest remaining seed.

Pairings

Pairings will be announced Wednesday, October 29.

Tie Breaking Procedures

Ties will be broken as follows:

Head-to-head result (if teams play each other more than once during the regular season, the game that appears on the league schedule will be the game that is counted).

If teams tied during the regular season, or there is a 3-way or more tie, the following tie breaking procedure will be used:

Best record among tying teams, against one another (head-to-head).
Best conference winning percentage.
Most conference wins (in games that are part of the conference schedule and count toward league standings).
Comparison of results of conference games played against top 4 teams (including all teams at the 4th spot).
Comparison of results of conference games played against top 8 teams (including all teams at the 8th spot).
Comparison of results of conference games played against conference teams in rank order.
Comparisons shall be made one team at a time starting with the highest ranked team.

If the tie remains after comparing results against the highest ranked team, the results against the next team in rank order shall be used. This process is continued until a winner is determined.

Coin flip (or similar random action involving all tied teams).

Note: In case of ties among three or more schools, the criteria above will be applied in order until a team is (or teams are) separated. At that point, the process begins anew (returning to the first criteria) with the remaining teams. The process is continued until the tie is eventually broken. In cases where only a random action will break the tie of three or more teams, the random action will be applied to all teams involved in the tie. For example, if three teams are tied and only a random action (pulling names out of a hat) will break the tie, each name will be pulled and seeded in order of being pulled. Also, in the event that there are two (or more) groups of teams tied at different spots in the standings and the only criteria left that can be used to break those ties is a coin flip/random action, the coin flip/random action used to break the tie of one group (to put teams in rank order) will not affect the tie breaking procedures of the other group(s) of tied teams.

[jc2]

Williams women take down an obviously frustrated Middlebury team this afternoon 1-0 ---in the face of the Panthers extraordinary physical play, including throwing Williams players to the ground, tackles from behind, tripping, lots of whining from the sideline, and other marginal tactics such as constantly being told by the referee to move back on throw-ins, corner kicks, etc.

In a game in which the referee"let them play", the Williams women kept their poise, whereas Middlebury was more focused on roughness instead of the crisp playing they displayed in the first half. Williams completely controlled the last 15 minutes of the game, including constantly keeping the ball in the corner.

From D3soccer.com:

A physical game that went right down to the final moments resulted in a narrow victory for 10th-ranked Williams (12-1-0/7-1-0) over NESCAC rival Middlebury (8-6-0/4-5-0). With the conference title probably their only way back to the NCAA tournament where they advanced to the semifinals a year ago, the Panthers were looking for a confidence- and momentum-building win and came out attacking aggressively. But it was the Eph's Kristi Kirshe who scored the game's only goal early in the second half as the tide turned in favor of Williams. Ephs coach Michelyne Pinard commented, "That was just unbelievable soccer for 90 minutes, both halves. This was just what it's all about, playing on Cole Field on Senior Day against a great team. We didn't know that we'd get on the board, let alone score first, but we worked so hard out there, creating chances in the second half especially. Middlebury's ball movement in the middle-third is as good as it gets, and that made us pretty uncomfortable at times. Settling down a little bit in the second half and seeing a little bit more of the ball made all the difference in the world for us."

[jc2]

Conn v Amherst

Massey calls it a tie, Bennett says a 1-goal win for Amherst.

Anyone have insight into the game? Do both teams play primarily an athletic style of soccer? Weather might be a factor.

[Ocean 1]

Conn v Amherst

Massey calls it a tie, Bennett says a 1-goal win for Amherst.

Anyone have insight into the game? Do both teams play primarily an athletic style of soccer? Weather might be a factor.

Weather could be a factor indeed...chance of rain 70%, wind at 20-30 mph and 54 degrees. Probability in my view is a win by Amherst. Conn has a kick and run style of play while Amherst plays possession soccer and has a stronger defense. Conn could get lucky with the home field advantage though. A Conn win/tie has major potential implications for NESCAC Championship home field advantage.

[Ocean 1]

NCAA Regional Rankings due out today...first of 3 in series of rankings leading-up to Selection Sunday when the NCAA Tournament brackets and teams participating will be released.

[jc2]

Is the Conn v Amherst game scheduled to be broadcast online?