Liberty League

[Caz Bombers]

Hobart lost to William Paterson less than a minute into OT, ouch

looks like Bard lost 1-0 to SUNY Canton on an own goal, again ouch

Skidmore up to +9 GD on the season with a 3-0 clean sheet against Fisher

Union pumped in five to rout Manhattanville

[Saint of Old]

I will continue my Grumpy old Saint demeanor I have began the 2019  season with:

Union has to play better competition.
When you have a difficult league it is good to play people from PA/SUNYAC or NESCAC as preparation for the league season. Doing the same thing each season will bring the same results.

Bard should be much better this year and in years to come I think. Canton has been improving as a team each year.
No shame in losing to them in OT.
Hobart will be good, they are rarely a team that has very few losses for some reason, but they remain very dangerous when it gets cold.
Skidmore might have something to say in the league.
They were finalists in 16+17 before taking a slight step back last season.
I still would consider them a top tier team in this league as they always come to play.

Is it too late to amend our league predictions :} ?

[deutschfan]

Not a.good weekend for the Liberty League as most of the matches against quality opponents go the other way with some losses to inferior opponents as well. Plattsburgh's goalie gifts Hobart the championship game which they then cede to a mediocre William Paterson. Clarkson fouls its way out of a contest with Brockport. Vasser loses its goalie to a red in a lackluster tie with Manhattanville and his replacement lets in Stevens only shot on goal for the loss. Ithaca lets the Merchant Marine set sail and SLU looks like the mediocre team it is in its loss to Oneonta. Union and Skidmore are still undefeated with a huge asterisk.

[Mr.Right]

Saint.....Watched the incredible documentary about Nick Hillary on HBO...Had no idea the full story behind it but if anyone wants a look into our f'd up criminal justice system they should take a look....

[Mr.Right]

News and Notes:


-I thought RPI battled well in a 2-1 victory over Williams last night. They showed better than the past few years IMO. They still struggle in all the same areas but have enough talent to keep them in every game they play the rest of the way.

-BTW---If the LL only gets 1-2 teams into the NCAA's no one should put more blame at Jeff Guinn's doorstep..Even for him , that schedule is ridiculous and only brings the whole league down.

-We all saw the improvement from Ithaca the past 2 years but now everything seems to be coming together for Kyle Dezotell's squad. Some really nice non-conference Wins along with a loaded schedule of tough games. This is an NCAA team if they continue at this pace. I am starting to think Middlebury and really Saward made a big mistake in not giving its former player a real look at the job when it opened. Dezotell had way more experience than Elias and I am sure was slighted over not getting a look. However, he and Saward must not have been that close also I think there was   an incident that happened when Dezotell was at Norwich. Either way Dezotell is proving that when given the support by administration and having the size of an Ithaca certainly helps but he is now building a winner.

[deutschfan]

Mr. Right--welcome back.  As usual you and Saint are right, the Hillary prosecution was a travesty.  There was also a good Netflix documentary on the Central Park Five wrongly pursued by a Vassar grad prosecutor who ultimately left their Board of Trustees.  As a NESCAC and Liberty expert I want to get your take on Williams.  I watched the Tufts game and thought they looked very good against the National champs.  Last night they gave up two goals to RPI, one a ridiculously bad giveaway by a defender, and the second the result of bad marking and a lost defender.  Is Williams and therefore RPI for real or did they overachieve against Tufts?

[Mr.Right]

Mr. Right--welcome back.  As usual you and Saint are right, the Hillary prosecution was a travesty.  There was also a good Netflix documentary on the Central Park Five wrongly pursued by a Vassar grad prosecutor who ultimately left their Board of Trustees.  As a NESCAC and Liberty expert I want to get your take on Williams.  I watched the Tufts game and thought they looked very good against the National champs.  Last night they gave up two goals to RPI, one a ridiculously bad giveaway by a defender, and the second the result of bad marking and a lost defender.  Is Williams and therefore RPI for real or did they overachieve against Tufts?

Well Williams plays well at Home usually but they just do not have the players they once had. Until they get some serious game changers this is the future of Williams Men's Soccer. You are correct there defending as been horrible. #17 Peollini(name issue) was awful. horrible mistake..loss of concentration on both goals...nothing new..my prediction is both teams will win some games they are not supposed to and more importantly lose games they are supposed to Win. RPI and Williams look like 2 roller coaster teams that will need to bust every game to get results.

[deutschfan]

You are so dead on about Union's schedule.  To put things in perspective, they dropped 6 goals on Anna Maria but that was actually a good showing by Anna Maria who had given up 9 and 8 goals the two games before.  At the beginning of the week Union's Massey Rating went down 5 rankings after a two win weekend.  Their SOS is worse than over 300 d3 teams.  Despite being the only 5-0 team in the LL, they were shut out of the first set of Eastern Region rankings so the coaches are aware of their cupcake tilts.  Union previously was a power in what seems to be a lifetime ago.  How times change. 

[d3d3d3]

Massey SOS:
Bard 326
Union 341

[nescacfan94]

Union is a hockey school. Before that, it was a football school, and prior to that, a hockey school. And I know a few things about the way the coach recruits. Let me just say that it does not surprise me that they struggle to be just mediocre. As a point of personal curiosity, when were they a 'power' on the soccer field?

[Saint of Old]

Mr. Right--welcome back.  As usual you and Saint are right, the Hillary prosecution was a travesty.  There was also a good Netflix documentary on the Central Park Five wrongly pursued by a Vassar grad prosecutor who ultimately left their Board of Trustees.  As a NESCAC and Liberty expert I want to get your take on Williams.  I watched the Tufts game and thought they looked very good against the National champs.  Last night they gave up two goals to RPI, one a ridiculously bad giveaway by a defender, and the second the result of bad marking and a lost defender.  Is Williams and therefore RPI for real or did they overachieve against Tufts?

Indeed.
Welcome back MR, not as much fun or controversy without you

You are right Fan, that entire 8 year journey Hillary had to take was atrocious. I am happy to see that not only is the truth told about his frame-up but perhaps people will be more open minded and not simply be  accepting sheep for the "powers that be".
As for this season... I really love that little rivalry between Williams and RPI.
Williams has always been a team I respect a lot.
Maybe because they are a championship team who have additional final fours under their belt, but just a quality program from everything I have seen or read a very deep and strong brotherhood exists among the alumni, which is the ultimate test for a program.
RPI is such an unpredictable team.
On every given year they can  win the league or fall short.
@4-1 not looking bad right now.

Union might run the table and win the Liberty League, but if they dont then there will again be complaints that the cupcake non-league season does not help when things get real.

[deutschfan]

Big challenge for SLU and Vassar today—beat national powers or lose all chance of Pool C bids.

[stlawus]

SLU plays their best 44 minutes and 30 seconds of soccer of the last 3 years but concedes a penalty with 19 seconds left.   Ugh.  Still a step forward from last week. 

[Saint of Old]

Very disappointing.
Crazy how much better a team plays when they attack on the front foot and not try to be soooo cute and passing around in the back and GK all game long.

Best half of the year agreed, but cant lose concentration like that at all...
Something is just off, not the right level of concentration or imagination in the final 1/3.
Perhaps I am getting more critical, but I expect a lot from this team.
Without expectation there is no dissapointment.

[Saint of Old]

Big surprise.
Saints sloppy in the back give up a goal.

This defense is leaking goals like crazy, I dont get it....
Fix the defense then build going forward.