Liberty League

[kevdog]

Exactly. That is why I said before they don't have that dominant player (the maestro) like they have before but it is very difficult to find those type of players. The season is still young so things can turn around.

[deutschfan]

Mucho kudos to Vassar's freshman midfielder Arden Tobolski.  Four goals and helpers in his first two games is an amazing accomplishment.  I daresay that he may be the first freshman in LL history with this fast a start.  If you include all players the best previous two game opening for Vassar was Tom Wiechert's 5 goals to start the 2013 season.  As noted, sometimes good starts don't equate to strong finishes as SLU knocked out Vassar in the LL semis in 2013.  On the other hand, the last time Vassar had a ROY was Mattie Mrlik in 2016 who led the team to a LL Championship.  Overall, not a great opening weekend for the League.  So can Tobolski be this week's rookie award winner and offensive player award winner?       

[Freddyfud]

I will try to tread lightly as I feel this discussion may not be my place.  Before I do let me recognize the passion from the SLU fan boys here is top notch.  It is amazing to see so much dedication.

I understand the start of the season has been rough, but try not to despair.  Why not?  Objectively there are some clues such as one of the works of art from SC from a year ago

I see the word talent many times in the thread above.  Most notable Coach gives credit to practically everything except talent.  The exception is some discussion about Marvin, but even then he follows with a story of Marvin clearing the snow to put in the extra work on his craft.  "There's a lot of people with talent, but who (among them) can actually develop it?"

At around the 43 minute mark, SC shows a clip of the second goal vs Amherst.  In the ensuing discussion Coach provides many clues as to his objectives with team dynamics.  At the 47 minute mark Coach is looking for certain types of players who can build through the thirds with confidence. This is not easy and takes time.  It also requires creativity.  Early in the interview he mentions two occasions of moving MFs to the backline.  Clearly at that time due to injuries or whatever else he didn't have the personnel he needed.

The game has changed and more important will change even more going forward.  There is a prominent CC program that has found success with a 3-4-3 diamond MF formation.  Very different from the 4-3-3s of yesteryear.  The good news is many youth clubs stopped "coaching" several years ago and insist the players solve problems on their own.  Go watch a reputable club training.  There is very little, if any, time spent rehearsing ball movement, stopping trainings to correct a behavior, or even dead ball practice.  The pool of problem solvers is growing.  The next ingredient in Coach's recipe would be to find the ones who clear the snow without being told to do so.

The counter of course is to scrap this philosophy and revert to the 99s or 00s style. Maybe this would result in more wins.  From this interview the belief seems to be this is not the path to take down an Amherst.  And let's not forget the men are there to have fun.  At the 48 minute mark, "St. Lawrence is a good university, so there are smart kids.  And that's what's fun at this level.  Let's see what we can do."

So when you see your team fruitlessly moving a ball among a back line, he is watching to see how the rest of the team responds and hopefully making adjustments.  Time will tell.  I wish you all good luck this season.

[Saint of Old]

Again, football is a simple game... but many people try to make it complicated.

[stlawus]

Woah we got some serious shade thrown at us by SC and Ejay today!!  I feel attacked!   All in good fun though, everything said was true!

[kevdog]

Again, football is a simple game... but many people try to make it complicated.

You are so right about this.  I had a an old Italian club coach who would preach this to us. It is very simple in that you should always have two options, play the way you facing, form triangles over the field, and let the ball do the work(the ball doesn't sweat or get tired). If you tried to turn on someone when you had two people supporting you or tried to dribble through the entired defense, you knew you were going to be sub with this coach. He did not care how good you were if you started doing that.

[stlawus]

As expected, rookie of the week and performer of the week honors for Vassar.  UAA opponent in their upcoming match, so a real chance for Vassar to solidify themselves as at least a top 2 program in the region through the first week. 

[Saint of Old]

Again, football is a simple game... but many people try to make it complicated.

You are so right about this.  I had a an old Italian club coach who would preach this to us. It is very simple in that you should always have two options, play the way you facing, form triangles over the field, and let the ball do the work(the ball doesn't sweat or get tired). If you tried to turn on someone when you had two people supporting you or tried to dribble through the entired defense, you knew you were going to be sub with this coach. He did not care how good you were if you started doing that.

Exactly Brother...
Meanwhile people try to explain to us the genius of passing the ball aimlessly around the back.

Or think it's smart to use 2 subs all game and give up goals in 80th and 84th minute.

[stlawus]

Good win for Union tonight. Gotta take care of business at home and they did just that. 

RIT joining the ranks with an 0-2 start. 

[Saint of Old]

Good win for Union tonight. Gotta take care of business at home and they did just that. 

RIT joining the ranks with an 0-2 start. 

Atleast RIT have only given up 2 goals man.
I know teams who have given up twice as much without scoring once.

[kevdog]

Good win for Union tonight. Gotta take care of business at home and they did just that. 

RIT joining the ranks with an 0-2 start. 

Atleast RIT have only given up 2 goals man.
I know teams who have given up twice as much without scoring once.

Sarcasm but so true

[Saint_Dad]

Good win for Union tonight. Gotta take care of business at home and they did just that. 

RIT joining the ranks with an 0-2 start. 

Speaking of taking care of business at home, this Oneonta weekend away every year means that on even years at least the first 5 of 6 games are on the road.  This year the first 6 of 7.  in 2022 the first 8 of 9 on the road.  I'd love to see them either get rid of the Oneonta weekend and make a home invitational every year.  Perhaps bring two teams up to play against SLU and Clarkson. Maybe even weaker teams to build from and to enable them to use the bench a bit and get some goals and some confidence (and some fan support on a beautiful weekend in September.  The Oneonta weekend usually brings a couple injuries that last the year.
Or at least get Oneonta and Hartwick to travel every other year.  Kind of ridiculous to travel there every year.  And btw, I'm a believer in this team.  Assuming they get through this weekend, injury free, I think they'll have a good chance at winning the conference.  Missing Jeremy is a big blow to the team but once they find the ability to score, and they will, I expect some W's, although this weekend will not be easy. 

[Saint of Old]

Good win for Union tonight. Gotta take care of business at home and they did just that. 

RIT joining the ranks with an 0-2 start. 

Speaking of taking care of business at home, this Oneonta weekend away every year means that on even years at least the first 5 of 6 games are on the road.  This year the first 6 of 7.  in 2022 the first 8 of 9 on the road.  I'd love to see them either get rid of the Oneonta weekend and make a home invitational every year.  Perhaps bring two teams up to play against SLU and Clarkson. Maybe even weaker teams to build from and to enable them to use the bench a bit and get some goals and some confidence (and some fan support on a beautiful weekend in September.  The Oneonta weekend usually brings a couple injuries that last the year.
Or at least get Oneonta and Hartwick to travel every other year.  Kind of ridiculous to travel there every year.  And btw, I'm a believer in this team.  Assuming they get through this weekend, injury free, I think they'll have a good chance at winning the conference.  Missing Jeremy is a big blow to the team but once they find the ability to score, and they will, I expect some W's, although this weekend will not be easy. 

Back in 2014, many Manchester United fans thought they just had 2 bad seasons and a brighter day was just around the corner.

Players like Pogba/Dimaria hid the problems for a few seasons, (even though their coaches didn't realize they were holding up the team) but once they left the issues became more clear.

[stlawus]

Really solid win for Clarkson today against Brockport.  Gave up a goal a minute into the game and responded shortly after with a nice free kick.  Thought Brockport was the superior team in the first half but Clarkson adjusted nicely at halftime and got the game winner on a scrappy header.   Did notice Clarkson has some vulnerabilities through the middle on defense as the Brockport forwards were blowing by them for most of the game, but again they adjusted well to make up for it and got a very good non conference win against a good opponent.

[stlawus]

We were a few minutes away from Bard being the only LL team to get a win today until Alfred State flubbed a set piece leading to Ithaca's second goal. The league at least so far is pretty down.  You can never take a UAA team lightly but Brandeis is not a team projected to lead the UAA having already lost a game and drawn with Suffolk, yet Vassar had several costly mistakes to drop a game on their immaculate home field.  With their offense though I expect them to bounce back quick. 

I talk up Clarkson yesterday only for them to draw with Castleton, although that is not the worst result in the world given Clarkson played yesterday and had to make a road trip to Vermont.

RPI is an uncharacteristic 1-2, but I will never count them out until their last game.

Skidmore could be a bit of a sleeper, they drew today but scored a very early goal and did well against a pretty decent Geneseo squad.  Given the coaching change and roster turnover we could see them have a nice season when it's all said and done.

Really brutal ending for Hobart against Hartwick.  Couple whiffs in their own box and Hartwick scores the game winner with 10 seconds left.  Hobart feeling the dynamic of being a defending league champ and getting everyone's best game.

SLU rescued a result in the last minute against Oneonta with a penalty to tie things up.  Very woeful first half, but the team didn't make an overnight trip and traveled this morning so that wasn't completely shocking.  2nd half wasn't perfect but it was better as they had the shots advantage.  At the very least they snapped a 4 game losing streak at Oneonta.  Hopefully we get some scheduling changes next year and bring them up to Sandy for a change. Team will need to recover quickly as Hartwick is a much better team than previous years, especially given their result today against a league peer.