Liberty League

[Saint_Dad]

Another frustrating game for SLU. They missed a golden opportunity to move up in the Liberty league standings. They really need to finish in the top two in the LL to have a good chance to make the NCAAs. 
Petrone, Mogul, Diaz, Gustav, continue to play well. It took their defender to finally score a goal. A great assist from Mogul, who continues to be almost unstoppable every game. Petrone and Gustav keep getting better. And Diaz is becoming one of the best defenders in the league.
Ryan Campbell has been terrific off the bench. I'd like to see more of him. Perhaps at striker. Brown is working hard, but I think SLU could use a different look up front at times. Perhaps Campbell or Mogul or Pijpers. They need to find a way to score. Mixing it up at front may help. Whenever Mogul or Petrone get the ball things happen. Maybe some creativity on set pieces or corner kicks? Looking forward to seeing this team break through.   

[ArsenalFan]

SLU looked really good in the first half and just needs a touch of luck and a bit more quality in front of goal. Tough break for the Goalkeeper who has been otherwise dependable. Only a matter of time til it all comes together for these Saints.

[stlawus]

League really is pretty open in terms of tiers of quality.  Gotta see Vassar play on Sandy first next week to see if there's a large disparity between them and SLU, but this is the first time in a while that any result for any team would not shock me. 

[CU_GKnight]

Congratulations to Clarkson for getting a draw in Canton. This now makes them 1-26-4 since 1994 against SLU, which has made the "Route 11 Rivalry" not much of one for quite a while.

SLU certainly played an excellent opening 30 minutes and had Clarkson on their back foot and chasing the game. They really didn't seem to know how to deal with Mogul's speed.  Clarkson is typically a very well organized team that defends well.  They tend to give up a decent number of shots, but the quality of the shots allowed normally seems to be relatively low.  SLU certainly had them off their game and were getting dangerous looks leading up to the goal.  I Figured this game would either be a 0-0 draw with SLU outshooting Clarkson 20-8 or the same with Henry Brown burying a late penalty.  I guess I didn't have keeper blunder on my bingo card with two of the top 20 keepers (statistically) in the country, but that is what we ended up with.

I thought Clarkson battled back once they surrendered the goal and played their style of game for the remainder.  They didn't look dangerous but they defended well and played for a counter.  I saw this as a game to settle the top keeper in the Liberty League and I feel like Kladstrup pulled ahead after this one.

This is looking to be an interesting year in the Liberty League.  Last year there were 6 draws in 45 league games, making the cut line for the playoffs the highest it has ever been with 13 point Clarkson landing in seventh.  Through 16 games the league has equaled the 6 draws from last year already.  I'm not really sure what to think of Clarkson sitting at 5-0-6.  It is amazing to be undefeated into mid-October but feels like there is still a lot of work to be done to reach the playoffs.  With 6 points in 4 league games to date they will likely need 6-7 in their final 5 matchups.  There only remaining home league games are the double weekend with Bard on Friday and Vassar on Saturday.  Hopefully they can take care of business with Bard and get a tired Vassar team after SLU wears them out and get a result.  This means they will need to win at least 1 away game at either Ithaca, RPI or Union where they are a collective 2-6-3 in away games over the past decade.

Congrats to both SLU and Clarkson on a hard fought battle and hoping that Clarkson can continue to play well and revive the rivalry.

[ArsenalFan]

Interesting to hear this perspective. Why do you think the program has cut ties with it's history? I find that compelling - most programs continue to build on a rich history and can't think of another program that would go that direction which has had a storied past. I'm no expert for sure.

[CU_GKnight]

I can go back to 1993 when Clarkson beat SLU 2-0 and celebrated the then Empire Athletic Association championship (and automatic qualifier to the dance) on SLU's field, but that wouldn't be nice.  But 1994 was when Andre and Manny catapulted SLU to a new level and set the stage for the greatness to come. 

I have tremendous respect for Tosh.  He used to come over to Clarkson once a week in the late 90's and train us Clarkson keepers.  He is truly a wonderful person and to me this shows his respect for the game and his dedication to making young men better, no matter what jersey they wear.  But I will say I am a little disappointed in the direction he has taken the team both in ins composition and stylistically. I also think the profile of the recruits has changed drastically and now leans towards the elites as opposed to those with a passion for proving themselves in a world that isn't always fair. I'm not sure if the pipeline to these players broke and he adapted or he changed course and that broke the pipeline.  Regardless it is sad as a fan of good soccer (but better if you are a fan of Clarkson) and seems to firmly put a bookend on a one of the most exciting eras in college soccer, especially for a school in the North Country.

You brought up alumni support and I was curious about other schools programs and the level of support they receive from alumni.  Clarkson has been doing their LetsCUgive program for the past 6 or 7 years and it typically brings in $20-25k in donations for the Men's Soccer team each year.  I noticed Skidmore did one recently and their mens soccer brought in about $22k.  Do other programs have similar fundraising and I'm curious what level of alumni support teams get.  For a team like Clarkson I know adding $25k to their budget has been game changing, but other schools with better administrative support may not see it the same way.  Despite the turn over in coaching, Clarkson has maintained and even expanded their alumni support over the past decade and hopefully this continues to push the program in a positive direction.  I was just curious what others schools have experienced.

[CU_GKnight]

Just for context the two posts above were in response to a post that appears to have been removed.  The post likely would have been prime fodder for Simple Coach's show so I understand it being removed.....

[Saint of Old]

I can go back to 1993 when Clarkson beat SLU 2-0 and celebrated the then Empire Athletic Association championship (and automatic qualifier to the dance) on SLU's field, but that wouldn't be nice.  But 1994 was when Andre and Manny catapulted SLU to a new level and set the stage for the greatness to come. 

I have tremendous respect for Tosh.  He used to come over to Clarkson once a week in the late 90's and train us Clarkson keepers.  He is truly a wonderful person and to me this shows his respect for the game and his dedication to making young men better, no matter what jersey they wear.  But I will say I am a little disappointed in the direction he has taken the team both in ins composition and stylistically. I also think the profile of the recruits has changed drastically and now leans towards the elites as opposed to those with a passion for proving themselves in a world that isn't always fair. I'm not sure if the pipeline to these players broke and he adapted or he changed course and that broke the pipeline.  Regardless it is sad as a fan of good soccer (but better if you are a fan of Clarkson) and seems to firmly put a bookend on a one of the most exciting eras in college soccer, especially for a school in the North Country.

You brought up alumni support and I was curious about other schools programs and the level of support they receive from alumni.  Clarkson has been doing their LetsCUgive program for the past 6 or 7 years and it typically brings in $20-25k in donations for the Men's Soccer team each year.  I noticed Skidmore did one recently and their mens soccer brought in about $22k.  Do other programs have similar fundraising and I'm curious what level of alumni support teams get.  For a team like Clarkson I know adding $25k to their budget has been game changing, but other schools with better administrative support may not see it the same way.  Despite the turn over in coaching, Clarkson has maintained and even expanded their alumni support over the past decade and hopefully this continues to push the program in a positive direction.  I was just curious what others schools have experienced.

GU Knight, you said it better, more diplomatically and more eloquently than I did.
I also don't want to create unnecessary fodder, but let's just say you are absolutely right that a n era has for sure come to an end.

[stlawus]

I personally think the pipeline thing is a bit overblown. Durocher did have a couple that might have fizzled, but whether that's a dedicated effort to ignore or rather the pipelines themselves changed is the question. I think it's a little of column A and column B. There's also some revisionist history with this SLU program.  They scraped out some league/ncaa tournament results in this time period but the mid to late 2000s were not great from a win/loss perspective. It's not like Durocher was winning 16 games every season at the helm.

Also let's not act SLU's recruiting is drastically different. The same programs that were recruited from 20 years ago are still being recruited today. SLU doesn't get Sibanda without that SLU-Taft connection, for example.

I think people don't realize that college soccer is just an entirely different landscape compared to even 5 years ago. In this environment there are going to be more ebbs and flows for most programs that aren't NESCAC's. Higher Ed is just a whole different beast these days. 

Look at Messiah, more losses so far this season than at any point in forever. Anomaly? More than likely. But also an example of the wider landscape of college soccer with changing player pools and recruiting environments. Last year this SLU team did not really pass the eye test, and thus the ending was expected.  Having seen the team in person multiple times this year, I do think this squad has it. Sometimes you need a little luck which this team hasn't found yet. I'm not ready to say this is just another random program, especially with some of the recruiting tidbits I've heard for next year's class.

It's nice to follow a program with high expectations, but the other teams get a say too. I think this SLU team will unlock that final product and bring good things to come the 2nd half of the season.

[Saint of Old]

I personally think the pipeline thing is a bit overblown. Durocher did have a couple that might have fizzled, but whether that's a dedicated effort to ignore or rather the pipelines themselves changed is the question. I think it's a little of column A and column B. There's also some revisionist history with this SLU program.  They scraped out some league/ncaa tournament results in this time period but the mid to late 2000s were not great from a win/loss perspective. It's not like Durocher was winning 16 games every season at the helm.

Also let's not act SLU's recruiting is drastically different. The same programs that were recruited from 20 years ago are still being recruited today. SLU doesn't get Sibanda without that SLU-Taft connection, for example.

I think people don't realize that college soccer is just an entirely different landscape compared to even 5 years ago. In this environment there are going to be more ebbs and flows for most programs that aren't NESCAC's. Higher Ed is just a whole different beast these days. 

Look at Messiah, more losses so far this season than at any point in forever. Anomaly? More than likely. But also an example of the wider landscape of college soccer with changing player pools and recruiting environments. Last year this SLU team did not really pass the eye test, and thus the ending was expected.  Having seen the team in person multiple times this year, I do think this squad has it. Sometimes you need a little luck which this team hasn't found yet. I'm not ready to say this is just another random program, especially with some of the recruiting tidbits I've heard for next year's class.

It's nice to follow a program with high expectations, but the other teams get a say too.

NYC is a bit bigger than Taft.
Everyone has a right to their own opinion...
GU knight played against a pipeline who recruited their replacements who then recruited their replacements and so on.

Maybe you are right and things don't work like that anymore but from schools to pro's I think it does.

Romario told the Dutch about R9

[stlawus]

You may also be right, but aside from becoming more optimistic and less cynical from a personal perspective I know for a fact the players lurk on these boards, so they need to know the alums, or at the very least a frequent public posting alum like myself, believes in their abilities which I 100% do. 

[Saint of Old]

You may also be right, but aside from becoming more optimistic and less cynical from a personal perspective I know for a fact the players lurk on these boards, so they need to know the alums, or at the very least a frequent public posting alum like myself, believes in their abilitie which I 100% do. 

Never questioned the ability of the players once.

[stlawus]

Didn't say you did! I meant that I don't want the players to think that I'm questioning their abilities if I ever make criticisms of the program at large. I do have some, but ultimately I think the player quality is pretty much what it's always been.

The biggest difference is that more programs are finding a consistent footing, like Vassar.   Hobart and RPI were always solid, with Vassar having great seasons here and there.  Now the floor and ceiling has been raised for the Brewers, which I partially attribute to the changing landscape of higher ed.

[ArsenalFan]

Very interesting to learn of these perspectives. Thank you for sharing. I love watching teams like SLU that go out and try to play good footie. Hats off to Clarkson as well. They look like a program on the up. They have some nifty players in there with some real quality.

Seems to me that SLU have some really nice pieces and I really hope for the sake of the beautiful game that they start translating their wonderful attacking movements to goalazos and Ws.

[kevdog]

I can go back to 1993 when Clarkson beat SLU 2-0 and celebrated the then Empire Athletic Association championship (and automatic qualifier to the dance) on SLU's field, but that wouldn't be nice.  But 1994 was when Andre and Manny catapulted SLU to a new level and set the stage for the greatness to come. 

I have tremendous respect for Tosh.  He used to come over to Clarkson once a week in the late 90's and train us Clarkson keepers.  He is truly a wonderful person and to me this shows his respect for the game and his dedication to making young men better, no matter what jersey they wear.  But I will say I am a little disappointed in the direction he has taken the team both in ins composition and stylistically. I also think the profile of the recruits has changed drastically and now leans towards the elites as opposed to those with a passion for proving themselves in a world that isn't always fair. I'm not sure if the pipeline to these players broke and he adapted or he changed course and that broke the pipeline.  Regardless it is sad as a fan of good soccer (but better if you are a fan of Clarkson) and seems to firmly put a bookend on a one of the most exciting eras in college soccer, especially for a school in the North Country.

You brought up alumni support and I was curious about other schools programs and the level of support they receive from alumni.  Clarkson has been doing their LetsCUgive program for the past 6 or 7 years and it typically brings in $20-25k in donations for the Men's Soccer team each year.  I noticed Skidmore did one recently and their mens soccer brought in about $22k.  Do other programs have similar fundraising and I'm curious what level of alumni support teams get.  For a team like Clarkson I know adding $25k to their budget has been game changing, but other schools with better administrative support may not see it the same way.  Despite the turn over in coaching, Clarkson has maintained and even expanded their alumni support over the past decade and hopefully this continues to push the program in a positive direction.  I was just curious what others schools have experienced.

Thanks for bringing back bad memories and reminding me of my age, lol.  Actually the 1993 season, I think was the turn around season as the team did post a a winning record I think 8-4-3 and was invited to the ECAC tournament but had to decline due to the administration not wanting foot the bill for travel.  That 93 game was a back in forth affair that could have gone either way but luck did go with Golden Knights that day and they had a great season with some great players with Kirmse, Kohler and the other fwd from Syracuse.  I think people forget that of all the achievments that Durocher accomplished and there were many, it was not always like that.  His first 3 seasons were losing seasons as far as records were concern but those are the ones that our building blocks for the future and transition isalways hard.  I think this team is good and hopefully the goals will come.