Liberty League

[Saint of Old]

I can sympathize and partially agree with some of the views regarding SLU's bid to the dance.
I will say though that if the  bids are predicated on RvR which I translate to meaning that the definition of a good team is one that consistently beats good teams, then the Saints are understandable if not deserved participants.

This team for all its problems putting the ball in the back of the net did beat a good Plattsburgh team at home (while Plattsburgh was playing its best soccer of the year), went undefeated playing most of the SUNYAC (arguably one of the toughest conferences in the country).

Beat a very good Vassar team.

Losses to Hobart/Skidmore and RPI no doubt hurt, but those are good teams, and St. Lawrence competed well in all those losses.

I think the program was robbed by not getting a bid in 2006, as I thought we deserved it more that year, but that's just soccer.

*Please take the above with a grain of salt as well, I am self aware enough to understand that subconsciously I might not be the most objective*

[Mr.Right]

I think the Cortland win was a good one. However, the others they played including Plattsburgh were not up to snuff and had they played Oneonta we would have a better idea. Oneonta will play anyone anywhere so i highly doubt they were not interested or have been interested to get SLU on their schedule. Maybe UR dropped SLU but i would bet SLU declines to play Oneonta which is a shame.

[Ommadawn]

Mrlik is the next Charlie Kelly, but unlike Kelly will be back next year given his family's legacy at Vassar.     

Your post got me thinking about how Hobart's star might have risen had Kelly stayed (he would have been a senior this year) and about how important retention of players is to a program's success.  One wonders how things might have worked out differently had, for example, Nick Martinelli stayed at Skidmore (he also would have been a senior this year) and Austin Dilts remained at St. Lawrence (which reminds me, is Chandler Short, former LL RoY, still at SLU?). 

[SandyMac]

I think the Cortland win was a good one. However, the others they played including Plattsburgh were not up to snuff and had they played Oneonta we would have a better idea. Oneonta will play anyone anywhere so i highly doubt they were not interested or have been interested to get SLU on their schedule. Maybe UR dropped SLU but i would bet SLU declines to play Oneonta which is a shame.

Oneonta and SLU have been in talks to get each other on the calendar for a 2-3 year contract. They play each other in spring or presesason regularly, with SLU beating Oneonta last spring in Oneonta. Should be a great fixture for years to come.

Mrlik is the next Charlie Kelly, but unlike Kelly will be back next year given his family's legacy at Vassar.     

Your post got me thinking about how Hobart's star might have risen had Kelly stayed (he would have been a senior this year) and about how important retention of players is to a program's success.  One wonders how things might have worked out differently had, for example, Nick Martinelli stayed at Skidmore (he also would have been a senior this year) and Austin Dilts remained at St. Lawrence (which reminds me, is Chandler Short, former LL RoY, still at SLU?). 

Short is no longer at SLU. Not really sure what happened there.  I will tell you that SLU has some seriously dangerous players that were either injured or no eligible this year, on top of an elite recruiting class. Looking forward to seeing what happens there next year. 

[Saint of Old]

Short was a great Saint who would have only enhanced his legacy had he stayed.
He was also good for about 4 goals a year which is sorely missing in the squad.

Austin Diltz (as stated somewhere else earlier) was a special talent who is also missed, and the potential gem of this years freshman's class did not play...
Still, I think the team has a Saint or two on the roster now who are all-time greats and a few with the potential to be.

Hunger is the last ingredient needed to make a big run, we will see how much is there this weekend.

[Ommadawn]

The Saints definitely represented themselves and the league well in PA tonight.  They outplayed W&L from start to finish, but things did not go their way in PKs.  It's a tough way to go out for the seniors, but valuable experience for the rest of the squad. 

[deutschfan]

SLU loses in PKS. Injustice ended yet not rectified.  SLU can still tell recruits that they make the NCAAs every year no matter what their league performance.  SLU putting 7 on the all LL team with the most points for any team (3 for First Team, 2 for Second, 1 for HM) was also an injustice that also will never be remedied.  I know this board has a bunch of SLU supporters but this was a down year for SLU and it should have been recognized as that by the NCAA and the League.  I respect your assessment of their play tonight but going out in the first round is not representing the league well.   

[stlawus]

Brewers go down in OT.  The Vassar right mid got absolutely skinned on that goal.  CB whiffed on the clearance, slow moving ball as well.  Reminded me of Ronaldo's goal against Turkey in the 2002 World Cup.

[deutschfan]

With a couple of notable exceptions, SLU's win over Cortland, and Vassar's win over Rochester, this was a down year for the LL.  Vassar runs out of home luck on the road in a game that was not as close as the score line.  E-Town looks to go left the entire second half and it finally paid off in overtime. 

[Ommadawn]

I'm not so sure that Vassar ran out of luck so much as ran out of players    It looked like 3 starters from last week's LL title game played 0 minutes tonight and one of the replacements (on the right side IIRC) went out with an injury in the first few minutes of the game and did not return. Teams can never have too much depth at this time of the season!

[Mr.Right]

-1 for deutschfan as saying SLU did not represent the LL well is ridiculous. I thought they did not deserve their Pool C bid and if it was a SLU team of old they would have easily dispatched that W&L team. I did not catch the ETOWN v Vassar game but it sounds like a soft goal they up?

[deutschfan]

After many years on this board I was due to have my negative karma cherry broken.  As Tom Hanks said to Matt Damon at the end of "Saving Private Ryan"--"Earn this."  SLU did not earn its spot in the NCAA tourney and, once given the gift of post season life, didn't earn it there either.  One and done is not a distinguished showing.  Brandell gets the goal.  I didn't see the game so I don't know if the staff moved him forward to make up for the struggling offense.  If so, it was about time.  The goal against Vassar was a good run against a depleted right side.  Elizabethtown had fewer shots but better chances.  My hope next year is that the LL teams seek out top teams within the region and outside it, get quality wins, and maintain some consistency. 

[stlawus]

Yes they moved Brandell up into central midfield.  Played Barrel-Arteta as a sweeper.  I said from the beginning that I didn't think SLU should have made it.  To me a loss against Clarkson was enough to offset a quality win.  They were the better team in regulation IMO, but W&L defended well.  SLU has been absolutely awful in PKs in recent years, so I had a pretty bad feeling once OT ended. 

[Saint of Old]

Brandell did well in his midfield role.
Don't forget that this man led the team in scoring with 8 goals his sophomore year 2014 (before season ending injury in pre-season 2015.
Also had a few goals his freshman year and 2 game winners this year.
He is a great Saint and I for one hope he comes back next season.
It takes a special person/player to miss an entire year through injury, do all the hard work and rehab required and come back to play at a high level and captain a team where the competition is fiece.

As to the poster that opined the Saints were undeserving of a bid this year, and did not represent themselves well, I disagree.

Every Saint knows that we do not do well in penalties. We are very much like the English in that regard.
Losing in penalties is no shame, especially  when you out shoot and out posses the opponent by 60%.

Haverford, a very good team, lost today in penalties.
Penalties are a toss-up and anything can happen.
One thing that normally does is great players miss shots {Maybe the people who want it the most, place the most pressure on themselves)
Dr. Socratees
Zico
Roberto Baggio
Messi
to name a few.
The SLU #5 now finds himself on this list unfortunately, but it does not reflect negatively on how good these players or teams are.

Saints have work to do, and need strikers in a bad way (24 goals this season), but the team is very young and deep.

New Coach also deserves one more year at the helm I think to see his system and new way of doing things take hold, but I still think this teams best years are ahead of them.

As for a league as a whole, I also think the LL will be strong next year.
Vassar has some really good young Ballers
Hobart is legit with a great coaching staff
RPI as you know, can NEVER be counted out.
Clarkson are on an upswing
Skidmore were back to back tourney finalists.
Union finished strong and barely missed out.

Now, lets all cheer for the SUNYAC boyz!!!!

[Kick-grass]

Liberty League will be a tough league next year, and hopefully more teams from the conference will find themselves dancing in 2017. If you could pick 11 players from any team in the LL era, who would be on your All Star team