Liberty League

[deutschfan]

Great.  I was thinking all of these fans must have been from Manhattan given their intensity.  RIT plays Hobart next.  Only saw the second half but Clarkson did not look good.  That they achieved the 5th seed is somewhat miraculous.  Good job by the coaching staff.

[stlawus]

Nice win for SLU to live another day.  In control for most of the game, Skidmore only had 1 or 2 decent scoring chances.  Rare year where SLU beats Skidmore twice in one season. 

[deutschfan]

Home teams hold serve.  As seems to be the story for the league this year, no defense for keeper error.  McNamee has a nice strike but Skidmore's keeper could have done a lot of things other than deflecting it into the net.  SLU deserved the win.  Gonna be quite the soccer party in Geneva as the RIT, SLU, Vassar, and Hobart/William Smith men's and women's teams will be congregated there for the next round. 

[Ommadawn]

Nice win for SLU to live another day.  In control for most of the game, Skidmore only had 1 or 2 decent scoring chances.  Rare year where SLU beats Skidmore twice in one season.

I was unable to watch the game, unfortunately, but appreciate your assessment because the stats appear not to tell the story.  Skidmore had a decided advantage in shots (21 to 12) and shots on goal (10 to 3), but the Thoroughbred shots must have been from distance.  That's it for the Okoye/Santos era!  The path is clear for Dede to be MVP.

[stlawus]

There were a lot of blocked shots and weak shots that bounced into Smith.  Okoye had 2 or 3 good looks on goal that resulted in really weak efforts.  Smith wasn't really tested. 

[deutschfan]

Don't know if the voters take into account the finals performances.  I think the votes are already in by Saturday.  At this point there are at least 4 players that statistically had better years than Dede: Okoye, Novas, Kouroupas, Garno, and a fifth, H. Critchlow who leads the regular season champs in scoring despite being a defender and would get my vote if Okoye wasn't in the mix.     

[Saint of Old]

Statistics means nothing.
A Baller is a baller and like the supreme court justice said "when you see it you know it".
What the SLU #6 has is POISE ON THE BALL. Better than anyone in the entire league now or anyone I remember playing against or with.

Again, I am not saying he is good because he has 6 game winning or tying goals this year, scoring is not his thing.
He controls the game. Not many players have this ability.
This kid was ROY first team in 15
First team in 16
Most definitely will be first team this year as well.

But again, accolades and statistic makes not the player, just watch each game he plays and you will see objectively that this kid is a notch above most players.

I normally qualify statements tat there may be a SLU bias inserted, but in this case absolutely not, straight TRUTH.

[deutschfan]

Filled with exuberance after picking the first two games right, the following is my starting XI.  I have picked a player from every team with two defenders from Hobart as befits the regular season champs whose success was predicated on their defense.  While the league typically loads up the first team with players from the higher finishers, this year a case can be made for a representative of each of the teams and as Saint noted the SLU representative is a lock:
FWDS--Novas-Vas; Shenberger-Bard
MFS--Dede-SLU; Okoye-Skid; Lichtman-Ith; Garno-RIT
DS--H. Critchlow-Hob; Escamilla-Hob; Bisson-RPI; Homan-Clark
G--Weitzman-Uni

[Part_Bart]

Home teams hold serve.  As seems to be the story for the league this year, no defense for keeper error.  McNamee has a nice strike but Skidmore's keeper could have done a lot of things other than deflecting it into the net.  SLU deserved the win.  Gonna be quite the soccer party in Geneva as the RIT, SLU, Vassar, and Hobart/William Smith men's and women's teams will be congregated there for the next round.

Tip of the hat to Deutschfan's calls for first round games, but we diverge for semis and finals:

1100 game on Saturday, Hobart 1:0 over RIT (in OT, because it takes 30 shots for Hobart to score and getting 30 shots against RIT will take some time...). 
1330 game, SLU 2:1 over Vassar (SLU defense rounding into form very nicely, Vassar will struggle to find space for their creative efforts).

Bit of a homer tilt to Hobart (as RIT could easily have won the first time the played), but Hobart has given up 13 goals all season (three on keeper error) and will be very tough at home.

I'm going to pick Hobart to win championship (FULL homer bias), 1:0 again.
This said, if it becomes an RIT v. Vassar, I go RIT (2:1).
If final is RIT v. SLU. I go with SLU 1:0.

[Flying Weasel]

EAST REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 01, 2017

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Cortland State	15-2-0	0.580	4-2-0	15-2-0	1
2.	Oneonta State	13-1-2	0.593	2-1-2	13-1-2	2
3.	Rochester	11-2-3	0.586	3-2-2	11-2-3	4
4.	Buffalo State	14-2-3	0.561	2-0-2	14-2-3	3
5.	Plattsburgh State	12-6-1	0.597	1-5-0	12-6-1	--
6.	Hobart	8-4-4	0.573	1-2-1	8-4-4	5
7.	Vassar	9-4-3	0.561	0-2-1	9-4-3	8
8.	Brockport State	10-6-3	0.583	0-3-1	10-6-3	7

[Saint of Old]

Looks like only one team from LL will get a bid this year.

Also looks like curtains for anyone not named Cortland, Oneonta or Plattsburgh in terms of a possible Pool C bid out of the SUNYAC.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Looks like only one team from LL will get a bid this year.

Also looks like curtains for anyone not named Cortland, Oneonta or Plattsburgh in terms of a possible Pool C bid out of the SUNYAC.

Doesn't Buffalo State look pretty good too?

[Golden_Fan]

Looks like only one team from LL will get a bid this year.

Also looks like curtains for anyone not named Cortland, Oneonta or Plattsburgh in terms of a possible Pool C bid out of the SUNYAC.

Doesn't Buffalo State look pretty good too?

Buff State lost to Geneseo in their playoff game and Plattsburgh just beat Cortland yesterday to move on to the finals. I would think that Plattsburgh moves ahead of them

[SandyMac]

I'd love to see a Hobart-SLU rematch in the final. Seemed like a competitive game, despite the 45' red to SLU. 11v11 without 2 PK's and that's going to be a hell of a contest!

Big games on Saturday though...SLU owes Vassar some payback!

[Mr.Right]

Ahh after watching RIT on Tuesday I would not count them out of winning it. Granted I only saw the Half where they had a huge wind advantage at their backs and Clarkson looked dead after 55 minutes and did not get a sniff on net for the last 35 minutes BUT STILL..They have something going on and they are athletic enough to compete for LL Title..