Liberty League

[Mr.Right]

RPI brings in a class of 12 with 4 freshman goalies that are 6'4 190 clones of each other.  With a returning junior starting captain goalie I just don't get it.  Maybe one of these 4 will get significant minutes over the next couple of years.

Agreed that is overkill but I imagine RPI's returning GK's job is not very safe for Clinton to bring in 4 GK's. When I saw RPI last year I was not impressed by their keeper all that much. That being said for RPI to get back to the top of the LL and even NCAA's they have to have the best GK in the league. In Clinton's system like Wesleyan in Nescac it us imperative to have a serious GK back there. In Wesleyan and RPI's best seasons they had amazing keepers who would keep their respective teams in games by making incredible saves and sometimes making 15-20 saves in games v top competition. With RPI heading to UR tonight we will see soon enough. If UR would stop charging $ to stream games I would have tuned in a bit tonight.

I agree with Saints predictions and agree RIT finished the year strong but not sure they are #2 just yet. Hobart should be #1 but Griffin teams tend to fade when big expectations are levied on them. I agree Skidmore and Clarkson will drop off. Ithaca will jump up but my surprise pick just a bunch will be Union

[d3d3d3]

Liberty League squads went 15-4-1 on opening weekend. Not too shabby. Half of those losses belong to RPI.

[Caz Bombers]

I watched Vassar clobber the defending Skyline champ (and preseason #1 pick) Mount Saint Mary 4-0 on the road last evening. Vassar had about 97 percent of the possession it seemed like, and was bigger/faster/stronger/deeper/more skilled at all 11 positions.

The Skyline is not a strong conference at all, granted, and MSMC looked kinda awful, but Vassar seems pretty good. They have Manhattanville next, probably another trouncing, but 3 of their next 4 are against solid opponents - we'll learn about the Brewers then.

[Mr.Right]

I think Hobart's 1-0-1 start is a really good sign. They have brought back much of the talent that won the LL in 2017. The Salisbury W and St.Mary's draw are a good sign as they are both usually decent teams and more importantly Hobart usually starts slow under Griffin. It would be nice to see them rolling into conference play. Both Skidmore and Union lost to New Paltz State who have either really improved and maybe get to the Top 4 in the SUNYAC(SUNYAC Coaches did not predict that in their pre-season poll) or Skidmore and Union will be dropping off. We knew Skidmore graduated 2 studs that cannot be replaced right away so they would drop out of the Top 6 but I thought Union would be able to compete for that 6th Play-off spot. They still could I suppose but with Clarkson getting 2 HUGE wins this weekend over very average teams to start 2-0-0 I think they will jump both Skidmore and Union in 2018. Clarkson I thought might struggle a bit with their coach leaving but they were so young last year and did not graduate much if anything from their LL Playoff appearance in 2017 maybe they will make a go of it this season with the former Coach's recruits.

[Mr.Right]

I forgot RPI...Predictably they start 0-2-0 and were shut out in both games..They had 13 SOG Total in the 2 games and their opponents had 11. They did lose to 2 tough teams in Nazareth and Rochester but some things just never change. If RPI cannot get the ball in the net again this year their results will not change from 2017

[deutschfan]

Mr. Right--Good to have your insightful comments back again.  At this point we still don't have a clue about the overall strength of the league.  RPI played only ranked team and lost a heartbreaker.  Sometimes teams respond to such adversity by crushing their next opponent, others collapse in dismay.  RPI chose the latter.  As you noted RPI's strength has never been scoring goals which explains why they recruited 4 goalies???!!!! If the SUNYAC pollsters are right a bottom half team put two losses on mid-level LL teams.  Nothing much heard from the SLU crowd after a season opening two wins because against each opponent they were two goals worse than Clarkson.  Agree after last season's start that Hobart's start is encouraging.  Other than Hobart all of the remaining undefeated LL teams are still question marks.

[Mr.Right]

Thanks...Out of curiosity I took a look at New Paltz roster and some highlights and they seem to me to be a decent outfit. They have been scoring goals at an impressive clip and I believe their #10 has 4 goals in 3 games already. They will play NYU and Vassar before SUNYAC play begins. They win those 2 games and they will start to get on their conference foes radar. Defensively it seems they leak goals so they need to clean that up but scoring 11 goals in 3 games against decent competition always gets my attention.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Thanks...Out of curiosity I took a look at New Paltz roster and some highlights and they seem to me to be a decent outfit. They have been scoring goals at an impressive clip and I believe their #10 has 4 goals in 3 games already. They will play NYU and Vassar before SUNYAC play begins. They win those 2 games and they will start to get on their conference foes radar. Defensively it seems they leak goals so they need to clean that up but scoring 11 goals in 3 games against decent competition always gets my attention.

I agree on your assessment of New Paltz so far this year.  They can be a hit or miss side, but are located in an ideal spot, with tons of excellent players within roughly an hour radius:  Hudson Valley, LaGrange, Capital District, etc.  Not everyone can go to Vassar, RPI, Union, Skidmore, or play D-1, so some years they are going to have a strong roster.  The Capital District has (or had at the beginning of this decade) a very strong U-23 summer league (in which one of my sons played for Bethlehem Knights), and the depth and quality of college age soccer players is/was impressive.

[Mr.Right]

Agreed..The Capital District has always been a soccer hotbed and you are correct that New Paltz should be able to get some pretty good players. The coach has also been successful as he started the program at Sage and after 5 years got them into the NCAA'S. He assisted former Williams GK Eric Watson when he was Head Coach at New Paltz 10 years ago in what was a some very strong New Paltz sides. Watson left for the Utica job and turned them around as well but has since disappeared since leaving Utica. Maybe he switched careers? Not sure

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Agreed..The Capital District has always been a soccer hotbed and you are correct that New Paltz should be able to get some pretty good players. The coach has also been successful as he started the program at Sage and after 5 years got them into the NCAA'S. He assisted former Williams GK Eric Watson when he was Head Coach at New Paltz 10 years ago in what was a some very strong New Paltz sides. Watson left for the Utica job and turned them around as well but has since disappeared since leaving Utica. Maybe he switched careers? Not sure

Did Watson's successor at Utica end up at Endicott?

[stlawus]

As a member of the SLU crowd, I will say that the team played well this weekend overall.  Controlled possession like they usually do.  The performance of this team this year will obviously rely on the veterans, as Dede and McNamee had a very good weekend.  The backline had a good game against Heidelberg, but struggled a bit against Alfred.  The backs looked fine, but I'm still a bit worried about CB when it comes to the counter.  The squad is deep this  year so we definitely haven't seen all the squad has to offer.  The freshman Zaccolaro impressed and I think he will play a big factor.  Augustine notched a nice goal so I hope he can keep pace this year.  He's started strong in years past and then tapered off halfway through the season.   Ultimately, like most years, if the team avoids any major injuries they will compete.  I still think Hobart is the team to beat.  Big game against Oneonta on Friday so I think we'll get a good sense of the squad after that one. 

[Saint of Old]

Totally agree.
You cannot judge the SLU team until after the weekend game against Oneonta.

The senior class had a good weekend and will need to continue to do the same for the team to be good this year.

I thought it was interesting that Dede scored what I think is his 11th or 12th collegiate goal over the weekend and atleast 10 of those were game winners or game tying goals. In addition to being a dominant player he scores timely goals.

Clarkson really surprised me. I did not have them as making the LL playoffs but I might have to reassess aftter their start.

I dont think they have the most challenging schedule, but I look forward to what they will give the league this year.
RPI not looking too good at the moment, but that could change with a good weekend.

Union was rocked by New Paltz, but it is much better to lose to a good team than beating CupCake University 10-0 before conference play begins.

[Mr.Right]

Hope some Saints fans can give me some info on something I have noticed going thru their roster. I am very curious on #19 Soph Sam Sapner. Looks like a starting defender since his arrival last year but IMPRESSIVELY he was named a Captain as a SOPH. That is something I have not seen IN YEARS. You would see this sometimes in the 80's and early 90's or maybe on very weak teams where a SOPH might be their best player. St.Lawrence is a different animal and are such a solid program so for them to name this kid a Captain say's A TON about this kid. He must be a tremendous leader. Comments on him if any of you know this kid or at the very least what is he like as a player? 

BTW big weekend for SLU going down to Oneonta. Should be a good predictor of SLU's 2018 season and a good prep for Conference play. If they can beat Oneonta on the road that could be their biggest and most important win in a couple years.

One more thing I noticed SLU is playing 15 games this season. This seems like less games in years past. Anything on this?

[stlawus]

Hope some Saints fans can give me some info on something I have noticed going thru their roster. I am very curious on #19 Soph Sam Sapner. Looks like a starting defender since his arrival last year but IMPRESSIVELY he was named a Captain as a SOPH. That is something I have not seen IN YEARS. You would see this sometimes in the 80's and early 90's or maybe on very weak teams where a SOPH might be their best player. St.Lawrence is a different animal and are such a solid program so for them to name this kid a Captain say's A TON about this kid. He must be a tremendous leader. Comments on him if any of you know this kid or at the very least what is he like as a player? 

BTW big weekend for SLU going down to Oneonta. Should be a good predictor of SLU's 2018 season and a good prep for Conference play. If they can beat Oneonta on the road that could be their biggest and most important win in a couple years.

One more thing I noticed SLU is playing 15 games this season. This seems like less games in years past. Anything on this?

As for Sapnar he played like a veteran last year as a freshman.   He was rather aggressively recruited and now we see why.  I noticed that he was a bit more special than most freshman during the game against Oneonta last year.  He's big, fast and composed on the ball.  The squad has been kind of starved for a true leader the last year or two and he simply filled a void with his hunger and determination.   He reminds me of Dan Hunt.   

As for the schedule, I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the budget.  The university's finances are not in the best shape right now, or at least they weren't during the last spring semester.  There was a huge donation made for Appleton renovations but I don't know if it's done anything to assuage the trepidation over the overall budget. 

[Mr.Right]

Big goal for SLU to go up 1-0 on Oneonta...Scrum off a corner and a failed clearance was all it took. Can they hold this?