Liberty League

[TyWebb]

First time post here although have read D3 Boards for a few years with interest. Just wanted to note that with the victory over Clarkson on Saturday Coach Griffin secured his 200th win at Hobart College. Don't know how many active D3 coaches have that many wins with the same program, at least in the North East, but it must be a relatively small group.

Two that jump out at me are Coach Skip Roderick from Elizabethtown and Jon Anderson of Babson. Their team's played each other for what I believe was the first time in their careers
earlier this season. There were a combined 900+ victories on the sideline that evening but fittingly the game ended in a 0-0 tie.

[PaulNewman]

First time post here although have read D3 Boards for a few years with interest. Just wanted to note that with the victory over Clarkson on Saturday Coach Griffin secured his 200th win at Hobart College. Don't know how many active D3 coaches have that many wins with the same program, at least in the North East, but it must be a relatively small group.

A very cursory search in the Hobart sphere revealed Guinn at Union, Jennings at Vassar, and Apple at Rochester.

Now imagine 700+....that's Jay Martin at OWU.  500+ was a big deal for Coven at Brandeis just a couple of years ago.

[Red Dog]

700 wins (let alone 500) seems nearly unattainable, and simply incredible. That would be, say, 15 wins a season for over 45 years!

[Ejay]

Some great data here, though it is 2 years old.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_soccer_RB/2017/2016coaches.pdf

[PaulNewman]

700 wins (let alone 500) seems nearly unattainable, and simply incredible. That would be, say, 15 wins a season for over 45 years!

You almost nailed it.  This is his 42nd season.  Making the post-season virtually every year with decent to very good NCAA runs doesn't hurt either.

[Red Dog]

Some great data here, though it is 2 years old.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_soccer_RB/2017/2016coaches.pdf

This does have great data and shows the remarkable careers these coaches have. Seems to be overall wins and not necessarily all at one school. Griffin is close to 300 I believe but just hit the 200 milestone for his current institution.

[Mr.Right]

Massive weekend in the LL should give us a good idea of how this thing will all play out for 2018. Big Fri/Sat doubleheader for every team starting today. The game of the weekend will be tomorrow with Vassar at SLU that depending on how Hobart does this weekend could decide the LL Regular Season Champion. Vassar did beat SLU twice last season both Home and Away. Hobart has 2 games at Home this weekend against Union and RPI and if they continue to play like they have the past couple weeks they should Win both of those games. They have not conceded a goal in 3 weeks but still look to be struggling scoring goals against organized compact defenses. RPI should present a possible problem on Saturday but I think Hobart can sneak a goal and shutdown RPI. Ithaca has been nationally ranked for a few weeks now and are 8-1-3 with a couple good results but are only 1-1-2 in the LL with the only Win being against Bard. I think we have 3 teams in Vassar, SLU and Hobart that are sitting in a real solid spot and are ahead of the rest of the pack. Even though Skidmore is 2-1-1 and have a couple decent results I still cannot put them into the Top shelf of the league because they are closer to the pack and have a difficult road trip this weekend. Basically you have 4 teams fighting for 3 berths. If you are not ready to give up on RIT and Union you have 6 teams fighting for 3 spots. I mean RIT is only 5 points out of 6th Place so if they beat RPI and Skidmore at Home this weekend they are right back in the hunt. Union's victory over RPI last weekend gives them a fighting chance with Bard still left on their schedule however Union is the type of squad that would come out flat v Bard and not Win...If Clarkson could get a Draw v Vassar today they would have Bard tomorrow and pick up 4 pts this weekend but Clarkson has struggled with Vassar in recent memory going 1-5-1 the past 7 years but the one Win over Vassar was at Home in 2014.

[Mr.Right]

Just going off of some quick glance box scores so correct me if I have the vibe of these games wrong but........


--Ithaca dominates Skidmore scoring on a PK and adding an insurance goal while only allowing Skidmore 1 SOG all game and beating them 2-0. Skidmore is such a different team away from Home.

---RIT snags its first conference win over RPI 2-1. Looks like a typical RPI match with 8 total SOG for both teams. RIT went into halftime up 1-0 but RPI came out 2nd Half and evened things up before RIT got the GW'ing goal in the 70th minute. Looks like it was an even game but RPI is leaking goals this year more than years past. RIT right back in the race for 5th/6th with that win but they realistically need another Win tomorrow because if Skidmore beats them they not only get 0 pts they give a team they are chasing 3pts.

----Clarkson with a bit of a shocker with a Win in OT over Vassar at Home 1-0. Stats show an open game that I would not of predicted but Clarkson had 9 corners and 5 SOG. Maybe Vassar looking ahead to SLU tomorrow?

----SLU beats Bard 2-0 and out shoots them 23-3. Bard had 1 SOG all game...Still it would be a 3 horse race to Win the league if Vassar beats SLU tomorrow.

-----Hobart defeats Union 1-0 to continue its good form the past few weeks as they have now won 5 games in a row. Union was held to 2 SOG but I am uessing they were well organized defensively and frustrated Hobart on the day as Hobart did not get the GW'ing goal until the 83rd minute.

[PaulNewman]

Never understood why Union doesn't do better.  Another school I liked a lot touring around colleges.

[Saint of Old]

Union needs a tougher non-league schedule simple as that.

What a Friday in the LL.

Clarkson's win over Vassar is definitely the result of the day. Clarkson now with one foot in the playoffs.
Hobart with both feet fully planted and should be playing in November after a rough start to the year.

Should be a barn burner in Canton tomorrow between Vassar and SLU.
Winner might get a bye along with Statesmen.

RIT is still alive!!
RPI is still alive!!
Skidmore should be in but must play better to avoid a #6 seed.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Union needs a tougher non-league schedule simple as that.

This is actually not the answer, although I do agree that tougher opposition always helps.  For whatever reason, recruiting has dropped off since 2005-2010.  Union won the league circa 2006, and was in back-to-back LL conference championship games in 2008 and 2009 (losing 2-1 to Hobart in 2 OT).  They had an All-American (Sebastiaan Jansen) in 2012. If the program can attract that caliber of player again, it will compete for LL titles.

[Saint of Old]

I agree that Jansen (Along with Beek from Skidmore and Gorman from SLU) are the most dangerous strikers in the LL over the last generation.


One amazing player or even 2 is not enough for Union to turn it around.

I would point to a team like Alfred, who got beaten up a lot early in the non-league season, but because of scheduling a few big boys early on the team was acclimated to stronger competition.

I could be wrong, but I feel lie acclimating to competition happens more in soccer than any other sport.
Your team gets used to a certain level of competition and the better players will rise and adapt.

This is why I think, many of the big boys play D1  teams in preseason etc, just to get used to a faster pace, sharper passing and quicker brain speed for their players before the season starts.

If you play cupcakes (too many) then similarly, the team will adapt downwards, even good players will get into bad habits. Wingers wont close space quickly and wont get punished against bad teams and hen face a squad whose #3 will switch quickly over the top quickly and boom, you are down 1-0 in the first minute of the game.

I have a lot of respect for Union, and with their shock win over RPI they are not done yet, but they have players to compete.
They are not getting blown out by LL competition, just losing by the odd goal, so therefore the talent gap is not where a Bard is right now.

[deutschfan]

Union had a quality striker after Jansen, Carl Faber ended his career with 28 goals, 11 more than Beek.  Faber probably is in the top ten of all LL career goal scorers along with Jansen.  I think Saint and others are right--it is the schedule.  You can't be prepared for a grueling LL slate playing low echelon DIII teams.  On a different note, yesterday's result for Vassar is a nightmare.  With Bard as Vassar's travel partner SLU gets to play 21 and coast while Vassar loses to a quality side in overtime.  If SLU dominates today it is because of Vassar's heavy legs from a grueling back to back, with an assist to SLU from the weakest sister in the league.
'

[stlawus]

Perfect weekend for SLU.  Played a great game today against Vassar to secure 6 points on the weekend while RPI took down Hobart rather comfortably 2-0.  That is the RPI that showed up against SLU.    Good weekend for Clarkson as well, as they control their fate for a playoff spot. 

[Saint of Old]

Crazy day in the league today.
RPI will get in.
Vassar are in despite loss, but must battle SLU and Hobart for the right to finish top 2.
Hobart stumbles against a LL foe for the first time since 2016 but at 5-1-1 still likely to win the league
Clarkson should get in. Brilliant season so far by their new coach.
RIT now off life support but still in critical condition.
SLU fighting Hobart for the top spot it seems.
Skidmore still has a chance but must start winning soon.
Ithaca has the best record in the league but only the 4th best record in the league.
Union not mathematically out yet, but...
Bard can hold its head up with solid performances and will still seek a league scalp before this thing is wrapped up.