Mid-Atlantic Region 2016

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

October 11, 2016
D3soccer.com Men's Top 25, Week 6
Through games of Sunday, October 9, 2016

#   School (1st Pl. Votes)   Record   Pts.   Prev.
1   Chicago (19)   12-0-0   991   1
2   Trinity (Texas) (3)   13-0-0   957   2
3   Rowan (1)   11-0-1   930   3
4   Ohio Northern   12-0-2   866   4
5   Amherst   9-1-1   816   8
6   Messiah   9-0-3   767   13
7   Franklin & Marshall   9-1-3   736   10
8   Mass-Boston   11-0-1   671   9
9   Kenyon   9-2-0   639   11
10   Washington & Lee   9-2-0   572   5
11   Calvin   10-2-0   553   6
12   Chris. Newport   11-2-0   545   16
13   Carnegie Mellon   9-1-1   532   17
14   Lynchburg   9-0-2   510   19
15   St. Lawrence   9-2-0   443   7
16   Oneonta State   10-2-1   415   21
17   St. Thomas   10-0-2   318   24
18   Haverford   8-2-2   306   12
19   Capital   10-1-1   303   25
20   Elizabethtown   8-2-1   296   22
21   Middlebury   6-1-2   238   14
22   Rochester   7-1-2   205   20
23   Washington U.   7-1-1   200   15
24   Springfield   11-0-1   174   —
25   Colorado College   9-2-1   139   23
Dropped out: No. 18 Macalester

Receiving Votes: Oberlin 64, Gordon 61, Redlands 57, Tufts 52, Macalester 42, Ohio Wesleyan 38, Cortland State 28, Lebanon Valley 21, Rutgers-Newark 14, Connecticut College 5, Maryville (Tenn.) 5, Kean 3, Dubuque 2

The D3soccer.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of coaches, Sports Information Directors and D3soccer.com staff, and is published weekly.

[rudy]

Lyco down 1-0 to Alvernia with 8 to go

Alvernia wins it 1-0
Lyco will have to win the tournament to get a return to NCAA's this year

With the way things are going for the Warriors they will be lucky to get a top 2 seed in the conference heading into playoffs. I can't see them missing playoffs all together, but I also didn't expect them to drop games/points to Misericordia, Arcadia, and Alvernia. A big disappointment so far for this team as they have not been able to handle the pressure and high expectations. I fully believe Messiah will be back in NCAAs one way or another, but the AQ is looking better each day for the Falcons.

Lycoming travels to Messiah on Tuesday night in a highly anticipated match. It's almost a must win for Lycoming, so I wonder how that will affect Messiah's preparation after a huge win at W&L over the weekend. Will Messiah come down off that high and refocus? Can Lycoming go on the road and get a much needed result? Tuesday night is a must watch for everyone.

Looking forward to Tuesday game with Lycoming. Home game for Messiah and hungry to avenge last years 2 losses I'm sure. But Lycoming will bring all they have in this one to try to salvage their season and turn momentum around. They are still a dangerous team. Messiah should pull out the win at home but anything can happen.

Earlier in the season I would actually have favored Lycoming, even on Messiah's large natural field.  But over the past couple weeks Messiah has clearly been playing better than Lyco, despite being without two of their best players who only just returned on Saturday (Thomas and Ruiz Plaza).  The Falcons are playing awfully well right now.  Obviously I hope they continue to play better every week, but that's up to them, isn't it?  As Rudy points out, "anything can happen," and sometimes it does. 

In terms of tournament implications, I think this game is actually much more important for Messiah than for Lycoming.  At this point, Lycoming must get the AQ, whereas if Messiah fails to get the AQ then a loss to Lycoming at home won't help their chances to get an at-large bid.  I'd be shocked if Lyco fails to qualify for the conference tournament--they are far too good a team for that.  So, if I'm Lyco, of course I want to beat Messiah twice, but if I can beat the Falcons just once it's the AQ that really matters.

This year is shaping up as a truly competitive one in the MAC Commonwealth.  LVC and Hood are both playing very well, so there are four teams with non-trivial chances of grabbing the AQ.  Messiah beat LVC 1-0 on the road, so that contest is already in the books, and they play Hood at home later this month.  If we ignore Hood's 2-0 loss to Rowan, they have only one blemish so far.  Admittedly they have not played another team that jumps out at you, but they know what to expect from the Falcons and they will surely be motivated to get a result.

I note that LVC plays at Hood tomorrow afternoon and at Lyco next Wednesday afternoon.  At that point we should have a much clearer idea about how this will shake out, even before Hood plays Lyco at home on Oct 22, three days before they play at Messiah.

Lvc vs Hood and Messiah vs Lycoming tomorrow. Could be preview of MACC conf semi finals?

Messiah over Lyco 2-0 (dominated them by more than the score I think)
Hood can't keep up the goal production and loses 1-0 to LVC

[Falconer]

 I agree with Rudy that the Messiah-Lycoming game wasn't as close as the 2-0 score.  The Falcons looked awfully good, and it could have been 4-0 or even 5-0 if not for great saves by the Warrior keeper: I was quite impressed by his play, though his back line didn't look very good on several occasions.

Lycoming has a lot of size and decent speed, but overall the Falcons are faster.  The play was very physical, often chippy as the official let a lot of things go.  On three occasions he stopped the clock to talk to Warriors, apparently for objecting to his calls, but he did not pull his card on any of those occasions.  Each team received one yellow, properly given, for fouls.  A lot of fouls were called, but IMO at least as many more should have been called.  Quite a few plays were pretty to watch, despite the constant fouling. 

Lyco put together a couple of nice possessions, but mostly they were dangerous on set plays.  Messiah was dangerous often, usually in the run of play.  Their one-touch passing game was on display even in the face of intense pressure.  I'd have to say that at this point they are playing the best soccer they've played since 2014, tournament level soccer that can take them a long way if they finish some of the looks it's generating.  Defensively there were very few lapses and many excellent individual and team defensive plays.

The second goal, by Samuel Ruiz Plaza, was simply brilliant: a rocket from maybe 25 yards out that curled to the left and into the upper 90.  More than any other member of the team, he seems capable of that type of shot.  He had another long rocket last week vs W&L and a few last season also.  A very dangerous player to leave open.  His absence (owing to injury) for two stretches this fall has definitely been reflected in the low scores of several recent games prior to W&L, when he was back in the lineup again.

[Flying Weasel]

Ruiz Plaza's goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhcGh8FZ_HY

[D3soccerwatcher]

A beautiful goal by Ruiz Plaza and a controlling performance by Messiah over rival Lycoming. The overall stats are probably a truer reflection of the game than the actual score.

Goals:
MC - 2
LC - 0

Shots
MC - 20
LC - 5

Corners:
MC - 12
LC - 3

Fouls:
MC - 7
LC - 18

[TribeFan]

Looking at the remaining games on Lyco 's schedule, do you think it is possible that they don't finish in the top 4 and don't make the this year's conference tourney?

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Looking at the remaining games on Lyco 's schedule, do you think it is possible that they don't finish in the top 4 and don't make the this year's conference tourney?

Top 5 make playoffs with a 4v5 play in game for the Commonwealth. Is it possible that they drop some more games this season...for sure, but with that being said I believe they will make playoffs. From their who knows what happens.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

I watched a majority of the game last night online. Messiah's commentary and video quality has to be one of the best in the country. Always a joy to watch solely for the quality. As for the game, Messiah was on another level last night. They were quick and precise with their passes and movements. The one thing they still lack (only somewhat) is finishing. They don't have a goal scorer that can put the team on their back when needed. I will be interested to watch how that progresses over the remainder of the season. From the beginning of the season to now they have improved greatly. The Falcon faithful should be excited for NCAAs in November!

Lycoming fought hard but they were no match for Messiah. They have a lot of work to do to become competitive again come conference playoffs, assuming they will make it. They have their work cut out for them though with Hood and LVC still remaining on the schedule. From watching Lycoming multiple times this season, it seems as they are digressing rather than progressing. We will see if that gets turned around or if they will stay in a funk.

I do not anticipate the Warriors beating the Falcons this year.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Lycoming has a lot of size and decent speed, but overall the Falcons are faster.  The play was very physical, often chippy as the official let a lot of things go.  On three occasions he stopped the clock to talk to Warriors, apparently for objecting to his calls, but he did not pull his card on any of those occasions.  Each team received one yellow, properly given, for fouls.  A lot of fouls were called, but IMO at least as many more should have been called.  Quite a few plays were pretty to watch, despite the constant fouling. 

Falconer I have to disagree with this statement. I think the game was normal and what you would expect for a college soccer game. I don't think it was overly physical or dirty by any means. I can only recall one occasion of it getting chippy when the Messiah player (Robbins I believe) took down the Lycoming player from behind and got a yellow card for it. That was the only malicious challenge in the game. The fouls called on Lycoming were due to Messiah's speed causing mistimed tackles. This isn't because they were dirty or trying to foul, but more simply they were to slow to anticipate a tackle. This is a common theme for many teams when facing Messiah. If anything I thought the official missed a couple fouls on Messiah that should have went for Lycoming but it wouldn't have made a difference in the result. I am not sure how many college soccer games you watch, but if you want to watch a physical game check out Rowan vs Camden tonight.

[Falconer]

Lycoming has a lot of size and decent speed, but overall the Falcons are faster.  The play was very physical, often chippy as the official let a lot of things go.  On three occasions he stopped the clock to talk to Warriors, apparently for objecting to his calls, but he did not pull his card on any of those occasions.  Each team received one yellow, properly given, for fouls.  A lot of fouls were called, but IMO at least as many more should have been called.  Quite a few plays were pretty to watch, despite the constant fouling. 

Falconer I have to disagree with this statement. I think the game was normal and what you would expect for a college soccer game. I don't think it was overly physical or dirty by any means. I can only recall one occasion of it getting chippy when the Messiah player (Robbins I believe) took down the Lycoming player from behind and got a yellow card for it. That was the only malicious challenge in the game. The fouls called on Lycoming were due to Messiah's speed causing mistimed tackles. This isn't because they were dirty or trying to foul, but more simply they were to slow to anticipate a tackle. This is a common theme for many teams when facing Messiah. If anything I thought the official missed a couple fouls on Messiah that should have went for Lycoming but it wouldn't have made a difference in the result. I am not sure how many college soccer games you watch, but if you want to watch a physical game check out Rowan vs Camden tonight.

I respect your opinion, MAF, and I realize that it's probably based on a larger base of soccer experience than I can bring.  If you are like many others here, then you played collegiate soccer yourself; I never did.  You've probably also seen more games than I have, too, and involving a larger number of teams.  I also agree with you that some fouls by Falcons were not called, and that the tackle resulting in a yellow for a Falcon was chippy--more so indeed than the yellow given to a Lycoming player.  If you reread my account of the game, I did not say that all the fouls were committed by Lycoming.  I did say that the Warriors appeared to have a problem with complaining about calls, b/c the evidence in front of me amply supported that conclusion.  You said yourself the other day that this can be a problem with this particular team this year.

I have seen only a small number of games live (as vs on TV or streamed) that did not involve Messiah, and only a few of those (one of which was a national title game) were high level games.  However I've seen hundreds of games involving the Falcons, so my basis for comparison is not entirely negligible: it's simply a comparison with other games involving Messiah through the years, quite a limited basis but at least a relevant one. The game with Lycoming was probably the highest this year, in terms of the sum total of fouling (both called an uncalled), but certainly not as high as some others in previous years.  If I were to identify some other candidates in recent years, LVC and some NJAC teams would certainly be on that list, though LVC this year is much more talented and much less chippy.  (A few years ago, a Falcon team suffered two or three major injuries in a single game in New Jersey, all the result of cheap shots.  I saw nothing like that last night, I'm glad to say.  That's a big reason, I suspect, why Messiah doesn't usually schedule games in New Jersey: why put up with that, if you don't have to?)  So far this year, I'd say that Lycoming is the leader in that category.

Let me add that most streaming (even the Messiah streaming) is not good enough to show all of the little stuff, like grabbing a shirt or an arm for just a moment as a player runs past, and there was a great deal more of that last night than I usually witness, almost all of it uncalled.  Yes, the Falcons did a bit of that themselves, but most of it came from the Warriors, perhaps partly b/c the Falcons had the majority of possession.  That type of foul doesn't result from missing tackles--which is (as you say) a normal occurrence in games that involve fast teams. 

So, that's the basis for my opinion, MAF.  If we still disagree, I readily grant the possibility that your basis of comparison is larger than mine. I wish you well.

[Falconer]

PS for MAF:

Earlier this afternoon I ran into three friends who also were at the game last night, two of whom played soccer in college.  I didn't sit with them last night, but the first thing they all said when I mentioned being there was how physical that game was.  So, I'm not the only one who thought so.  I suppose that if you watch a lot of Jersey games, as perhaps you do, you'd see it differently.  They didn't.

What we all saw is consistent with the high foul count and card count for Lyco this year.  That's just how they are playing everyone, apparently.  If they play Messiah again in a few weeks, maybe they will approach it differently.  If so, that will be fun to watch--they have some very good players (not just the keeper), and I'd like to see just how good they can be when they play straight up.

[Shooter McGavin]

Here are the foul counts by year for each time they have played each other...

2016:
Messiah 7
Lyco 18

Messiah won 2-0

2015:
Lyco 22
Messiah 12

Lyco won 2-0

Lyco 24
Messiah 15

Lyco won 1-0 (MACC final)

My point for providing these numbers is that last night's game was relatively low in fouls compared to last year's clashes between the two heavyweights. There was 25 total in last nights game...Lycoming had 24 and 22 alone in two games last season. So to say that last night's game was overly physical is a stretch.

It was a good game for Messiah and being at home definitely helped them moved the ball and space out. They will be tough to beat for anyone this season. Lycoming looked a little slow and gassed but they have some size and athleticism which should help in their other conference games.

I still anticipate a Lyco @ Messiah final come November, but there are lots of games to be played until then.

[rudy]

NSCAA regional poll question. Not a big deal but I'm curious about F&M being ranked #1 over Messiah in regional rankings. Up to this past week you could argue F&M had more quality wins but after Messiah beat W&L 4-0 and easily handled Lycoming...is there an argument that Messiah could or should be ranked #1? Common opponents favors Messiah a bit and Messiah has no losses. Messiah ties have been against teams  with better records than the ties for F&M. I'm assuming until F&M has another blemish they will remain ahead of Messiah but curious if the polls would ever move a team up even if team ahead of them does not add a new blemish

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

NSCAA regional poll question. Not a big deal but I'm curious about F&M being ranked #1 over Messiah in regional rankings. Up to this past week you could argue F&M had more quality wins but after Messiah beat W&L 4-0 and easily handled Lycoming...is there an argument that Messiah could or should be ranked #1? Common opponents favors Messiah a bit and Messiah has no losses. Messiah ties have been against teams  with better records than the ties for F&M. I'm assuming until F&M has another blemish they will remain ahead of Messiah but curious if the polls would ever move a team up even if team ahead of them does not add a new blemish

My guess would be that Messiah will move ahead of them here shortly. Yes they could jump them even if both don't lose going into the next poll.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Falconer---good conversation and insight. If you have time watch the Rowan game tonight or at least a portion of it try and do so just for comparison sakes. Physicality is all in the eye of the beholder as well. I am use to watching Lycoming a handful of times a season so it doesn't phase me as much as others with their high foul totals. As for Messiah it surprises me when they do have a high foul total because that's not the norm for them. All depends on the team. I thought comparing last night to other Lycoming games I have seen it was a relatively quiet night in terms of fouls and aggressive play. For Messiah I thought they were about as physical as you would expect them to be. This game didn't scream fouls galore. It was a normal game in my eyes but for some it might have been more than they are use to. Regardless it was a solid game to watch as a neutral fan and Messiah has something good going for them right now. They were a joy to watch last night. By far the best I have seen them play this season.