MIAC 2016

[gustiefan04]

Gustavus played their first preseason game yesterday, 5-1 win over NAIA Viterbo. Admittedly not the strongest opponent, but a convincing win none the less.

GAC looks to be a very young squad this year - only 2 seniors and 5 Juniors on the varsity roster. They look to have brought in a strong recruiting class wth several freshman seeing significant minutes last night.

The non-conference schedule appears to be a notxh or two stronger from last season, so hopefully the boys will be better prepared for the grueling conference fixtures.

How are the rest of the MIAC teams shaping up?

[CarlEtonDad]

Good to see the MIAC board up and running this year!!  It's always a gustie who starts it.  And for some odd reason it wasn't started last year.  I guess no one likes to brag about 7th Place!!!  Anyways,  I wouldn't get excited about a win over viterbo in which you concede a goal.

Enough about the gusties, who I suspect will round out the playoff picture in 5th or 6th place (why there are 6 teams???, I'm still waiting for a good explanation.) Here's a few comments I have on each MIAC team this year.

The favorites:
Macalester: It will take some time for them to come together. Their relentless defensive pressure fits their personnel and their field. They should be tough to beat.

St. Thomas: Year after year, they are the most athletic and the most talented, but they never seem to put it all together. I think this might be the year, but I've said that before.

St. John's: The most gritty team in this league. They should factor in to the title race.

Playoff teams:
CarlEton: They lose 11 seniors but are still very pace-y up front. They won't play the prettiest soccer but should be an exciting team this season.

St. Olaf: No scoring threat for them this season and the Ole defense has never been among the MIAC's best. They do return some talent though.

GusDavis: let the gusties toot their own horn

Won't roll-over:
Dogsburg: Should be in the playoff race, but even the 6 team bracket has not been large enough for them

Bethel: Always have a signature win.

Hamline: Lose their star forward but the program has been improving of late.

May roll-over:
St. Mary's: their 2015 play left something to be desired

Concordia: it's never easy to travel to Fargo


So that's it! I see the league being anyone's for the taking this year. I couldn't pick out one favorite if I had to do so. St. Thomas is the most talented team, but I don't think any sober man would bet on them. What do others think?

[gustiefan04]

A real tough guy for a first time poster...

GAC was certainly in the dumps last year, but the CarlEy's weren't exactly setting the world on fire in 2015 either.

Looking to this year the Knights have a very weak non-conference schedule. And lost McGarrity who was far and away their best player. Tough void to fill...

St Thomas will chock, per usual. I wouldn't expect any better from them.

MAC was a bit of a surprise last year. They return several key guys. Will be interesting to see if they can sustain last years level. 

[repete]

Oof ... what a horrible opener for the Johnnies. Dominated between the 18s, but they couldn't finish and are really missing Lebahn in the net. Keeper gave up an ugly  tying goal in 2nd half. It was windy as heck but I could not tell if he was way off his line or just fooled. Until then, I couldn't imagine why any shooter would go high ... his footwork was terrible. But he looked completely baffled out there.

Rarely will SJU have such as technical edge in the field and they wasted it with a lack of finishing ability -- of 31 shots, nine were on frame (vs. 9 of 11 for a mediocre Carroll team).

It gets a lot tougher tomorrow with MSOE. Maybe Haws was letting his older keeper play himself out of the job ... 
---- 

Sunday update -- So they put the freshman in goal and ... a clean sheet win vs. MSOE. A flip of how I thought the weekend might go.

[CarlEtonDad]

Interesting 1st week with some things that caught my eye.

The Good:
Macalester:  good OT win over UWS  then go to Whitewater and tie. Strong start for the MIAC champs

Hamline:  surprising 2-1 start with wins over Carroll and MSOE. Something the Johnnies couldn't do.

The Indifferent:
UST: 1-0-1 at their own tourney, a real nothing start

St. John's: 1-1 in Wisconsin

St. Mary's: they beat Martin Luther

Concordia: took CC to 2OT but struggled with Buena Vista

The Bad:
CarlEton: Looked great with 3-0 win over UM-Morris then failed to show up for Luther and couldn't close out win over weaker North Central squad

Augsburg: 0-2 out west, not real surprising

Bethel: got embarrassed by Simpson 4-1

The UGLY:
St. Olaf: tying Northwestern!!! Then 3-0 losers to Dubuque!!! What is happening on the other side of Northfield?!

GAC: 0-3, 10 GA, does it get worse than this?

[KICKIN95]

WTH is going on with GAC?  5-3 loss against Wartburg, a pretty darn good team, but not a team that should score 5 goals on you.  4-1 loss against St Scholastica which does have fire power, but again just a good team, and then the icing on the cake is 1-0 loss to Knox!?! I am sorry but Know is not even a good team.  I guess I am just used to putting GAC in a higher light, they were alway a force to be reckoned with.  Maybe just one of those cyclical things, there has to be a down period at some point.

[gustiefan04]

GAC is definitely in a rebuilding phase. Not sure why recruiting quality dropped off for a few years, but they have some strength in the Sophomore and Freshman classes, and in pretty good numbers.

GAC looks pretty good when in possession, but got beat up in the back pretty good in the first two matches.

GK's were badly out of position on two of Wartburg's goals, and the outside backs got caught ball watching a number of times leaving a Wartburg player wide open on the far post too often. Wartburg should be pretty solid this year. I suspect they will finish toward the top of the IIAC.

CSS has some fire power up tope. But I felt GAC really beat themselves in this one. The goals they conceded in the first half were weak. from the video feed, it looks as though a GAC header put the ball in the net. I didn't get the see the second half.

Missed the Knox game, but I think they are a better side than they get credit for. Good speed, and play high pressure. GAC's backline seems to have improved, only giving up 1 goal, but the Gusties couldn't find the net themselves.

Martin Luther is on the schedule for today. This should be a good opportunity for GAC to notch their first win before heading out East for some interesting non-conference matches.

Certainly disappointing to see GAC in the dumps. Hopefully they can build off the young talent and continue to get those guys valuable game minutes this year.

I'll be interested to see how the MIAC teams perform this weekend. A few interesting match ups:

MAC vs. Lake Forest (2015 MWC Champs)

St. Johns vs. Wartburg & Luther

Olaf vs. CSS

GAC vs Salisbury

[CarlEtonDad]

CarlEton faces off with Crown tomorrow on the road!! It should be a test for the Knights who are coming off a thrilling win over Simpson. Hopefully, I can make it out to St. Bonifacius for the tilt!!

[gustiefan04]

Conference play kicks off today!

MAC at GAC
St. Olaf at Bethel
St. Thomas at St. John's
Hamline at Concordia
St. Mary's at Augsburg

MAC at GAC and Tommies at Johnnies are probably the most compelling of today's match ups.

The MAC vs GAC games isn't really close on paper. MAC should run away with it. But this has always been a heated rivalry, and they are on the Gusties home pitch. A GAC win or draw, although unlikely, but be huge for the psyche of this young team.

UST at SJU should be a fast paced, fun game to watch. I'm thinking we'll se a handful of goals in this one...

[repete]

Good call on the pace of the Tommie-Johnnie game, even though goals did not follow in 1-all match. Intense throughout.

It would be interesting to see a possession clock. Shots were 24-5 SJU with corners 9-1 (UST did not have one until second OT). And SJU had one disallowed, while UST scored on PK. Fun game to watch.

[gustiefan04]

MAC vs GAC was a very defensive game.. GAC put one off the post late in the second half. Gusties felt they earned a Pk as well on a no call, handball. Couldn't see from the camera, so no opinion on that one.

Generally speaking, neither team looked very potent in the attack. Both teams did a nice job working the ball up field, usually wide, but services to the box were met with only 1-2 players trying to win the ball against 6-7 defenders in front of goal.

MAC goal came when their striker got in behind the GAC defense. The Gustie keeper made the initial breakaway save, only to have the ball rebound right back to a trailing MAC player who had a look at open goal from about 20 yards out.

[CarlEtonDad]

I have to be honest that no score really surprised me. Mac are good because they are tough to score on and play as hard as anyone in the country. They play a lot of close games and rely on their grit to win many of them. Olaf tying Bethel goes along with each of these teams up and down starts. Hamline and Augsburg take advantage of weak opponents to get 3 points. The shot disparity and corner kick disparity in SJU's favor strikes me in their match with UST. And CarlEton is still sitting pretty at 0-0.

[CarlEtonSon]

Tomorrow will be interesting... The Scots, Tommies, and Johnnies all have winnable games so it'll be interesting to see if they can take care of business. GAC v Olaf looks to be the game of the weekend for the neutral. A couple up and down (or mainly down for the Gusties) starts, a couple leaky defenses, and St. Zero's cabbage patch of a field means that this one should be full of excitement. Augsburg v CarlEton is shaping up as a classic MIAC fixture- the two teams share a great enthusiasm for the season and a mild, Minnesota competitive spirit, meaning that this one should be occasionally chippy but ultimately friendly. My guess is that the Carls take a hard-fought match 1-0 thanks to a stingy defense and timely finishing.

[CarlEtonDad]

What's gotten into the Johnnies? I mean their record wasn't great before this weekend but they were at least hanging in there with some decent teams (Luther, Wartburg, UST). But they've laid a fat egg with their last two results. Now they are 1-3-3.

Other news: Augsburg losing to Northwestern? How is Northwestern this year? They've forged results against the Oles and the Auggies and certainly ran a scare thru the Tommies. They've got CarlEton at home tomorrow. I guess I won't expect 9-0 affair like when the Knights visited a few years ago.

[repete]

RE: SJU -- Dominated Simpson but lose on an own goal in OT. Ouch!