Should do better, bounceback candidates, emerging programs, etc

[PaulNewman]

Mules lost in sweet 16 in 2014 on home field to Tufts. Mules got there by beating Baruch and advancing on PKs vs Catholic.

[NEPAFAN]

what about emerging teams? Under the radar, etc?

[Ejay]

Lycoming recruited Jared Moses .  They were able to snatch him because he spurned D1 offers due to a lack of full ride scholarship offers.  Don' t know how much academic money he is getting at Lycoming but he is a great addition.

It will be interesting to see where on the field he plays for Lycoming.  In this video from a single game, he displays a lot of valuable assets against DA competition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62T7ItNd_Bk

So this was interesting. Personally I didn't see a whole lot out of him in this video - certainly not full ride D1 caliber. Sure he looks pretty quick, but otherwise I wasn't overly impressed.  Would be curious what I'm missing that others see.  Maybe I'm just used to seeing better talent in the academies and programs around me.

[Mr.Right]

Lycoming recruited Jared Moses .  They were able to snatch him because he spurned D1 offers due to a lack of full ride scholarship offers.  Don' t know how much academic money he is getting at Lycoming but he is a great addition.

It will be interesting to see where on the field he plays for Lycoming.  In this video from a single game, he displays a lot of valuable assets against DA competition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62T7ItNd_Bk

So this was interesting. Personally I didn't see a whole lot out of him in this video - certainly not full ride D1 caliber. Sure he looks pretty quick, but otherwise I wasn't overly impressed.  Would be curious what I'm missing that others see.  Maybe I'm just used to seeing better talent in the academies and programs around me.

Yea i have no idea what i am watching in that video. Kids should always highlight who they are and I wasn't even sure who I was watching.

[Ejay]

Yea i have no idea what i am watching in that video. Kids should always highlight who they are and I wasn't even sure who I was watching.

Took me a minute to figure it out as well. You needed to read the intro scroll to see he was #32. After I identified him in the first/second clip, it was easy to find him in the rest of the video.  But like I said, not overly impressive.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Two that come to mind for me are Muhlenberg and Lycoming.  The Mules are 9-18-5 the last two years but I thought they were usually near the top of their conference??  Lycoming isn't necessarily a regular hotbed of talent, but they had a great 2 year run in '14 & '15 (23-5-5) before falling back to 9-6-4 last year.

Lycoming recruited Jared Moses .  They were able to snatch him because he spurned D1 offers due to a lack of full ride scholarship offers.  Don' t know how much academic money he is getting at Lycoming but he is a great addition.  I think Josh Cruz another DMV area player also going there.  Both USSDA players.

This is a great topic for discussion. I like the idea. As for this post I found that both these players are 3 stars on Top Drawer Soccer for whatever that is worth but not many 3 star players miss out on playing D1 soccer. I would imagine they were recruited heavily by mid-major D1 programs and chose to play elsewhere.

Sokermom may know more reasons as to why, but money and scholarships are usually main factors to these kinds of decisions to pass on D1 offers. I also found that both played for Pipeline SC together which won the U-17 National Title a few years back. Knowing each other may have helped them both end up at the same school. 3 stars, national champions, starting and playing with loads of other talented players that committed to D1 and D3 programs. Just from these findings I think Lycoming will be happy with these 2 newcomers.

Also Muhles and Lycoming are 2 good choices for disappointments. Muhles have struggled since 2014 tournament run and Lycoming had expectations through the roof last year that they couldn't match. I would imagine those expectations haven't changed for either program so we will see how they fare this upcoming fall. 

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

what about emerging teams? Under the radar, etc?

Speaking on behalf of the Mid-Atlantic region I would look for Eastern to be a strong contender to 1. fly under the radar after a head coaching change and 2. be an emerging program that will consistently compete in the region and NCAA's each year.

We have seen the emergence of Lycoming so now we will see if Eastern can hold onto their solid run over the last few seasons or if they will have a setback like others in the region have. 

[Mr.Right]

Yea after 2015 Lycoming was considered a serious contender for 2016. Credit to the coach for beefing up their schedule big time in 2016 because they cruised in their 2015 schedule but it was much weaker.  In all honesty that is easier to do when you are playing in a weaker conference because you give yourself a really good shot at winning your league so you can take some chances out of conference. However, the early schedule in 2016 really snuck up on Lycoming as they started 1-2-2 against some quality sides and then struggled in their conference. Maybe they were over confident or maybe they had injuries or whatever. They knocked off CWU and Oneonta St. but i think they failed to make their conference tournament. Their 2017 schedule looks stacked again but looks like they dropped Oneonta St

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Yea after 2015 Lycoming was considered a serious contender for 2016. Credit to the coach for beefing up their schedule big time but in all honesty that is easier to do when you are playing in a weaker conference because you give yourself a really good shot at winning your league. However, the early schedule in 2016 really snuck up on Lycoming as they started 1-2-2 against some quality sides and then struggled in their conference. Maybe they were over confident or maybe they had injuries or whatever. They knocked off CWU and Oneonta St. but i think they failed to make their conference tournament. Their 2017 schedule looks stacked again but looks like they dropped Oneonta St

I agree Mr. Right. Very difficult schedule last year and poor conference play didn't help the cause. They did miss playoffs on a tie-breaker if I remember correctly. Looks like they dropped F&M, Fords, Eastern, and Oneonta and picked up Rutgers-Camden, Dickinson, Washington College, and Medaille. Thoughts?

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Newmie, this will be an interesting year for Colby.  Seabrook inherited a solid group that made the NESCAC tournament his first year, but then the cupboard was bare and he brought in almost 20 freshmen, who now have considerable (albeit struggling) experience and will be juniors.  With some perennial NESCAC contenders rebuilding a bit, Colby will have a shot of returning to the conference playoffs.

Interesting.  To be fair, it's not easy to make up ground being in the NESCAC but they at least should be able to take care of business outside of the conference.  It is such an attractive school.  Full disclosure...Colby was son's dream school and he got in regular admission.  He was on the way to the bookstore to buy the gear when coach said he could come to preseason but that he might not have enough lockers given commitment to the early admissions crew.  So, ironically given what you wrote above, he chose the school that ended up bringing in exactly 20 freshmen.  Could not have worked out any better but a lot of luck and hard work involved.  So, reflecting back on the other thread, it's sometimes the "you would never believe it" factors like number of lockers that can impact decisions as much or more so than style of play and such.  And as a result of such chance happenings, I am now a Kenyon to the death fanatic.

As a regular reader and poster the last few years, I knew fully of your son's and your Kenyon connection and your devotion to that school, but had no idea that our sons nearly played together at Colby.  Too bad the coach's comment scared him off, because that coach always made room for good players . . .  Full disclosure on my part, my son was almost part of Class of 2016 at Kenyon.  Coach Brown recruited him pretty vigorously and we took the visit.  Very impressive, but my son just didn't want to be in Ohio . . .  So it ended up being Colby ED as second generation for the same coach.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Newmie, this will be an interesting year for Colby.  Seabrook inherited a solid group that made the NESCAC tournament his first year, but then the cupboard was bare and he brought in almost 20 freshmen, who now have considerable (albeit struggling) experience and will be juniors.  With some perennial NESCAC contenders rebuilding a bit, Colby will have a shot of returning to the conference playoffs.

Interesting.  To be fair, it's not easy to make up ground being in the NESCAC but they at least should be able to take care of business outside of the conference.  It is such an attractive school.  Full disclosure...Colby was son's dream school and he got in regular admission.  He was on the way to the bookstore to buy the gear when coach said he could come to preseason but that he might not have enough lockers given commitment to the early admissions crew.  So, ironically given what you wrote above, he chose the school that ended up bringing in exactly 20 freshmen.  Could not have worked out any better but a lot of luck and hard work involved.  So, reflecting back on the other thread, it's sometimes the "you would never believe it" factors like number of lockers that can impact decisions as much or more so than style of play and such.  And as a result of such chance happenings, I am now a Kenyon to the death fanatic.

If last year is any indication, Colby may have trouble with their out of conference games in 2017.  Their out of conference games are as follows:

Sept 5 - St. Joseph's of Maine - tough game, Colby lost to St. Joe's 1-0 in 2016 on a last second goal
Sept 12 - Thomas - (Colby beat Thomas 1-0 last year. Thomas has one of the better offensive players in New England, Adam LaBrie, who scored 17 goals as a soph last year)
Sept 20 - University of New England
Sept 26 - Gordon - tough game
Oct 3 - Husson - Colby lost to Husson 2-1 in 2016

On the other hand, if some of Colby's 20 freshman players from Seabrook's first year develop as one might expect, maybe they can turn things around.

Old Ned, this is an accurate assessment.  Those Colby juniors must finally come into their own and create a platform for the program going forward.

[blooter442]

I'm gonna give a shout to Wentworth as an emerging program. They return all but two starters and Noah Martins had 15g/6a last year as a sophomore. I like him as a striker a lot – quick, skilled, and can play up top or between the lines.

On the other side, I do think MIT should – if not performing better this coming season – have at least have had a better season last year. After making it to the Sweet 16 in 2015, they graduated Sean Bingham and lost almost half of their goals but, more worryingly, they lost a ton of one-goal games. Sure, that can mean that losses are "fine margin" defeats, but it also can be an indication of a lack of experience and leadership – surprising given that the Engineers returned a decent amount last year (admittedly, in addition to goals from Bingham, they lost a decent amount of the "spine" of the program, so that could explain the shortfalls).

[PaulNewman]

1970s Player, I appreciate your post.  I think Colby and Kenyon have a lot in common and end up on a lot of the same shorts lists for both athletes and non-athletes.  What the administration has done with Colby over the past 5-10 years is really impressive.  The other school I fell in love with from the college search days is Haverford. 

[PaulNewman]

Another category is what recent top teams are at risk for a drop.

In that vein, this will be an interesting year for Kenyon.  A couple of down years would not be unexpected given the end of the Clougher-Amolo-Glassman-Eudy-Lee era.  A lot of talent returns in the midfield with decent experience up front and a centerback duo that should be among the best in the country.  Replacing Clougher is probably the biggest question mark.  I think they are bringing in a kid who was the back-up GK at Berkshire (same prep school that provided Clougher, Amolo as well as Jack Harrison, Zeiko Lewis and a ton of other big-time D1 and D3 recruits).  Brown and asst Moore will deserve a ton of credit if the Lords can keep rolling without much of a blip. 

OWU should be back to being a top 10 team.

As for under the radar, I would again cite Oberlin and Wabash.  Maybe Rose-Hulman.

Wheaton (Ill) will be interesting to watch.

[D3soccerwatcher]

Since the departure of Coach Mike Giuliano from Wheaton(lL) along with the departure of a few of his powerhouse recruiting classes, it's been a bit of a downward slide at Wheaton.  I think there is at least a reasonable chance that they do not win the CCIW again this year and do not advance to the tournament.  The wildcard will be the strength of their incoming freshmen class and the possible addition of any transfers.