Mid-Atlantic Region

[SimpleCoach]

Kenyon was just robbed a tying goal for a pretty fantastical off side call.  Pretty good game to start the day.

SC.

If this is in reference to the counter after the corner with under 5 minutes left in the first half, I'm guessing the AR called the offside as the Kenyon player was not level with the second-last opponent.  An F&M defender was on the goal line but since the keeper was so far out the second-last defender was the other F&M defender who appeared to be just outside the 6 yard box while the offside player was on or inside the 6 yard box.  Still tough to tell but using the 6 yard box as a VAR line it looked like the call was correct.

Agreed.  I actually reviewed it probably more than I care to admit... like double digit... slow mo... taking picks.... and I confess.... my initial assessment was wrong.  Its a good call.  A goalkeeper does not have special status, so the same rules apply if a field player is the last man with only one player between them and the goal. 

So with a healthy amount of humble pie, I was wrong and Kenyon was not robbed.

SC.

[4231CenterBack]

Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Messiah University    1    3-0-0
2    Dickinson College    NR    4-0-0
3    Swarthmore College    NR    3-0-1
4    Franklin & Marshall      2    1-0-3
5    University of Scranton    NR    2-1-0
6    Muhlenberg College    4    2-1-1
7    Johns Hopkins              5    2-2-0
8    Washington College    3    2-1-2

Messiah plays upstart Dickinson at the Shoe tomorrow. Last year's match was only 1-0 @Dickinson. Should be a good one....

[BlueJayBrigader]

I'm beyond the days of just throwing out stuff, thinking this place is a vacuum where no players, parents or coaches are looking.

So I say, respectfully, that Hopkins is a very dangerous team... When they have a player or 2 that can consistently get in positions to capitalize on all their possession.

This iteration... While it's early, is going to need to really tighten up in the back, because they are going to need to win a lot of 1-0 and 2-1 games. The goals allowed this weekend... At least 3 came from gaffes in the back. They simply can't afford to do that.

This attacking ability of this version of Hopkins has similar shades of the 2022 roster during the NCAA tournament; lots of threat and contributions from the wingers and the attacking mids (who I believe are the same between the two years). That team took much longer to get to that amount of threat but really showed out in their Elite 8 run. That being said, that team gave up a TOTAL of 10 goals in 24 games behind a great goalkeeper and backline. Hope they get it sorted out because the Hopkins style (trademark pending) is not typically kind to teams needed lots of goals to win games

[Hopkins92]

Welcome BJB!!

Yep, Treinen is probably the best they've had to run that style of offense in the last 5 years. (I posted a lot about that team and his role that season.)

[SierraFD3soccer]

Broke down and got the Elizabethtown v F&M as its for a trophy.

I know both teams have to deal, but Elizabethtown's field is really, really, really bad. Actually worse than Haverford's and the old Muhls fields. Two years ago it was bad, but not like this. Reminds of a middle school field.

The announcer said they will go to PKs if tied. Not sure about that. That would be new since the Boot game has tied in the past.

Announcer who seems to be a student is fine, but, for what I paid, is very low quality.

0-0 with Elizabethtown having a better opportunity.

[SierraFD3soccer]

0-0 with F&M having the better chances, but no real finishing. E town's keeper had a very nice save.

Got very very chippy and the end. Ref is letting get out of hand. Crappy field doesn't help. 45 min still to go

[Kuiper]

Broke down and got the Elizabethtown v F&M as its for a trophy.

I know both teams have to deal, but Elizabethtown's field is really, really, really bad. Actually worse than Haverford's and the old Muhls fields. Two years ago it was bad, but not like this. Reminds of a middle school field.

The announcer said they will go to PKs if tied. Not sure about that. That would be new since the Boot game has tied in the past.

Announcer who seems to be a student is fine, but, for what I paid, is very low quality.

0-0 with Elizabethtown having a better opportunity.

Unless they are going to PKs unofficially to decide who gets to take home the Battle of the Boot trophy, there are no PKs in regular season games.

[SierraFD3soccer]

That is what I was thinking. Last time was in 2013 I believe.

[pinball]

Messiah Dickinson game is fun to watch.

[Kuiper]

Messiah Dickinson game is fun to watch.

Dickinson with what is presumably the winning goal in the 90th minute!

[SierraFD3soccer]

Messiah Dickinson game is fun to watch.

Dickinson with what is presumably the winning goal in the 90th minute!

Dickinson definitely has Messiah's number.  They played really well at home against Messiah last year.

[EasyGoer]

Great game to watch. Two really good teams. GK play was fantastic on both sides.  Messiahs GK kept it closer than it could have been. Some amazing saves.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Messiah Dickinson game is fun to watch.

Dickinson with what is presumably the winning goal in the 90th minute!

Dickinson definitely has Messiah's number.  They played really well at home against Messiah last year.

Last time Messiah lost in the reg. season was in to Penn State Harrisburg in October 2021. That is quite a streak.

[Flying Weasel]

Much more surprising than Messiah losing to Dickinson is the Falcons getting outshot 19-10!!!  That's nearly unheard of, although so far this season Messiah's shot total was matched by Scranton (8-8) and Carthage (14-14) leaving only the Cal Lutheran game with a familiar shot advantage (23-11).  So this is very unusual territory.  In all of 2023 and 2022, only three times did an opponent even manage half as many shots as the Falcons, Lynchburg doing the best with 12 shots to the Falcons' 16 opening weekend two years ago in a 2-2 tie while Catholic held Messiah to a 20-11 advantage opening weekend last year and Ohio Northern ended the Falcons' undefeated season and title hopes in the NCAA's with a 11-22 shot deficit, but a 1-0 advantage in goals scored.  Now in 2024 opponents have already matched or exceeded the Falcons' shot total in three of four games!

As far as being outshot, the last time that happened was in the Elite 8 loss to Washington & Lee in 2021 when the Generals edged them 15-14. That came one week after Kenyon outshot Messiah by a whopping 18-7 (more than double!) in the Sweet 16 only to allow the Falcons to escape with a 2-1 win. That season Messiah was outshot three times with NYU having a 14-11 advantage in a regular season match. 

But over the past 20 seasons (2003-2023, no 2020 season), the Falcons have only been outshot 15 times over 471 games.  In only three of those 15 cases was the opponent able to leverage that advantage into a win and in only three of those 15 cases was the opponent's shot advantage significant.  Only once were both true: in the Falcon's 2010 season opener, Hobart outshot the defending champions and hosts by a 19-10 margin en route to a 2-1 overtime win.  In the following season's opener, Ohio Wesleyan outshot Messiah 18-10, but still lost 1-2 in front of their own fans after conceding just 29 seconds into the game (FWIW, the Bishops bounced back to make a run to the national championship and, thanks to also dropping the NCAC final to 2-seed DePauw, Jay Martin was able to break the record for all-time wins by a college men's coach in that year's title game instead a game or two earlier).

Anyway, to be dramatic about it, Dickinson did what hasn't been accomplished in at least the past 20 years (and most certainly longer than that): outshoot the Falcons by a significant margin and win in regulation.  The Red Devils will hope to fare better than Hobart did in 2010 when the Statesmen finished a disappointing 7-6-4 after a promising 4-1-0 start, missing the 4-team Liberty League playoffs while the Falcons merely responded by winning their next 23 games to claim their third national title in a row and eighth overall.

[Flying Weasel]

Alvernia Schedule

One observation I meant to share on here on the eve of the seaosn, but never found the time, is that Alvernia has one the toughest non-conference schedules around.  They took what was a pretty tough slate in 2023 and added a couple more strong opponents.  The headliners are Rochester, Cortland St., Franklin & Marshall, Montclair St. and Stevens, but Muhlenberg and LVC are also solid competition, especially for a program like Alvernia.  The out-of-conference schedule is not without some easier games, but only one complete cupcake in local opponent PSU-Berks.  In conference play, they get Messiah to add to the aforementioned heavyweights.

So far Alvernia did well to hang on for the 0-0 tie at Muhlenburg in the season opener after going down to 10 men already in the 10th minute due to a straight red card (not the way the freshman would have wanted his college career to start, but it sounds like he may have prevented a goal).  And then 5+ hours from home this past Saturday they made Rochester work for their 1-0 win. The Wolves sit at 3-1-1 having won the games they were supposed.

Alvernia (coach by E-town grad Casey Moore) won the ECAC tournament last year, so maybe that combined with challenging schedules came help the program find greater success.  I remember when Tim Oswald (another E-town grad) took over at Rutgers-Camden in the mid-2000's, he put together some of the toughest schedules in D-III and they took their lumps, but come the end of the season they'd go win the ECAC's (three time in his first five seasons). Then starting in season 6 he led the Raptors to three straight NJAC titles (and 4 of 5) and made runs to the NCAA Elite 8 and Final in years 6 and 8.  I'm not expecting Alvernia to find that level of success in the coming years, but it would be interesting if they could improve so they could push Messiah harder in conference and get themselves into consideration for a NCAA berth.