Mid-Atlantic Region

[Hopkins92]

* Hopkins up 1-0 late in the 1st half at McDaniel.

* I had watched most of the half and lost my notes when I closed a window by accident.

* McDaniel is fouling a lot, picked up a YC, and probably deserved another for a late tackle that looked studs up. Not dirty, really, but thought it should've seen yellow.

* I'm not on the level of SimpleCoach in terms of plotting the game, but I'd say possession is probably 65-35 in favor of Hop. Deploying their typical style of passing it L-R and coming down the right flank. A few quick switches, which is nice to see.

* All that fouling led to a number of free kicks from 30-35 yards out. That resulted in the Hopkins goal, as a dangerous ball in started pinging around and eventually got punched in the net. Ugly, but effective.

* As the half closes out... For all this possession, Hop really hasn't been all that dangerous in the final 3rd. That said, I just don't know if McDaniel has what it takes to do anything dangerous on their part.

=-=-==

* McDaniel is putting more pressure on Hopkins this half. Long balls into the box are effective for them.

* Man, this camera is BUGGING. Really hard to follow the game at times.

* Wind is a factor, as McDaniel continues to bang the ball downwind into the Hopkins end.

* Not a very pretty game... Very scrappy as we come down to the wire here.

* And as I'm typing that up and saving, Hopkins scores another. That's a brace for Dunphy. Nice swing of the ball on a counter, player crossed it in for a header across the face of the goal and a tap in for Hopkins.

* 9 minutes to go and MCDANIEL GOAL. Nice play off a very long throw-in... Header to the back post, headed in from there. The dreaded Double Header!

* And that's a wrap. 2-1 to Hopkins.

I gotta say, I'm just not sure I'm buying a #8 ranking for Hopkins. I will try to catch some of the other ranked teams this week to put them in context, but I really think they're going to struggle against higher quality sides in the offensive 3rd.

[Hopkins92]

Watching replay of Eastern-Catholic. What stands out to me, in terms of putting Hopkins in context, is that there aren't as many skilled/technical players on either squad on the field at the moment. Not a bad soccer game, but VERY little in terms of 1v.1 skill on display.

- Woof. REALLY bad marking from Catholic on a corner leads to an Eastern goal.

- And a golazo from the Cardinals to level the match. Transition play, lightning quick and a curler to the far post past the goalie. Bend it like... that guy.

- 1-1 is how it ends. Two very decent squads.

[SimpleCoach]

Watching replay of Eastern-Catholic. What stands out to me, in terms of putting Hopkins in context, is that there aren't as many skilled/technical players on either squad on the field at the moment. Not a bad soccer game, but VERY little in terms of 1v.1 skill on display.

@Hopkins92.  Having watched that game as well, it's not even close.  Both technically and tactically Hopkins is in a different league than Eastern and Catholic.  Will post my notes shortly.

[Hopkins92]

Watching replay of Eastern-Catholic. What stands out to me, in terms of putting Hopkins in context, is that there aren't as many skilled/technical players on either squad on the field at the moment. Not a bad soccer game, but VERY little in terms of 1v.1 skill on display.

@Hopkins92.  Having watched that game as well, it's not even close.  Both technically and tactically Hopkins is in a different league than Eastern and Catholic.  Will post my notes shortly.

Yeah, I'm gonna go watch Messiah to see the other end of the spectrum. This is fun!

[Hopkins92]

- I really love Shoemaker field. Had the pleasure (sort of) of catching an NCAA game against Hopkins in... I don't know 2018?? Just a really nice campus and the field is immaculate.

- Oh, we've got a two man "booth" and replays? Ok production, you go Falcons.

- Lycoming not backing down, trying to work things out of the back a bit.

- Hopkins and Messiah have similar kits. I don't like either one. Sorry, not sorry.

- Um. The Falcons just scored a goal that would make any highlight reel of any league. An absolute rocket from 22 yards out to the upper 90. Jeez Louise.

- Wow. Messiah is feeling it.  They are absolutely filthy coming forward. Just ruthless.

- The flow on the Messiah GK is OUTSTANDING.

- This is, interestingly to me, very similar to the Hopkins game. A very game Lycoming team is just mucking up play and making it very hard for Messiah to get into a rhythm. Not as much fouling as McDaniel, but Lycoming is really good at making things difficult. Kind of impressive, but doesn't make for a very watchable game.

- Classic Messiah goal. 7 or 8 passes, striker gets the ball in the box beats 3 or 4 defenders and slots into the corner. Groothoff with a brace and while I don't have national perspective (yet) this guy has to be one of the top 3 strikers on the d3 landscape. Two incredible goals.

- If Messiah and Hopkins played a 10 game series, Messiah would win 7-3 or 6-4. They would be good games, but Messiah is a step above.

[d4_Pace]

I remember his freshmen year, which may have been 2019, the falcons posters here being very excited by Groothoff. I think he actually played center back as a freshmen before moving forward. That is something that Messiah does quite often that I haven't seen at any other top programs. I remember when we played them they had a random guy at right back who two years later was NPOY as an attacking mid.

[Hopkins92]

I remember his freshmen year, which may have been 2019, the falcons posters here being very excited by Groothoff. I think he actually played center back as a freshmen before moving forward. That is something that Messiah does quite often that I haven't seen at any other top programs. I remember when we played them they had a random guy at right back who two years later was NPOY as an attacking mid.

That's a really interesting point. They do seem to start really skilled/impactful guys in the back and then float them forward.

Would love to hear from Gregory Sager and Paul Newman and others with a national perspective. Seems pretty unique.

Am I becoming a Messiah fanboi?

[PaulNewman]

I remember his freshmen year, which may have been 2019, the falcons posters here being very excited by Groothoff. I think he actually played center back as a freshmen before moving forward. That is something that Messiah does quite often that I haven't seen at any other top programs. I remember when we played them they had a random guy at right back who two years later was NPOY as an attacking mid.

That's a really interesting point. They do seem to start really skilled/impactful guys in the back and then float them forward.

Would love to hear from Gregory Sager and Paul Newman and others with a national perspective. Seems pretty unique.

Am I becoming a Messiah fanboi?

Haha...the Messiah experience is real.  I was at that field on one of the coldest nights of my life and admittedly it was an incredibly exciting couple of hours in my life (and one's son scoring at Shoemaker doesn't hurt) but I was sold.  And that Messiah team was unbelievable...Wood, Payne, Thompson, Ramirez, the big CB in the back from North Carolina (blanking on his name), and a bunch of others.

We're all Messiah fanboys except for also wanting them to lose.

As for their CBs or outside backs becoming strikers or offensive center mids, I don't recall a bunch of them.  Falconer or FlyingWeasel are the experts here.  I recall more convo about backs who could have been middies and fwds but weren't (e.g. Shay Quinton out of Milton Academy).

[Hopkins92]

- I really love Shoemaker field. Had the pleasure (sort of) of catching an NCAA game against Hopkins in... I don't know 2018?? Just a really nice campus and the field is immaculate.

- Oh, we've got a two man "booth" and replays? Ok production, you go Falcons.

- Lycoming not backing down, trying to work things out of the back a bit.

- Hopkins and Messiah have similar kits. I don't like either one. Sorry, not sorry.

- Um. The Falcons just scored a goal that would make any highlight reel of any league. An absolute rocket from 22 yards out to the upper 90. Jeez Louise.

- Wow. Messiah is feeling it.  They are absolutely filthy coming forward. Just ruthless.

- The flow on the Messiah GK is OUTSTANDING.

- This is, interestingly to me, very similar to the Hopkins game. A very game Lycoming team is just mucking up play and making it very hard for Messiah to get into a rhythm. Not as much fouling as McDaniel, but Lycoming is really good at making things difficult. Kind of impressive, but doesn't make for a very watchable game.

- Classic Messiah goal. 7 or 8 passes, striker gets the ball in the box beats 3 or 4 defenders and slots into the corner. Groothoff with a brace and while I don't have national perspective (yet) this guy has to be one of the top 3 strikers on the d3 landscape. Two incredible goals.

- If Messiah and Hopkins played a 10 game series, Messiah would win 7-3 or 6-4. They would be good games, but Messiah is a step above.

Just to finish this out and give props to Lyco, particularly -- their striker's work rate was OUTSTANDING. That's a big, physical kid that is going to be a handful for teams as the season progresses.

[Hopkins92]

Just zipping around:

JHU beats Western MD  2-1
Messiah riding out a 2-0 win vs. Lyco
LVC 3-0 over Etown (at Etown, btw)
Dips beating Muhles 4-2 on the road
Catholic and Eastern tied 1-1

[Hopkins92]

I remember his freshmen year, which may have been 2019, the falcons posters here being very excited by Groothoff. I think he actually played center back as a freshmen before moving forward. That is something that Messiah does quite often that I haven't seen at any other top programs. I remember when we played them they had a random guy at right back who two years later was NPOY as an attacking mid.

That's a really interesting point. They do seem to start really skilled/impactful guys in the back and then float them forward.

Would love to hear from Gregory Sager and Paul Newman and others with a national perspective. Seems pretty unique.

Am I becoming a Messiah fanboi?

Haha...the Messiah experience is real.  I was at that field on one of the coldest nights of my life and admittedly it was an incredibly exciting couple of hours in my life (and one's son scoring at Shoemaker doesn't hurt) but I was sold.  And that Messiah team was unbelievable...Wood, Payne, Thompson, Ramirez, the big CB in the back from North Carolina (blanking on his name), and a bunch of others.

We're all Messiah fanboys except for also wanting them to lose.

As for their CBs or outside backs becoming strikers or offensive center mids, I don't recall a bunch of them.  Falconer or FlyingWeasel are the experts here.  I recall more convo about backs who could have been middies and fwds but weren't (e.g. Shay Quinton out of Milton Academy).

Ah, of course, would love to hear from the Messiah acolytes (see what I did there.)

[Hopkins92]

Looks like Swat won and the Fords lost

[d4_Pace]

Center back from NC was Robbins. He had a brother on the team too which is another big Messiah thing. The center back looked like Jesus and just about played like him too. I walked away from that game most impressed with him and Brian Ramírez. Payne was 2X NPOY and might have been the fourth best player on that team which shows how good they were.

[PaulNewman]

Center back from NC was Robbins. He had a brother on the team too which is another big Messiah thing. The center back looked like Jesus and just about played like him too. I walked away from that game most impressed with him and Brian Ramírez. Payne was 2X NPOY and might have been the fourth best player on that team which shows how good they were.

Excellent...and hilarious.  Yeah, the brothers thing is real too.  I think Thompson had a brother before him. 

Carter...One of the two Robbins.  I thought of Robbins but there's also a town called Robbins (maybe close to they're from).

There's something about Messiah.  Could say must be related to the mission but several others that share the same or very similar mission (and they're good too) don't have the same mystique.  I don't think it's only a function of all the titles either. 

[d4_Pace]

Paul have you read the Messiah Method, the book by a Messiah professor about the program. One of the big takeaways I had was how involved alumni are in the scouting and recruiting process. They essentially have a nationwide scouting network that encourages kids to attend camps and reach out to the coaches at Messiah. It then also leads to certain programs becoming feeder programs. The Robbins and at least two other players on those teams were all from the same Christian high school in Greensboro, NC.