Mid-Atlantic Region

[Hopkins92]

Man, F&M games are hard to watch. Was thinking of heading up that way to check out the fall leaves with my wife on Saturday, but I don't know if I want to sit thru 90 minutes of this.

1-1 with 19 left, btw.

This announcing duo is pretty amusing. Not in a clever way, but they're just pretty negative. Which I find amusing. They have called the game boring more than once and even though F&M hasn't really done anything this half they are saying the Fords are lucky to still be level. Um. No, not really.

[SimpleCoach]

Man, F&M games are hard to watch. Was thinking of heading up that way to check out the fall leaves with my wife on Saturday, but I don't know if I want to sit thru 90 minutes of this.

1-1 with 19 left, btw.

Planning on watching later tonight, but I am not a fan of F&M.  Frankly am amazed at whatever success they have had.

[Hopkins92]

Man, F&M games are hard to watch. Was thinking of heading up that way to check out the fall leaves with my wife on Saturday, but I don't know if I want to sit thru 90 minutes of this.

1-1 with 19 left, btw.

Planning on watching later tonight, but I am not a fan of F&M.  Frankly am amazed at whatever success they have had.

Having watched them in person a number of times, it's all about #chaossoccer. I think you noted this in one of your reviews? They just presspresspress and look to grind things out. It's replicable and you don't need a ton of technical ability across the board to consistently get results in college soccer. I'm not disparaging the system, but it's really only doable in American high school and college with the (annoyingly) liberal subs rule.

[Hopkins92]

The feed out of Carlisle is a bit of a mess. Second Hop game in a row with no sound, which... First world problems. But they also started the game with the score chyron with 3-0 to Dickinson. Also having a ton of issues with the feed shutting down or pausing.

And.. WTF. Game is at 1-1 only 15 minutes into the game. I guess Dickinson just got a PK to level things.

Sound is back on. Jesus. They had major tech issues. Now sorted. Woof.

FWIW, Sr. CB Treinen is in the starting lineup... and it shows. Hopkins much more dangerous tonight.

1-1 middle of second half... You can hear the Hopkins bench kind of barking at the ref, which just shows you how tense they are about this game. They are playing a good game, but... You also feel like they are too uptight and don't have a lot of danger in the final 3rd.

Gonna be honest. They are a very good team, but the lack of finishing danger makes them a top 30 team, not a top 20 team. If that makes sense.

Another meta point - Hopkins just doesn't really look dangerous on set pieces. And they get a LOT of set pieces.

Alright, I'll continue to chronicle and follow, but the book is done on Hopkins. They just don't have a guy up top that can be dangerous enough to finish or create their own space. I know that's a problem for lots of teams at this level, but Hopkins usually has at least a couple of guys that can create separation or find some space. I don't see it with these guys.

Hopkins finally opens them up 3-1. Geez louise they make it hard.

And a final of 4-1. Dickinson is VERY close to being a quality squad.

To get real: 1st goal conceded was a PK, second was an Own Goal. Third and Forth... whatever.

[paclassic89]

Region V - Top 10 Regional Rankings - October 20, 2021

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rank	School	D3 Record	D3 SOS	RPI	RvR	Overall Record	Prev Rank
1	Messiah	11-0-2	.6	.681	--	11-0-2	--
2	F&M	10-2-1	.599	.651	--	10-2-1	--
3	Swarthmore	9-2-2	.594	.638	--	9-2-2	--
4	Washington College	8-4-1	.629	.635	--	8-4-1	--
5	Gettysburg	8-3-2	.614	.634	--	8-3-2	--
6	Johns Hopkins	9-2-2	.585	.631	--	9-2-2	--
7	Eastern	8-4-2	.62	.626	--	8-4-2	--
8	Alvernia	10-3-0	.567	.618	--	10-3-0	--
9	Lebanon Valley	10-3-0	.536	.594	--	10-3-0	--
10	Etown	8-4-1	.571	.592	--	8-4-1	--

[NEPAFAN]

Time for some new energy at Scranton, great facility a few  years old, women's soccer and field hockey excelling. Men's team plodding along with an anemic offense. This program can be better.

[Centennial1]

Those regional rankings will shuffle again. I was only able to catch a chunk of the Fords/F&M match. Swat/Wash was hilariously unwatchable because the camera operator was clearly blackout drunk, or was trying to shoot incidental wildlife on unused parts of the pitch. What play I saw seemed much better than the Haverford/F&M match. That was pretty terrible soccer. The lumpy pitch lent itself to chaos football, but the individual instincts from both sides were not where ranked teams should be: basic things like receiving the ball and immediately turning into pressure and trying to clatter the ball through the defender, to poor decisions on and off the ball. F&M won on work rate and hustle.

In terms of level-setting (at least for me), other ranked teams are lightyears better: I'm thinking about play I've seen from Messiah, Chicago, Kenyon.

[Hopkins92]

Midweek Results

Messiah 7-0 Stevenson
Hopkins 4-1 Dickinson
F&M 2-1 Haverford (1OT)
Swat 1-2 WashC
LVC 1-0 Alvernia
Moravian 1-1 Etown
Bullets 1-0 W. MD
Ursinus 2-1 Muhles

=-==-=-==

* Um. Not for nothing, but the Bears are now 8-5-1 after winning on the road last night at Muhlenberg. That's possibly the story of the region this year. If they are able to knock off F&M this weekend, you are talking about a massive Cinderella story up in Collegeville. Collegetown? Collegecity? I don't know, doesn't matter, that's a cool story.

* According to the box score, WashC scored 23 seconds(!) into their 2-1 win against Swat. That's a dagger.

* As I noted in the bullets while watching the Dickinson-Hopkins game, the feed was wonky to start and didn't pick up until 10 minutes were gone. What we missed were two PKs, one per team, to start the game. Curious how that played out, but Hopkins certainly took it to them for most of the remainder of the match. Good bounce back for them.

[Ejay]

That Moravian/Etown result is interesting in that you now have a 4 way tie for 1st in the Landmark - Catholic, Drew, Etown, Susq all sit 3-1-1.

[backheel18]

Time for some new energy at Scranton, great facility a few  years old, women's soccer and field hockey excelling. Men's team plodding along with an anemic offense. This program can be better.

I haven't watched many of their matches closely. Are they missing anyone? It seems to me that they should be right there pushing for what is a very winnable Landmark title this year.

[backheel18]

That Moravian/Etown result is interesting in that you now have a 4 way tie for 1st in the Landmark - Catholic, Drew, Etown, Susq all sit 3-1-1.

Surprised by that result as well seeing at how Morvian started strong but has really fallen off. Plus they had two reds against Juniata in the previous match which left them short one of their better players. I caught the last 10 minutes and over time as I was jumping between Landmark matches. I feel as though any of those four teams could win the title depending on the day.

[Hopkins92]

Love the Landmark insight, folks. Only reason they aren't more prominent on here this season are the regional rankings.

[Hopkins92]

Centennial
(with 2 conf games to go, top 5 make playoffs)
JHU - 18 pts
F&M - 13 pts
Bullets - 13
Swat - 13
WashC -13
Ursinus - 12
Fords - 12
--------
Muhles - 4
W.MD - 3
Devils - 1

Landmark
(Top 4 qualify, 2 conf games left)
Catholic - 10
Drew - 10
Etown - 10
Susq. - 10
Scranton - 6
Juniata - 5
Gooch - 3
Moravain - 1

MAC Commonwealth
(Top 5 qualify, Stevenson, and the teams with 6 points have a game in hand)
Messiah - 18
Stevenson - 12
Leb Valley - 12
Alvernia - 9
Eastern - 6
Widener - 6
York - 6
Hood - 3
Albright - 0

MAC Freedom
(Top 5, everyone has a game in hand over Arcadia)
Misericordia - 12
King's - 12
Arcadia - 12
Wilkes - 9
Lycoming - 9
DeSales - 7
Stevens - 6
FDU - Florham - 4
Del Valley - 0

[Hopkins92]

NEAC
(I think top 6 go? Just looking at the 2019 set-up. Everyone has a game in hand on #1)
PS Harrisburg - 21
St. Mary's - 15
Lan Bible - 11
PS Berks - 9
PS Abington - 8
Penn College - 6
Morrisville St. - 4
Wells - 3
Galludet - 3

[Flying Weasel]

NEAC
(I think top 6 go? Just looking at the 2019 set-up. Everyone has a game in hand on #1)
PS Harrisburg - 21
St. Mary's - 15
Lan Bible - 11
PS Berks - 9
PS Abington - 8
Penn College - 6
Morrisville St. - 4
Wells - 3
Galludet - 3

The NEAC is now the United East Conference (UEC).  And they will only have a 4-team conference championship tournament this year according to their Men's and Women's Soccer Operating Code, page 4.