Mid-Atlantic Region

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

MAF - guess you watched the game? Let's troll on a message board. And everyone else in your esteemed ranking won right?

All in good fun. I see you're new to the boards...I will try and catch more Muhles games this season. Lots of parity in these regions as always!

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

MAF Regional Preseason Rankings

Region 4
1. Stevens T/L
2. Montclair W/W
3. NYU L/T
4. Rowan T/W
5. Misericordia W/T
6. Rutgers-Newark L/T
7. PSU-Harrisburg L/T

Region 5
1. Messiah W/W
2. Hopkins T/L
3. F&M W
4. Catholic W/L
5. Lycoming W/T
6. Gettysburg L
7. Drew L/T

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

I was at the JHU-MWU game. It was a close first half. MWU was awarded a free kick about 22 yards out in front of the goal on a soft foul and the MWU player hit a fantastic kick. Right over what appeared to be a well-positioned wall.

In the second half, JHU just fell apart. Without Tim Treinen, their All-American center back who held things down for four years, they looked a bit lost in the middle. The grad transfers are very skilled but it didn't look like anyone really knew what their teammates were doing. Once it got to 4-0, Hopkins emptied the bench and played a bunch of freshmen. We will see how things go but Hopkins has a lot of work to do.

Early days, long season. Big challenge for Appleby. He may be having some of the challenges many D1 coaches have.  Several new experienced players coming into the team which is much different than having a core of upperclassmen bringing in freshman. Could be not a stable until they figure it out.  Just rough with the guys who started as freshmen. FYI, last three years JHU's keepers were grad students (first one lost his senior season to Covid though).  Can't imagine how tough that would be on a goalkeeper kid who was a freshman two or three years ago.  My son had two years of this where the team changed substantially each year and did not help in cohesiveness even when individual players had a lot of talent.

Hopkins better figure it out fast as the next 5 opponents aren't pushovers. Rowan, Lycoming and Muhles can all emerge victorious on the day. Hobart and St. Mary's aren't easy games either. Difficult schedule headed into conference play for the Blue Jays.

[Hopkins92]

I was at the JHU-MWU game. It was a close first half. MWU was awarded a free kick about 22 yards out in front of the goal on a soft foul and the MWU player hit a fantastic kick. Right over what appeared to be a well-positioned wall.

In the second half, JHU just fell apart. Without Tim Treinen, their All-American center back who held things down for four years, they looked a bit lost in the middle. The grad transfers are very skilled but it didn't look like anyone really knew what their teammates were doing. Once it got to 4-0, Hopkins emptied the bench and played a bunch of freshmen. We will see how things go but Hopkins has a lot of work to do.

I knew I could count on you to bring up Treinen. I'm not sure folks understood just how massive he was for that team.

I feel like this is a grind it out season, where Coach Appleby will have them going once CC games start in earnest. I was away this weekend, so I'll keep my commentary short for obvious reasons.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

MAF Power Rankings (9/15)

Region 4
1. Montclair
2. Stevens
3. Leb Val
4. Rowan
5. Kean
6. Misericordia
7. St. Marys (Md)


Region 5
1. Messiah
2. F&M
3. Scranton
4. JHU
5. Muhles
6. Dickinson
7. Widener

[Hopkins92]

Looking to head up to Homewood to catch the Muhles - Jays game tomorrow. I'll be the older guy with white hair sitting on the opposite side from the benches (as always.)

[Kuiper]

MAF Power Rankings (9/15)

Region 4
1. Montclair
2. Stevens
3. Leb Val
4. Rowan
5. Kean
6. Misericordia
7. St. Marys (Md)


Region 5
1. Messiah
2. F&M
3. Scranton
4. JHU
5. Muhles
6. Dickinson
7. Widener

Sort of surprised to see Rowan that high.  They didn't look all that strong against Haverford recently, although they managed to tie it up late.  They were down 2-0 at half and almost gave up the winning goal in the dying seconds of the match.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Looking to head up to Homewood to catch the Muhles - Jays game tomorrow. I'll be the older guy with white hair sitting on the opposite side from the benches (as always.)

Best of luck!!  Think JHU has figured out a bunch of things and will be going hard. FYI Muhls have turf.

F&M will most likely have to play on Haverfords bad grass field though the Fords have played on their turf field earlier this season. 

So should be a very interesting opening CC weekend.

[BigSoccerFan]

Last Battle For Eagle Road.  Cabrini v Eastern tomorrow.  This was always a fun match to watch.

[Hopkins92]

Hopkins and the Muhles battle to a 1-1 draw. Some thoughts/game notes:

* Despite the loss of Treinen, Hop is still pretty good in possession, but some bad turnovers lead to dangerous counters for the Muhles. They are still (seemingly) settling into a rhythm/pattern and some of the guys in the middle cough the ball up in an uncharacteristic fashion.

* Muhles patient a the counter. Setting up at the Hop 35 with steering press. Hop can break it but ... see TO issues above.

*  Hop trying to jam too many passes into the 18 from crosses from 30 yds out. These are extremely low percentage plays. You are asking a guy to sprint 25-30 yards into the box and line up a header from 8-12 yards out. Must've happened at least 6 times in the first half. They are MUCH more dangerous when #5 goes to the end line and causes havoc.

* The switch is on for Hop. Wide open but Muhles are counting on Hop to stay down one flank. So far it is working. End of 1st Half.

* I like Hop #22 Goodman on the wing. Smart skilled and patient with his runs. I think he's a grad student. Wonder if he's a transfer, as I don't remember this dude and he's bald and I would've definitely likened him to a less dangerous Messiah bald guy (MacDonald?)

* Hop with a scrappy but good goal in the box. I guess we are calling these popcorn goals? Ball got served in and headed by both teams, eventually falling to a Hop striker who put it away from about 8 yards.

* No quit in M after goal. Guy slices thru 5 players. Before GK came off line.  I should've grabbed that dude's number, as he was one of the few guys on M that had any real individual danger. Muhles have some guys with real speed, but onlh that guy seemed to have the skill to actually create something.

* Long throw right thru the Hopk keepers hands and bundled in. 1-1 28 mins to go. I'm not going to say that goal was undeserved or against the run of play, but it's a very frustrating goal. Keeper got knocked in the chest while he tried to catch it, but that was a clean play. 

Overall:

Muhles a SOLID team and they play disciplined and persistent soccer. They move the ball at a slightly better than average clip, but I'm not sure you can rely on long throws for the bulk of your offense. The guy taking the throws, btw, was kind of inconsistent. If he can routinely put in balls like the one that got the goal, it's a weapon. But at least 3 or 4 that I saw were kind of a waste as they didn't really threaten the 6 yard box, which is key on those.

Hopkins is who they have always been... heavy in possession, intelligent runs, if at times a little too focused on possession (especially when they get a lead.) And, as with last year, they do not have a specific guy up top that is going to put the ball in the net. They are very good, no question. They are also fun to watch, for the most part.

Also, for the record, the Hop GK was solid. I can't really get into him for the goal, as it was one of those "rubbin' is racin'" type contact issues in the box. Like I said, clean, but frustrating for him. He had both hands  on the ball before it was jostled loose.

[TNAggie]

Thanks for the update Hopkins92 ... at least six(!) teams in Centennial Conf starting with ties in week one!

[Hopkins92]

Last thought, because it really struck me today. If Hop has, oh let's just say 20 opportunities to build out of the back, and of that, they decide to ratchet up their "danger through the middle" chances up from 3 or 4 to say 7 or 8? I think they'd open up these games a pretty significant amount. Everyone in the CC (and probably most of D3 soccer with a decent coaching staff) knows what they are going to do... Possess the ball in the back with their two CBs and the goalie, moving the ball side to side, trying to get uneven numbers, almost exclusively down the flanks.

I'm not being critical here. After all these years, I get the system Coach is running. But I think he needs to.. not empower, as I think that's there.. Encourage the guys in the middle to do a bit more to change the point of the attack and/or drive the play through the middle... You could see it freaked out the Muhles when Hop went slightly more direct centrally. They are used to watching the L-->R (or vice versa) movement and clamp down it at the 45-50 yard line. But when Hop busted/cut those plays in? M was on their heels.

Subtle, but something last years team did a good job of as the season went on and guys fully understood their roles and the system.

[SierraFD3soccer]

5 Centennial Conf. games. Only McDaniels was able to come up with a win (over Ursinus).  All others either 0-0 or 1-1.  Swarthmore v. Gettysburg just finished 1-1. Nobody convinced anyone this weekend in the conference. Just going to do it again next weekend.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

MAF Power Rankings (9/15)

Region 4
1. Montclair
2. Stevens
3. Leb Val
4. Rowan
5. Kean
6. Misericordia
7. St. Marys (Md)


Region 5
1. Messiah
2. F&M
3. Scranton
4. JHU
5. Muhles
6. Dickinson
7. Widener

Sort of surprised to see Rowan that high.  They didn't look all that strong against Haverford recently, although they managed to tie it up late.  They were down 2-0 at half and almost gave up the winning goal in the dying seconds of the match.

Slim pickings after the top 3 in that region. Any of those teams could be slotted in that 4th spot. I'd take Rowan over the others in a H2H so they got the nod of approval from me this time 

[d3ma]

Massey Regional Rankings 9/18 (Who are the top 10 in each region according to Massey)

Region IV
1. Montclair
2. Leb Val
3. Stevens
4. Rowan
5. Stockton
6. Kean
7. Rutgers-Camden
RV TCNJ
RV St. Mary's (Md.)
RV Harrisburg

Region V
1. Messiah
2. F&M
3. Widener
4. Johns Hopkins
5. Muhlenberg
6. Catholic
7. Scranton
RV Dickinson
RV Washington College
RV Moravian

Interesting to note that Region V has 16 teams ranked higher than the top 9 from Region IV. Obviously take this all with a grain of salt because Massey Ratings early in the season tend to flucuate significantly and ranking teams is far less accurate than tier'ing teams based off the data.