2021 NCAA Tournament

[camosfan]

TLDR: Amherst are going to do what they do and you can't take the bait.

Which brings me to something that's been rattling around in my (alleged) mind that I would love to hear some comments on. If you accept that Division 3 soccer is, at its core, an activity that colleges offer to enhance the experience, learning and maturation of their students and not a stepping stone to a career playing professional soccer, what do the institutions owe to their 'student athletes' in terms of tactical, technical and ethical instructions? Should a program recruit for and coach a style of play that mimics great football at the highest level, or should they recruit and coach to win at the D3 level? Turns out that the best D3 teams employ both philosophies (more on that in a moment), because both philosophies can win nantional titles.

To wit: this year's final four (buckle up, I'm about to make wild generalizations about your favorite team which are unfair, but deal with it!) are comprised of two teams that play with possession and control, trying to break down lines with ball movement and creativity, and two teams that use size, speed, athleticism and physical aggression to win. At a higher level of play, the blast-in-the-box and smash it home is much less effective, but it turns out that at the D3 level, it's good enough to win about half of the national titles over the past, say, 20 years.

So the question is: should D3 soccer programs try to play 'good football', or should they try to win at any cost.

This comes back to my point ,of how unlimited substitutions allows teams to comit flagrant fouls with minimal cost.

[PaulNewman]

TLDR: Amherst are going to do what they do and you can't take the bait.

Which brings me to something that's been rattling around in my (alleged) mind that I would love to hear some comments on. If you accept that Division 3 soccer is, at its core, an activity that colleges offer to enhance the experience, learning and maturation of their students and not a stepping stone to a career playing professional soccer, what do the institutions owe to their 'student athletes' in terms of tactical, technical and ethical instructions? Should a program recruit for and coach a style of play that mimics great football at the highest level, or should they recruit and coach to win at the D3 level? Turns out that the best D3 teams employ both philosophies (more on that in a moment), because both philosophies can win nantional titles.

To wit: this year's final four (buckle up, I'm about to make wild generalizations about your favorite team which are unfair, but deal with it!) are comprised of two teams that play with possession and control, trying to break down lines with ball movement and creativity, and two teams that use size, speed, athleticism and physical aggression to win. At a higher level of play, the blast-in-the-box and smash it home is much less effective, but it turns out that at the D3 level, it's good enough to win about half of the national titles over the past, say, 20 years.

So the question is: should D3 soccer programs try to play 'good football', or should they try to win at any cost.

How did you reach the conclusion that the core mission of D3 has anything to do with style of play?  And why should/would D3 "mimic" the highest standards of play any more so than D2 or D1?  Why would there be any expectation that D3 soccer should try to emulate Barcelona...not that many of us wouldn't like that but how does that expectation follow?

And half of the champions the past 20 years?  Like who?  Amherst in 2015, even though they had one of the most technically gifted players in the country?  Who else?

[College Soccer Observer]

Could you amplify your comment regarding handling defeat?

I agree that deserves some explanation.

I will say as someone who has a lot of practice, concession and giving credit posts can be brutally hard.  Even when intending to be fully gracious and magnanimous, 95% is about as good as it gets.  Hard not to take at least a mild swipe at someone.

What's most interesting to me is how personal and deep our affiliations with our teams go.  Like for at least a decent portion of us the hypersensitivity and readiness to defend our tribe so to speak are off the charts.

@d4_Pace, if I am making incorrect assumptions, I apologize.  Based on your NESCAC rivals comment, I took that as a shot at Middlebury following their loss to Amherst.  I was at the game. There was an unseemly situation after the final whistle that was provoked by Amherst.  In both of Midd's 1-0 losses to Amherst, the GK, Kofi Hope-Gund, ran at Middlebury players and taunted them after the whistle.  In October, he targeted Jordan Saint-Louis.  There was more of the same yesterday.  Instead of celebrating with his teammates, Hope-Gund again went after a Midd player.  Many players from both teams came together, and #17 from Amherst drilled Middlebury's goalkeeper Ryan Grady in the face with a forearm.  The referees did not issue any cards to anyone.  In fact, there was only one yellow given the whole game, to McFarlane from Midd for complaining about timewasting by Amherst in the closing minutes.  Once again Serpone was riding the refs for the entire game, and he certainly does nothing to put a stop to his team's antics.

I agree that Amherst was probably the instigator and this can be added to a long list of such incidents.But it's obviously not a good look for either program. I have a lot of respect for Midd and their coaches but you can't let that happen at the end of the game. You almost have to expect that to happen coming in and be prepared not to engage. I know it's obviously a thousand times easier said than done.

I also was not at the game and am just going off of what could be seen on screen so I'm sure people there can provide a better perspective.

TLDR: Amherst are going to do what they do and you can't take the bait.

I agree it was not a good look.  Let's be fair here though.  One of these teams has a well-deserved reputation for $h!%housery and one does not.  Saying that Midd should just be prepared for it and turn the other cheek is all well and good, but it sounds an awful lot like blaming the victim.  Why do we accept that they should be allowed to do this on a regular basis?  The powers that be in the NESCAC and the NCAA need to put a stop to this.  Yes referees are at fault for not taking care of business.  But the athletic department at Amherst has also failed to hold this team and its coaches accountable.  The NESCAC administration is even worse.  This is one of if not the best D3 soccer conferences in the country.  Amherst's antics undermine their own considerable achievements on the pitch.  They also damage the NESCAC brand and they make a mockery of the concept of sportsmanship.

[PaulNewman]

I'm curious if any other disturbed (or not) folks like myself read game recaps....I was interested to see Dezotell, the coach at Tufts, say that his team intentionally didn't talk about adversities/injuries the team faced during the season....and then I saw Serpone of Amherst comment (sarcastically I assume) that "no one thinks we're any good but we're one of the four team still standing."  What and who are they talking about?  Are these references to D3soccer.com? D3boards.com?  ESPN?  Their school newspapers?  Is Serpone pumping up his team by reading critical posts from this board...like, hey guys, I want to read you what @robertgoulet and @billyrayjimbob said about you?

LOL....robertgoulet and BillyRayJimBob are on the boards right now....I know, not soccer guys.

[Hopkins92]

Interesting reading this morning. Couple of thoughts:

* I have zero skin in the game when it comes to Amherst. But it says a lot about a player/person that when they win one of the bigger games of their life, their first instinct is to (allegedly?) get in the face of an opposing player. That shouldn't be tolerated on any level, not by the ref, not by the coaches, and not by administrators. Terrible look all around.

* This is the second time this season that tactics have been brought up, and since I've been on the board, it is an annual topic of discussion. To me, this is not an ethical question. At the collegiate level (across the board) someone, usually multiple people, are being PAID to coach a soccer team to win games. Now, of course, this investment and commitment vary wildly across the divisions and even from league-to-league within those divisions. But, regardless, the point remains the same. If a coach thinks the best way for his team to win is to play high press, short-short-long, direct to goal... That's what that team is gonna do. If a coach wants to construct a team that builds out of the back and focuses heavily on possession... That's his/her prerogative.

To put a finer point on things: College (and high school) soccer is not going to alter or really effect how soccer is coached, taught, played or even watched. It's just not. The development of soccer is almost entirely down to youth academies and travel leagues, along with an effective pipeline into MLS and/or international academies. Both h.s. and college soccer are a blip. Once you get to those teams, you better have been taught soccer knowledge and you better have already developed technical prowess... Neither of those systems are built to teach the players much. There simply isn't time.

[Sabrina76]

As much as I hate flagrant fouls, I really don't think the game is rife with subs coming in and injuring people. A foul is a foul. There is a cost on set pieces, officials getting irritated, etc. The biggest problem of multiple subs to me is that conditioning is less stressed and depth of roster more important, not big issues. I watched the end of the Amherst-Middlebury game, so I only could see as the camera did and heard the announcers. However, I didn't think Middlebury handled themselves that well after the game. Regardless of what the goalie or someone else said, I don't think it's a valid excuse to blame everything always on Amherst. The announcer did note a cheap shot by a previously yellow-carded M player behind the official's back right at the end of the game. Players note these things too. Also, playing a rival 3 times in important games does heightened some emotions. As a former Amherst player under Peter Gooding, I'm disappointed that the team's current reputation is so vastly different from what Peter would have tolerated.

[PaulNewman]

Interesting reading this morning. Couple of thoughts:

* I have zero skin in the game when it comes to Amherst. But it says a lot about a player/person that when they win one of the bigger games of their life, their first instinct is to (allegedly?) get in the face of an opposing player. That shouldn't be tolerated on any level, not by the ref, not by the coaches, and not by administrators. Terrible look all around.

* This is the second time this season that tactics have been brought up, and since I've been on the board, it is an annual topic of discussion. To me, this is not an ethical question. At the collegiate level (across the board) someone, usually multiple people, are being PAID to coach a soccer team to win games. Now, of course, this investment and commitment vary wildly across the divisions and even from league-to-league within those divisions. But, regardless, the point remains the same. If a coach thinks the best way for his team to win is to play high press, short-short-long, direct to goal... That's what that team is gonna do. If a coach wants to construct a team that builds out of the back and focuses heavily on possession... That's his/her prerogative.

To put a finer point on things: College (and high school) soccer is not going to alter or really effect how soccer is coached, taught, played or even watched. It's just not. The development of soccer is almost entirely down to youth academies and travel leagues, along with an effective pipeline into MLS and/or international academies. Both h.s. and college soccer are a blip. Once you get to those teams, you better have been taught soccer knowledge and you better have already developed technical prowess... Neither of those systems are built to teach the players much. There simply isn't time.

This.

[blue_jays]

I'm curious if any other disturbed (or not) folks like myself read game recaps....I was interested to see Dezotell, the coach at Tufts, say that his team intentionally didn't talk about adversities/injuries the team faced during the season....and then I saw Serpone of Amherst comment (sarcastically I assume) that "no one thinks we're any good but we're one of the four team still standing."  What and who are they talking about?  Are these references to D3soccer.com? D3boards.com?  ESPN?  Their school newspapers?  Is Serpone pumping up his team by reading critical posts from this board...like, hey guys, I want to read you what @robertgoulet and @billyrayjimbob said about you?

Serpone can't possibly believe what he said in that quote. Your team made the national title match in 2019 and is 16-2-2 this year. No one has said they're not good. They've been a national contender for years. What a dumb thing to say.

[blooter442]

They've been a national contender for years. What a dumb thing to say.

He puts out quotes like that all the time, and no he definitely doesn't genuinely believe it. That said, it's classic Mourinho siege mentality — and over the years it's worked well.

Also, to be fair, I remember Jacobs of Tufts mouthing "it's all over!" at the Amherst players after scoring the second goal in the 2019 Final (the game finished 2-0). You can get away with it when you win, obviously, but I didn't think it was a great look (the goal could have been disallowed for handball, but that's another debate).

For sure emotions are running high and d4 is correct in noting that Amherst has done its own fair share of instigation of the years — I remember calling out Lind for hugging a Bowdoin player after the Bowdoin player scored an OG in the 2016 NESCAC tournament. Still, unfortunate when players think they need to goad from a winning position.

[SlideTackle]

Could you amplify your comment regarding handling defeat?

I agree that deserves some explanation.

I will say as someone who has a lot of practice, concession and giving credit posts can be brutally hard.  Even when intending to be fully gracious and magnanimous, 95% is about as good as it gets.  Hard not to take at least a mild swipe at someone.

What's most interesting to me is how personal and deep our affiliations with our teams go.  Like for at least a decent portion of us the hypersensitivity and readiness to defend our tribe so to speak are off the charts.

@d4_Pace, if I am making incorrect assumptions, I apologize.  Based on your NESCAC rivals comment, I took that as a shot at Middlebury following their loss to Amherst.  I was at the game. There was an unseemly situation after the final whistle that was provoked by Amherst.  In both of Midd's 1-0 losses to Amherst, the GK, Kofi Hope-Gund, ran at Middlebury players and taunted them after the whistle.  In October, he targeted Jordan Saint-Louis.  There was more of the same yesterday.  Instead of celebrating with his teammates, Hope-Gund again went after a Midd player.  Many players from both teams came together, and #17 from Amherst drilled Middlebury's goalkeeper Ryan Grady in the face with a forearm.  The referees did not issue any cards to anyone.  In fact, there was only one yellow given the whole game, to McFarlane from Midd for complaining about timewasting by Amherst in the closing minutes.  Once again Serpone was riding the refs for the entire game, and he certainly does nothing to put a stop to his team's antics.

I saw this same GK taunt the Wesleyan players after Amherst went up 2-1 in the second half this year. Wes scored first and one of their players shouted fairly loudly "let's go" after the goal.  Amherst tied soon after and then got the second goal in the second half. At which point Hope-Gund ran up the sidelines a bit past the center line yelling "let's go" at the top of his lungs while jumping up and down.  It was nice to see him give up the tieing goal a few minutes later, but his antics were pretty offensive and done right in front of the stands.  I saw many shaking their heads at the poor sportsmanship.

[PaulNewman]

A little off topic with emotions running hot....but, I'm old enough to remember Conn Coll going to PKs with Salem State.

Burk for Conn and Singleton for W&L have got to be the leaders for NCOY and I'm sticking with Bianco at Denison as another strong candidate.

[Another Mom]

BTW, who is the second athleticism and physical aggression team in the Final 4?

That's my question too!

[hiyasoccer]

The problem with D3 subbing rules isn't that it protects players on cards. The problem is that it promotes a very aggressive/energetic style that doesn't work when you have to manage your energy more closely because you can't run your players into the ground and then sub them. It's not the worst thing in the world but I think it could use tweaking, maybe something more similar to the youth academy rules.

The line between competitive, in your face, emotional soccer - basically all good D3 socceR, particularly in the NESCAC - and rude/unsportsmanlike/douche-y is nuanced and grey. Lots of teams toe it at some point, or occasionally cross it. Only one team I know of consistently crossed it, and they have a reputation for it. As d4_pace said, you have to be prepared for it, that is part of the challenge of playing them - you can't lose your cool. Is it "right" for teams to respond in kind? Idk, probably not, but I get why they do that. Should the refs do more? Probably, but I get why they don't.

Let's also remember that this is D3 soccer and we're not about to get the school Presidents to step in and crack down, nobody cares that much.

[PaulNewman]

I was curious about Burk and looking at his bio was thinking his road to a NESCAC HC job seemed a little different.  In part, that was because I thought the CC bio misspelled Newberry College.  Then I learned that Newberry is a D2 school in South Carolina, and I was still thinking must mean Newbury given he went to Hobart, also was asst at Alfred and Holy Cross, and originally hails from Massachusetts.  But lo and behold, he was at Newberry in South Carolina.  He must be really young unless he took time away from college and returned as he played and graduated from Hobart in 2013....so probably 30? 31?  Even younger than Travis Wall.  So I guess spent a year at CC under Murphy and then got the HC job.  His demeanor makes him seem like he's been coaching for 20+ years.


Reuben Burk enters his fourth year on the sidelines and third as the head coach of the Connecticut College men's soccer program in 2021. He came to the institution after spending one year at Newberry College, two years at the College of the Holy Cross, and two years at Alfred University.

In his first season as a collegiate head coach this past fall, Burk led the men's soccer program at Connecticut College to its most successful postseason run in school history. With postseason wins over Catholic, then-No. 3 Johns Hopkins, and Swarthmore, the team's appearance in the "Elite Eight" marked only the third time a Connecticut College program advanced to the quarterfinal round of an NCAA Tournament in any sport. Conn's last team to advance that far came in 1999 when men's basketball advanced to the national semifinal round.

Furthermore, four players - senior midfielder Matt Butera, sophomore midfielder Augie Djerdjaj, junior defender Liam Donelan, and junior goalkeeper AJ Marcucci - earned All-NESCAC postseason laurels, and three of those student-athletes were recognized as United Soccer Coaches All-New England Region selections. Furthermore, Marcucci was named a United Soccer Coaches All-American First Team selection for the second straight season, sophomore defender Luke Stoneback made the CoSIDA Academic All-District II Team for his efforts on the field and in the classroom, and the Camels were named a United Soccer Coaches All-Academic Team for the 11th straight year by recording a team GPA above a 3.0.

Burk made an immediate impact on the sidelines as the team's top assistant since his arrival on campus. He helped head coach Kenny Murphy lead the Camels to a 13-3-2 record overall, including a 7-1-2 mark in conference play, as well as an appearance in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The most memorable and successful season in school history at the time was highlighted by Burk guiding the program to its first-ever NCAA postseason victory in a 4-0 rout of Thomas College at home on Freeman Field. Furthermore, the Camels produced one United Soccer Coaches All-American, two United Soccer Coaches All-New England Region selections, the NESCAC Player of the Year, and four student-athletes who earned themselves a place on the All-NESCAC First Team.

At Newberry, Burk was the recruiting coordinator and had the main responsibility of overseeing the recruiting process for all prospective student-athletes, both internationally and domestically. Burk helped establish one of Newberry's most diverse recruiting classes for 2018 by helping get commitments from Brazil, Italy, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maryland. He also coordinated recruiting trips to Iceland, Norway, and Spain.

At Holy Cross, Burk helped with a variety of duties including daily coaching, recruiting nationally, scouting, helping plan offseason schedules, game day preparations, travel coordination, community service, and helping run summer camps and clinics.

Burk also served as the assistant coach at Alfred University. The team reached the Empire 8 semifinals in 2014, which marked the program's first conference tournament appearance in nine years. Burk was also part of a group which earned the 2014 Empire 8 Coaching Staff Award.

As a player, Burk was a four-year student-athlete at Hobart College. Under head coach Shawn Griffin, in both 2009 and 2011, Hobart finished in the top 25 Division III national rankings and made appearances in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. In 2009, Burk helped Hobart win the Liberty League conference championship.

A native of Westford, Massachusetts, Burk graduated from Hobart in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in anthropology/sociology and religious studies. He then got his master's in business administration from Alfred University in 2015. Burk also holds a USSF C License as well as a NSCAA Advanced National Diploma.

[Falconer]

Could you amplify your comment regarding handling defeat?

I agree that deserves some explanation.

I will say as someone who has a lot of practice, concession and giving credit posts can be brutally hard.  Even when intending to be fully gracious and magnanimous, 95% is about as good as it gets.  Hard not to take at least a mild swipe at someone.

What's most interesting to me is how personal and deep our affiliations with our teams go.  Like for at least a decent portion of us the hypersensitivity and readiness to defend our tribe so to speak are off the charts.

@d4_Pace, if I am making incorrect assumptions, I apologize.  Based on your NESCAC rivals comment, I took that as a shot at Middlebury following their loss to Amherst.  I was at the game. There was an unseemly situation after the final whistle that was provoked by Amherst.  In both of Midd's 1-0 losses to Amherst, the GK, Kofi Hope-Gund, ran at Middlebury players and taunted them after the whistle.  In October, he targeted Jordan Saint-Louis.  There was more of the same yesterday.  Instead of celebrating with his teammates, Hope-Gund again went after a Midd player.  Many players from both teams came together, and #17 from Amherst drilled Middlebury's goalkeeper Ryan Grady in the face with a forearm.  The referees did not issue any cards to anyone.  In fact, there was only one yellow given the whole game, to McFarlane from Midd for complaining about timewasting by Amherst in the closing minutes.  Once again Serpone was riding the refs for the entire game, and he certainly does nothing to put a stop to his team's antics.

And this type of $H!t is the main reason I always, flat always, root for Amherst to lose. Of course, it goes without saying, that they believe their opponents are the losers—but really it's the Amherst coaches and players who show their true character in these episodes, which have gone on year after year after year. There, I said it. Bring on the minus K.

The specific Amherst player named here went to an elite private school in Manhattan: https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/roster/kofi-hope-gund/14258. That place was founded by Quakers, who were and are pacifists. Of course, many Quakers today are enamored of certain "progressive" trends in academe that have no time for any type of Christian heritage, even including Quakers who might happen to be religious. A further irony: the field on which Amherst plays is named after the Antebellum president of the college, Edward Hitchcock, a deeply pious and thoughtful geologist who would find these antics wholly unacceptable. Suffice it to say, if Hitchcock were president of Amherst today, Serpone would have been out of a job a long time ago.

Edited: let me correct one statement. The field is apparently named for Edward Hitchcock, Jr, son of the famous geologist and fossil collector. I assumed the father, not only because he saved Amherst from financial ruin, but also because the new Amherst mascot (replacing the Lord Jeff's), though not actually named for something the senior Hitchcock discovered, certainly stands in that tradition. This correction doesn't alter my overall point about profound disjunction between their heritage and the current soccer program.