UAA Soccer 2022

[Recon]

Agree on CMU.. and a bit of an unknown.  vs JCU, CMU gave up a goal in the 4th minute (after a long rain delay), but then played a bit more even and JCU keeper saved a penalty in 2nd half. it's another one of these early season games that if the score were 1-1 and CMU was 5-0-2, perceptions out there on CMU may be different, I don't know... I've only watched 2 of their games. of course, performing in tougher games is important too. 

 

[blooter442]

The UAA is going to be absolutely fine.  Brandeis being down the last 2-3 years has been a surprise...and I don't love CMU, but otherwise I think they're looking good.  I left out Wash U who I can never get a handle on.

From 2012-17 they were varying levels of Sweet 16 or better. 2018 was a down year (below .500), the next year was a bit of a resurgence but missed out on the tournament (still salty over the fluky loss to UR, who also had five losses, but they earned their bid in the end with better results against big teams). I liked signs of what I saw last year and the year before, even if the final product was lacking. I watched part of the (first attempt at a) Vassar game and the two goals given away stemmed from mishandled passes 10 seconds apart. They are random events but when they're happening multiple times per game that is a problem.

The margins are fine in soccer, even D3, and I think several recruiting coups over the years (Lynch/Savonen/J. Ocel) as well as a cadre of D1 transfers (Soboff/Sam Vinson) might have had more influence in the team success than realized. The DeNight kid came in as a freshman relatively unknown, scored a bunch of goals, and was UAA Rookie of the Year, then left for Columbia post-COVID; Elias Norris was also a solid player that went to GW. D1 giveth and it taketh. Either way, I am also surprised that they haven't been near the top of the region, let alone nationally, in the greater part of a decade.

It's important to remember that Margolis (now HC) was largely influential in the Judges' resurgence, his predecessor would have told you as much, and took his first team to the Final 4, so I still have confidence that they can come good sooner rather than later, but it'll start with getting the right talent.

[Kuiper]

I don't know if it makes sense to revive this thread, but I also don't think I should be the one to start a new UAA thread (which really needs to be done without a year limitation)

Rochester posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

- 32 on the roster, which is the same as last year

- Rochester has an embarrassment of experience at GK.  GK Santino Lupica-Tondo, who has been a lock-in starter for the last three years, returns for a COVID year as a grad student.  However, Ben Ziegler, who was a regular starter at Hamilton in '21 and '22, but only played 1 game in '23 as team captain (perhaps due to injury?), has also come to Rochester as a grad student.  They also have a third keeper who is a senior, even though he has played very little.  With new coach Ben Cross coming in off stints as a an asst coach for the first team at Columbus Crew and FC Dallas, I wouldn't be surprised if it was an open competition, with some playing time for Salvador Castaneda from Austin, Texas as well to get him ready to take over next year

- In addition to Ziegler, Rochester picked up a couple of other transfers.
 
  - Kamuleeden Ibrahim is a grad transfer forward from Skidmore, where he was first team all Liberty League and All Region in 2022 when he scored 15 goals.  Only saw action in 3 games in 2023 (injury?)
  - Tomas White is a grad transfer midfielder from DI Presbyterian, where he played 14 games and started 6 last year

- 7 freshman.  With 10 seniors or graduate students on the roster, that gives Cross some ability to shape his team pretty substantially next recruiting class

[WUPHF]

(which really needs to be done without a year limitation)

The norm for the boards used to be season-specific threads and hence the date. But as activity had dropped, it might make sense for a major overhaul of threads.

[Soccerguy53]

Ziegler has two years of eligibility after red-shirting last fall.

[Kuiper]

University of Chicago has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

- 35 on the roster, compared with 31 last year

- They lose some important players from last year, including starting GK Will Boyes (although he's now an assistant coach in charge of GKs) and leading scorer and assist man Ryan Yetishefsky, plus some experienced defensive depth in Lucas Gen, Nathan Moonesinghe, and Maina Ngobia.

- One big returning player is Robbie Pino, who was second on the team in goals and assists last year as a senior and comes back as a grad student for a Covid year.  Alex Lee is also back after not playing in the 2023 season.

- One very inexperienced position will be GK.  Boyes was a steady, if not spectacular, GK who played just about every available minute his last two years, and the minutes he didn't play went to his fellow '24 grad Nate Drew.  As a result, none of the GK options have played in college.  Presumably, junior Gabriel Diaz (or maybe even senior Dhirpal Shah) will play, but it's possible it could be an open competition with the two incoming freshman, especially since Coach Philip Kroft recruited them and was not around for the recruitment of the two older keepers.

- Speaking of freshman, there are 10 on the roster, including the two GKs

- There are also two DI grad transfers, both of whom might be candidates to help to fill the gap left by Yetishefsky's departure.  Alex Salvino is a 6'3" forward from Notre Dame and Julius Rauch is a 6'2" forward from Syracuse (and before that a member of the U19 and U23 teams at Borussia Dortmund Academy).

- I found it interesting that Kroft has replaced his lead assistant coach, Michael Mauro, who was a hold-over from the previous head coaches, with his own staff.  Jack Curtain has a good amount of experience and Gustav Ericsson has local and int'l connections as well as DIII experience.  Ericsson comes over after serving as a grad assistant last season at his alma mater North Park, where he played in the 2017 national finals, transferred to DI University of San Diego, and then returned to North Park and was a second team USC All-American as a senior in 2021.  He might provide a little bit of a Swedish connection for recruiting should Kroft want to look in that direction.

[Gregory Sager]

- I found it interesting that Kroft has replaced his lead assistant coach, Michael Mauro, who was a hold-over from the previous head coaches, with his own staff.  Jack Curtain has a good amount of experience and Gustav Ericsson has local and int'l connections as well as DIII experience.  Ericsson comes over after serving as a grad assistant last season at his alma mater North Park, where he played in the 2017 national finals, transferred to DI University of San Diego, and then returned to North Park and was a second team USC All-American as a senior in 2021.  He might provide a little bit of a Swedish connection for recruiting should Kroft want to look in that direction.

I would add that Gustav's presence on the other side will bring some extra spice to the annual cross-town rivalry match when North Park travels down to 56th and Cottage Grove on October 16 to square off against the Maroons, but the word "spice" doesn't belong anywhere in a discussion involving a Swede.