Big Dance 2022 - Let's Go!

[coach analytics]

Congratulations to all 4 teams.  Incredible runs for all including Bubble teams Williams and Mary Washington.  All are quite worthy but UChicago has to be licking their chops.

During this tournament the NESCAC teams have not dominated quite as much as the last two when they literally did not lose a single game to a non NESCAC team.

However, this tournament shows the incredible depth of the league.  Just in the last 3 tournaments you have had 4 different teams in the Final 4.  Even more impressive is that in the past two tournaments you have had 6 different teams make an Elite 8.

[blue_jays]

UChicago got it done again today and really didn't let GAC into the game. The Gusties are a good physical team but their vaunted defense got holes poked into them by the Maroon attackers, who didn't quite finish chances the way they would have liked. GAC's goalie is the real deal and kept UChicago from making it 3-0 with a couple great saves that he made the right anticipation move on. GAC's offense really didn't threaten the Maroons more than twice all game, just couldn't get good touches near the box. Wada and Hu had great games.
The injury bug is the big concern for the Maroons now. Both right backs are dinged up. Moonesinghe was out, and Gomas exited with an injury after absorbing the foul in the box that led to the PK. Lee was kicked in the face or chest and was down for awhile and exited the game.
As noted, UChicago didn't celebrate much after the game. Mostly because this group is not content with just reaching the Final Four, which they already did last year. It's championship or bust for them.

[BigSoccerFan]

They got it just about right and maybe they could have left 1 out going by the criteria.  Doing an "in hindsight" exercise is moronic.  They don't pick teams by watching games.  They have a set of statistics and criteria to go by.

Just a question.  No need to get all protective  and angry

I'm not interpreting that as protective and angry.  I think PAclassic89 was just stating the facts.  Plus, do you change your own opinion now that we all realize Williams is through to the Final Four?

I have been rooting for Williams all year.  I just do not think the NESCAC was a powerhouse conference this year.

[coach analytics]

No doubt that the NESCAC was off a bit from the prior two years when tremendous players like Giamatti (Amherst) and Calvin Aroh (moved on) but the real strength of the conference is its depth from top to bottom.  In the last 3 NCAA tournaments, 6 different programs have been to the elite 8 with two "new" reps this year in Williams and Bowdoin. 

A true battle ground each and every game.

[northman]

No doubt that the NESCAC was off a bit from the prior two years when tremendous players like Giamatti (Amherst) and Calvin Aroh (moved on) but the real strength of the conference is its depth from top to bottom.  In the last 3 NCAA tournaments, 6 different programs have been to the elite 8 with two "new" reps this year in Williams and Bowdoin. 

A true battle ground each and every game.

Thumbs up (since I couldn't find a "thumbs up" emoji...)

[PaulNewman]

Sincere congrats to Mary Washington and Williams...

Seems like a week ago that we were talking about whether an embarrassing loss to Salisbury would be fatal for MW...and like a week ago that most of us felt like our sensibilities had been insulted by Williams even getting a bid.

MW started with an unassuming 1-0 win over Marymount, followed by defeating the D3 with the most NCAA tourney appearances by far, Ohio Wesleyan, to being viewed as the only team in a sectional to have literally no shot, and proceeding to knock out Amherst, at Amherst...and then another NESCAC top-dog, very highly rated Bowdoin.

Williams arguably was fortunate to get by NYU in Rd 1, with the reward being facing the impossible task of surviving #1 huge favorite Messiah on Messiah's home field which they somehow pulled off with the slimmest of margins.  Then avoided a major letdown to stay steady through Ohio Northern, and topped all that off by beating a favored Kenyon squad (that had just beaten Calvin and W&L) on their home field when Kenyon as the country's most overdue program to win an Elite 8 game absolutely had to win that game.

Stunning achievements and very well earned spots in the Final 4 where neither seemed imaginable and both doing it was beyond unimaginable. 

And one of them will be in the national final. 

[blue_jays]

Sincere congrats to Mary Washington and Williams...

Seems like a week ago that we were talking about whether an embarrassing loss to Salisbury would be fatal for MW...and like a week ago that most of us felt like our sensibilities had been insulted by Williams even getting a bid.

MW started with an unassuming 1-0 win over Marymount, followed by defeating the D3 with the most NCAA tourney appearances by far, Ohio Wesleyan, to being viewed as the only team in a sectional to have literally no shot, and proceeding to knock out Amherst, at Amherst...and then another NESCAC top-dog, very highly rated Bowdoin.

Williams arguably was fortunate to get by NYU in Rd 1, with the reward being facing the impossible task of surviving #1 huge favorite Messiah on Messiah's home field which they somehow pulled off with the slimmest of margins.  Then avoided a major letdown to stay steady through Ohio Northern, and topped all that off by beating a favored Kenyon squad (that had just beaten Calvin and W&L) on their home field when Kenyon as the country's most overdue program to win an Elite 8 game absolutely had to win that game.

Stunning achievements and very well earned spots in the Final 4 where neither seemed imaginable and both doing it was beyond unimaginable. 

And one of them will be in the national final.

IMO, Williams should be favored to win it all. Smells like a team of destiny. They've taken on the best teams in the nation and shut them down.

[NESCAC_Soccer_Fan]

Sincere congrats to Mary Washington and Williams...

Seems like a week ago that we were talking about whether an embarrassing loss to Salisbury would be fatal for MW...and like a week ago that most of us felt like our sensibilities had been insulted by Williams even getting a bid.

MW started with an unassuming 1-0 win over Marymount, followed by defeating the D3 with the most NCAA tourney appearances by far, Ohio Wesleyan, to being viewed as the only team in a sectional to have literally no shot, and proceeding to knock out Amherst, at Amherst...and then another NESCAC top-dog, very highly rated Bowdoin.

Williams arguably was fortunate to get by NYU in Rd 1, with the reward being facing the impossible task of surviving #1 huge favorite Messiah on Messiah's home field which they somehow pulled off with the slimmest of margins.  Then avoided a major letdown to stay steady through Ohio Northern, and topped all that off by beating a favored Kenyon squad (that had just beaten Calvin and W&L) on their home field when Kenyon as the country's most overdue program to win an Elite 8 game absolutely had to win that game.

Stunning achievements and very well earned spots in the Final 4 where neither seemed imaginable and both doing it was beyond unimaginable. 

And one of them will be in the national final.

IMO, Williams should be favored to win it all. Smells like a team of destiny. They've taken on the best teams in the nation and shut them down.

Maybe I'm just the last holdout, but I'm still not a Williams believer. Mary Washington feels like the perfect team to end their run. MW's ability to score on both Amherst (and their infamous antics) as well as a defensive Bowdoin shows, in my mind, that they have the tools to deal with the Ephs. For the sake of the NESCAC, I hope Williams wins. But every team gets found out eventually. How long can Williams sustain shutouts and set pieces? Two more games? Fewer? It seems like one lucky goal and some game planning for long throws could be enough for MW to play one last Saturday.

And as a closer, I'll say that I've never believed in destiny.

[Kuiper]

Sincere congrats to Mary Washington and Williams...

Seems like a week ago that we were talking about whether an embarrassing loss to Salisbury would be fatal for MW...and like a week ago that most of us felt like our sensibilities had been insulted by Williams even getting a bid.

MW started with an unassuming 1-0 win over Marymount, followed by defeating the D3 with the most NCAA tourney appearances by far, Ohio Wesleyan, to being viewed as the only team in a sectional to have literally no shot, and proceeding to knock out Amherst, at Amherst...and then another NESCAC top-dog, very highly rated Bowdoin.

Williams arguably was fortunate to get by NYU in Rd 1, with the reward being facing the impossible task of surviving #1 huge favorite Messiah on Messiah's home field which they somehow pulled off with the slimmest of margins.  Then avoided a major letdown to stay steady through Ohio Northern, and topped all that off by beating a favored Kenyon squad (that had just beaten Calvin and W&L) on their home field when Kenyon as the country's most overdue program to win an Elite 8 game absolutely had to win that game.

Stunning achievements and very well earned spots in the Final 4 where neither seemed imaginable and both doing it was beyond unimaginable. 

And one of them will be in the national final.

IMO, Williams should be favored to win it all. Smells like a team of destiny. They've taken on the best teams in the nation and shut them down.

Maybe I'm just the last holdout, but I'm still not a Williams believer. Mary Washington feels like the perfect team to end their run. MW's ability to score on both Amherst (and their infamous antics) as well as a defensive Bowdoin shows, in my mind, that they have the tools to deal with the Ephs. For the sake of the NESCAC, I hope Williams wins. But every team gets found out eventually. How long can Williams sustain shutouts and set pieces? Two more games? Fewer? It seems like one lucky goal and some game planning for long throws could be enough for MW to play one last Saturday.

And as a closer, I'll say that I've never believed in destiny.

I've been wondering about Mary Washington and whether they are for real.  They looked really good in some of the tournament action I've seen, especially against Amherst's high press, but they've had some odd results too.  Losing to Cortland, Hopkins, and Christopher Newport (who they later beat) is nothing to hang your head about, but they not only had that bad loss to Salisbury (who finished 5-12-2), but also a 5-3 win against Salisbury a couple of weeks earlier where they were down 2-0 before roaring back.  They also had ties against Lynchburg, which is a respectable result, and Stevenson, which is less so even though they played some teams tough (5-10-5).  Sometimes that happens, either because a team lets its guard down against inferior opponents (plays down to them) or because familiarity allows the other team to adapt tactically.  It's also possible a team just gets hot around tournament time.

Anyone have any thoughts about how some teams, including a weaker team like Salisbury, have given them fits, but they look so good against others?  Are there types of teams that are more difficult for them?  Were key players missing/injured?  One thing I noticed is that MW's leading scorer, Josh Kirkland, scored 18 goals and had 3 assists this season, but he didn't have a single goal or assist in any of their losses or ties (until the Amherst game, assuming that counts as a tie).  He never had more than 2 shots in any of those losses/ties.  Are teams who have success against MW simply marking Kirkland out of the game?  Carter Berg, their second leading scorer with 10 goals and 5 assists, scored in one of the later losses and one of the later ties, but otherwise was also kept off the score sheet in those ties/losses. Similarly, Nelsar Castillo, their diminutive CM who seems to be the metronome who keys their short passing game, didn't start and/or play in the early season losses to Cortland and Christopher Newport or in the ties to Lynchburg and Stevenson.  Has he been the key to turning things around?  If marking those three out of the game is the key, it will be interesting to see how Williams approaches the task since their coaches/players have certainly had enough time to study and prepare for them.

[EnmoreCat]

Anyone have any thoughts about how some teams, including a weaker team like Salisbury, have given them fits, but they look so good against others?  Are there types of teams that are more difficult for them? 

I've been thinking about this a bit Kuiper, I think it's the nature of D3.  The game is that less mechanical at this level and that's not a criticism, but is about the difference between D1 which practices all year round and D3 where the balance means that game plans are exercised with that bit less precision, which means that no matter how good we might think some teams are and whatever the rankings say, in one off games, anyone can lose, especially if a game goes to penalties.  I reckon that we may be (about to get controversial here) ascribe much greater powers to teams than what they actually possess in reality.  If the final four had been instead all the teams that lost in the elite eight, we would have been discussing them in similar terms, three of those games were a one goal margin and one went to penalties.  If it had been Gustavus Adolphus, Kenyon, Johns Hopkins and Bowdoin that have won instead, we would probably be waxing lyrically about the powers they possess and possible senses of destiny etc.   I think this division is much more even than we give it credit for.  That's the real thrill of it for me...

(modified by GS for formatting)

[nescac1]

To EnmoreCat's point I think so many of these games could have gone either way.  Injuries are part of the game but there is no question Bowdoin was hurt by injuries to two key defenders, one of whom was NESCAC POY.  Hard to recover from that especially with no time to prepare an alternative game plan. 

As for Williams, its last seven games, all of which have come against D3 soccer powers (including winners of 17 of the past 18 titles, just a crazy statistic; Amherst, which Williams tied earlier in the year, is the other winner) have all been ties or one goal games, with three decided by PKs.  That shows that Williams can compete with anyone.  It also shows that Williams lacks the finishing touch (especially after losing Felitto to injury) to put away very good teams like MW. 

In the end, what that means is I'd be surprised if either team scored more than once today and I expect a toss-up game that likely comes down to one mistake or bit of good fortunate.  Will be hard to draw broad thematic conclusions if that is how it goes, other than to just applaud both teams and shrug. 

That being said, go Ephs!  (And if they lose, go UChicago, my other alma mater ).

[DucksFan02]

(As an extremely biased fan) Hoping to see an exciting game today between Stevens and Chicago! The biggest game for Stevens in over a decade, with their last Final4 appearance (2008) leading to a national runner-up finish vs Messiah. That national final went to penalties, and if today's game goes to penalties, my heart might just hit 500 bpm.
Chicago is the definition of pedigree, making 4 of the last 5 final4s, an undefeated season, and a style of soccer that has dominated Division 3 for the past decade. Have only ever watched 2 Chicago games, today marks my third ever.
Proud of the Ducks no matter what happens, they've had an incredible year, with all the Seniors and Graduate students playing a massive role in the journey. Will be driving down to Roanoake to watch the final if the Ducks win today. For a lot of us, I'm sure a win for the USMNT on Saturday followed with a D3 national championship would go down as one of the most memorable days of our lives.
GO DUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kuiper]

One factor for Mary Washington that hasn't been mentioned (perhaps because it doesn't mean much, if anything) is that they are playing pretty close to home in the Final Four, relatively speaking.  Not only is Salem only a few hours away from MW, and certainly closer to them than any of the other Final Four schools, but MW plays Roanoke regularly and played in Salem this year.  So, they have some familiarity with the field and surroundings.  Like I said, it may not mean much, but it could be a slight benefit.

[Kuiper]

Stevens pressing Chicago very high and speeding them up a bit, but Chicago still able to play through for the most part.

By the way, in the "this may only interest me dept," I just realized that Chicago is playing on a field with "maroons" plastered all over it and on the press box, which must make them feel at home.  I didn't know Roanoke was also the Maroons (but with some kind of a bird mascot, not that unlike Chicago's Phoenix logo).

0-0 at end of first OT.  Chicago has outshot Stevens 15 (4 on goal) - 3 (1 on goal), but couldn't manage to poke through.  Yetishefsky is getting service in the box with 4 players surrounding him.

[DucksFan02]

Stevens with 6 in the back looks like in OT. Withstood an absolute barrage over the last 20 of regular time.