Empire 8

[Spartan94]

See a lot of topics across a lot of the leagues, and didn't seen anything for the Empire 8.  I am not from the region where these schools and team compete, but looking to gain some knowledge about the schools and the programs from people that might be in the know. 

- Is it a competitive league?
- Is the level of play fairly good, or regional kick and run club kids? 
- Coaching - good/bad experiences (try and stay away from baseless rumors!  )
- Level of education kids have received and post-grad outlooks

Or anything else!

Thanks!

[stlawus]

There are worse leagues than the E8 competition wise.  Among themselves they are pretty competitive.  In recent years they have been down a bit when it comes to the NCAA tournament and out of conference play in terms of wins, but I've seen some teams hang with the top tier of D3 soccer.  I am not familiar with the coaching landscape but haven't heard anything negative.

Much different story in terms of academics.  Lots of good schools in the league.  Naz, SJF, Alfred, Hartwick, Sage, Utica etc are all very strong academically.  You're pretty set in terms of post-grad opportunities.

[Spartan94]

Thanks for the insight and that is good to know ... son is attending SJF next year and playing on the team ... he really liked the coaches and the players on his visits there, but we weren't super familiar with the school or the conference until he showed interest in it.  Thanks again!

[Kuiper]

Pretty sad day for the Empire 8 with Men's soccer conference champion Medaille University announcing it is closing at the end of August

https://www.wivb.com/news/education/colleges-universities-buffalo/medaille-university-to-close-aug-31/

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Medaille University announced it will be closing this summer, following the termination of its integration deal with Trocaire College last week.

The official last date for the school will be Aug. 31.

Medaille cited "financial instability, declining enrollment, outstanding liabilities, and other challenges that are impacting institutions of higher education across the region, state and nationally" as its reasons for closing.

They will have some decent players scrambling for a place to play next year (particularly Ander Castillo, a forward from Spain who scored 23 goals last year, including 2 against Cortland in the NCAA tournament first round), but for most, their college careers have abruptly ended.

Medaille's HC, Sean Hallas, is a class act and has started a Twitter thread, complete with videos, to help place some of his players with new schools

https://twitter.com/SeanMHallas/status/1658133442507276288?s=20

[Spartan94]

Just heard this over the weekend, and I am gutted for those kids that need to navigate the next steps.  Hopefully they find a home, and the same for that coach that seems to being sticking by his kids. 

How does transferring work when most schools have accepted their incoming classes at this point and the deadlines for application have past? 

Also, does the E8 have a team to replace them waiting in the wings, or does this just add another non-conf game to the schedule most likely? 

[Spartan94]

Has there been any rumblings on if E8 will replace Medaille in the league at all and where those kids ended up landing?   

[Spartan94]

https://empire8.com/news/2023/8/21/general-suny-brockport-and-suny-geneseo-to-join-empire-8-2024-25-start-date-anticipated.aspx

Looks like 2 SUNY's joining E8 next year.  Based on schedules looks like they play many if not all of the existing E8 schools so makes sense from that perspective, but what does this mean for the SUNYAC moving forward ... and maybe there could be some departures from the existing E8 teams to other leagues?  From a league strength perspective, Geneseo is typically strong so improves the SoS for the existing teams I would think. 

[Coach Jeff]

https://empire8.com/news/2023/8/21/general-suny-brockport-and-suny-geneseo-to-join-empire-8-2024-25-start-date-anticipated.aspx

Looks like 2 SUNY's joining E8 next year.  Based on schedules looks like they play many if not all of the existing E8 schools so makes sense from that perspective, but what does this mean for the SUNYAC moving forward ... and maybe there could be some departures from the existing E8 teams to other leagues?  From a league strength perspective, Geneseo is typically strong so improves the SoS for the existing teams I would think.

Did anyone here where these players ended up.  Messiah played them in a spring game at Robert Morris and nothing was said at that time

[Crossit4fun]

Will the SUNYAC teams that move be eligible for NCAA play if they win the Empire conference?
That would be a tough pill to swallow for the existing teams.

[Caz Bombers]

Will the SUNYAC teams that move be eligible for NCAA play if they win the Empire conference?
That would be a tough pill to swallow for the existing teams.

yes, of course, they're just changing conferences not re-classifying into D3 (like say, Hartford.)

[Convict charlie]

https://empire8.com/news/2023/8/21/general-suny-brockport-and-suny-geneseo-to-join-empire-8-2024-25-start-date-anticipated.aspx

Looks like 2 SUNY's joining E8 next year.  Based on schedules looks like they play many if not all of the existing E8 schools so makes sense from that perspective, but what does this mean for the SUNYAC moving forward ... and maybe there could be some departures from the existing E8 teams to other leagues?  From a league strength perspective, Geneseo is typically strong so improves the SoS for the existing teams I would think.

Did anyone here where these players ended up.  Messiah played them in a spring game at Robert Morris and nothing was said at that time

Castillo from medaille ended up playing d1 at university of Albany. Seen he has started some games too and done fairly decent.

Coach Halas is an assistant now at last years d1 national champions Syracuse.

Those are the only places I have seen post about any players going so far. Our local paper the Buffalo news does a real good twitter account for college soccer. Shows highlights and he attends many men's and women's games.

I had played at medaille much earlier in the program for two years. Then was a part of coaching for six ncaa tournaments. Still follow college soccer d3 from afar and do watch some livestream games (not so far this year). Sad to see the college close. Fiscal mismanagement. I'll say that the first year we made the ncaa tournament we didn't even have a practice field. First year I played we had a field on campus. Enrollment went up so put parking and additional dorms after that. Took away the field. College campus was only 13 acres. Is a cemetery behind it so no way to expand.

[Soccer BTN]

Here is a list of some (not all) of where Medaille players ended up:

Ander Castillo - Albany (D1)
Bryce Koagel - Le Moyne (D2)
Sean Burke, Charlie Stewart, Dante Gesamondo - Hartwick (D3 - Empire 8)
Joseph Avallone - St. John Fisher (D3 - Empire 8)
Taiwo Afolabi - Russell Sage (D3 - Empire 8)
Rodrigo Perez, Jaime Mendo - Alfred (D3 - Empire 8) --> Alfred also picked up 2 of Coach Hallas' incoming Freshmen - Jesus De La Torre & Juan Jose Menendez Gutierrez

May have missed a few but I am sure that Medaille's opponents saw the quality of some of these guys and were able to give convincing pitches.

The conference looks wide open again with no true favorite like we saw back in the Stevens days (and what it looked like Medaille was building). Any thoughts from anybody on who you think could earn the automatic bid and possibly make some noise in the tournament?

[Spartan94]

Here is a list of some (not all) of where Medaille players ended up:

Ander Castillo - Albany (D1)
Bryce Koagel - Le Moyne (D2)
Sean Burke, Charlie Stewart, Dante Gesamondo - Hartwick (D3 - Empire 8)
Joseph Avallone - St. John Fisher (D3 - Empire 8)
Taiwo Afolabi - Russell Sage (D3 - Empire 8)
Rodrigo Perez, Jaime Mendo - Alfred (D3 - Empire 8) --> Alfred also picked up 2 of Coach Hallas' incoming Freshmen - Jesus De La Torre & Juan Jose Menendez Gutierrez

May have missed a few but I am sure that Medaille's opponents saw the quality of some of these guys and were able to give convincing pitches.

The conference looks wide open again with no true favorite like we saw back in the Stevens days (and what it looked like Medaille was building). Any thoughts from anybody on who you think could earn the automatic bid and possibly make some noise in the tournament?

Thanks for the breakdown on where they ended up  - I saw that a few of them were on Hartwick and watched a bit of their game with SLU and they appeared to play a bit role in that draw.

I agree it looks wide open with Medaille closing ... SJF, Utica, Nazareth have historically been the best of the rest, but other than Naz it doesn't look like any of them are up to the task for that auto bid.  SJF has struggled to create consistent offensive chances, and I don't think much of the non-conference games Utica/Nazareth has played has been much of a challenge for them so it so hard to tell.  I think once we get 1-2 E8 games under each teams belt we might have a better idea??

[Soccer BTN]

Have followed this conference quite a bit this season in hopes of finding a gem that could make noise in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Naz was in the driver's seat for the entire season prior to conceding with 2:23 remaining vs. Elmira to drop crucial points. Elmira closed the season out looking like somebody took a baseball bat to a beehive as they exploded for four goals in the first half of their final game to secure the top seed.

Elmira - Their response to going down early away @ Naz and the energy that they came out with vs. Alfred show this team is peaking at the right time. Players seem to fight for HC Lamine Balde - who has turned this program around after missing the conference tournament last season to win their first ever regular season title. Their home field is a nightmare for any opponent to play on. If they wind up hosting the Empire 8 Championship, I encourage anybody who is unfamiliar with this conference to tune in. Torn up grass field, camera right on top of the benches so you can hear everything. Who doesn't love a rugby match to decide who advances to the NCAA Tournament?

Fisher - Got a crucial 3 points against rivals Naz to earn a bye. They keep it pretty clean in the back but don't generate a ton of clear chances in the final third. Biggest thing to keep an eye on - who does the staff trust in net after rotating between both keepers in the final four games of the season? Firm believer that when a Coach thinks that they have two #1s, they really don't have any...

Naz - What happened down the stretch? They were strategic to get a few players their 5th yellow cards early enough so they wouldn't risk being suspended for Elmira/Fisher/E8 tournament, but did the staff think they had the one seed locked up too soon? Luckily they don't have much time to think about it as they turn around tomorrow vs. Alfred. Would love to see another rivalry match (vs. Fisher) to determine who advances to the E8 finals.

Hartwick - HC John Scott (who has stayed with the program during their transition from D1 to D3) has a well organized group. They play the right way and keep games tight. If they do win vs. Utica tomorrow, it will be intriguing to see how their style changes on a beat-up Elmira surface.

Utica - Fell incredibly short of expectations after a runner-up performance in 2022. Have yet to win back-to-back games in 2023, but did enter the 2022 conference tournament on a four-game losing skid and advanced out of the 4v5 game as well. My guess is that they would do well to upset Hartwick but would need PKs to advance past Elmira.

Alfred - Unpredictable team that is hoping to pounce on Naz's recent downturn. They are 1-6-1 in away matches, with their tie coming on September 1st and win coming on September 6th. In their most recent six away games, they have been outscored 5-21. Maybe they can shock Naz and get hot, but don't expect them to be a real threat at earning the AQ.


2023 awards (stats based - would love to hear what others think):
Coach of the Year - Lamine Balde (Elmira)
Player of the Year - Martin Harguindey (Elmira) - 11g (3 gwg), 2a
Rookie of the Year - Gavin Culley (Alfred) - 8g (2 gwg), 1a

Long story short - the AQ is most likely going to get a difficult opening weekend matchup against Cortland or travel to one of the top teams in the country. They would do well to fight & hold on for a chance late into the game, but it will be a tall task for any of these teams. No team from the conference has appeared in the Region III polls throughout the season. The top two seeds combined for a nonconference record of 2-10-3.

Anybody else have insight that they can add heading into the conference tournament?

[Ejay]

+ applaud.

Love the recap and analysis. Great to hear what's going on in the less popular conferences. Unfortunately the E8 is simply not strong enough to garner much attention.  And you're right about the AQ, whoever makes it into the tournament can likely best hope for a 1-0 win after being outshot 28-2 by a ranked team. But a win is a win :-)