NCAA TOURNAMENT 2024

[SKUD]

^ glad the Team(s) know how to read.

[Hopkins Walk-On]

I know some longer-time coaches still do, but are active players aware of it?  I know they used to be, but I'm just not sure if they are anymore and you (and other parents of current players) probably have some insight on that.

My son is a Bowdoin grad and some of his friends who still play soccer there read the board.

[Falconer]

The Amherst players that can read, do also.

All three of them, in addition to your son?

[EnmoreCat]

The Amherst players that can read, do also.

All three of them, in addition to your son?

Unfortunately Falconer, there is less accurate data available about how many can count...

[eaglesoccerdad]

The Amherst players that can read, do also.

What a post!! LMAO

[LibbyMoore]

I'm a parent of a rising senior in the NEWMAC. I've enjoyed this board quite a bit over the past four years. As others have commented, I'd prefer not to post while my son is still playing. That seems like a bad idea, for a number of reasons. Having said that,because of this board, I recently enjoyed a couple of great weekends in Williamstown and Middlebury. I got the opportunity to see Messiah and Trinity (TX) for the first time. The level of D3 soccer around the country is phenomenal.

For all that post on a regular basis, please continue to do so. The information and opinions are greatly appreciated.

I wish the NEWMAC, GNAC, and the other New England conferences had a presence here! Wish they knew to find this!

[LibbyMoore]

My view about posting while my son was playing:

- I never post about him

- I assume his teammates and/or coach are reading

- I never post info that might help their opponents. (Eg last year in the NCAA tournament my son's knee was lacerated to the bone, and he continued to play, even after ripping out the stitches -- the other teams didn't need to know that!)

I think it's always a good practice to assume someone you care about is reading what you posted on social media and knows you wrote it (if you did so anonymously), but I wondered if players do actually read the boards these days.  I know some longer-time coaches still do, but are active players aware of it?  I know they used to be, but I'm just not sure if they are anymore and you (and other parents of current players) probably have some insight on that.

Yes, the coaches and players are well aware and usually start reading more when things heat up in playoff season or if they are trying to track down a rumor about a recruit.

[Kuiper]

Really nice look back at Amherst's national championship run from the local newspaper

The long road to Amherst College's national championship, and a belief in "embracing the crazy"

When Amherst defeated Connecticut College 4-3 in penalty kicks in the finals, it stood as the Mammoths' second D3 crown in Serpone's 17 seasons (the other coming in 2015). Amherst has been to four of the last five national title games (2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024), and the Mammoths have made the NCAA tournament in each year under Serpone. They haven't won less than a dozen games since Serpone took over in 2007, and they've yet to have more than three losses in conference play.

That kind of success doesn't happen overnight. Serpone has built something special at Amherst, although he'll never take the credit for it.

"None of this is possible with out him," Amherst senior defender Ben Clark-Eden said of his head coach. "He knows it, but won't say it. The culture and the precedent that he sets, the way he brings people together to buy into this one thing, which is soccer, is incredible. I've never experienced anything like it, and never will again."

The overtime loss to St. Olaf weighed heavily on Serpone, and when spring practice came back in March, he wasn't ready to even think about another full season. He told his team he was still processing and mourning a third national title loss in the last four years. He needed more time.

When players returned toward the end of the summer though, it was business as usual. Amherst couldn't wait to get back at it.

Their excitement was met with more tribulation, as two of the Mammoths' best players – both of whom were regarded as top midfielders in the country – went down with season-ending injuries right away. Ignacio Cubeddu and Laurens ten Cate played a combined 20 minutes all year. Amherst needed to figure out how to fill their shoes.

And while the injury bug plagued the Mammoths, sickness did, too. More than half of the team had to sit out one of Amherst's biggest non-conference games of the season, a Sept. 24 bout with Babson.

"It just spread throughout the entire team, and it was all captured in this one moment going up against Babson, a team that's nationally ranked and ended up making it to the Elite Eight this year," Amherst senior forward Fynn Hayton-Ruffner said. "There are like 15 guys, maximum, in the locker room getting ready for the game. Everyone else is outside wearing a mask. We ended up getting a tie in a game that had big implications for our ranking at the end of the year."

"It's impossible to think about this year without thinking about the last five years," Serpone said. "The story isn't complete without that being front and center. There are 418 teams in Division III soccer, and the fact that we went to three of the last four finals and had our hearts broken, that adds 1,000 times the meaning to what's going on. I couldn't be happier, and I want to make sure that every single one of those guys that played on the 2019 team, 2021 team, 2023 team feel just as invested and happy as the 32 guys on this current team. Because we truly feel that we couldn't have done it without them."

Local police met Amherst's bus as it entered Hadley last Sunday night, and they provided an escort back to campus – where a large group of Mammoths supporters awaited their newly-crowned national champs.

"When we realized that's what they were doing, we were like, 'Oh my, this is ridiculous,'" Clark-Eden said with a huge smile on his face, referring to the escort. "They shut off the road. It made us feel amazing. And there were a really good amount of people here Sunday night. It was amazing that many people came out in the cold."

An unwavering amount of love for not only those currently on the team, but those that have come before, a colossal commitment to the sport they love and an unbreakable mindset has brought the Mammoths to unthinkable heights.

Serpone doesn't want it any other way. The culture in Amherst really is different.

"We embrace the crazy," Serpone said. "And that's because we are f****** crazy."

[EnmoreCat]

Thanks Kuiper, I'm getting goosebumps forever...

[MunnyTim]

Checking in after my one week mandated absence from the board due to serious depression.  That was a tough loss to take for the Camels.  Just a handful of thoughts.

1.  The field was really not good.  All the folks who commented on it via the livestreaming were accurate.  I walked it a bit after the game and it was about as bad as you could imagine.

2.  I need a second opinion.  I thought Amherst was lucky to finish the game with 11 players.  It seemed to me that #14 (McCarthy), who received a yellow with his first hard challenge of the day, had two fouls after that which were as cynical/physical as the first one.  Yet, no other sanction other than a common foul was given.  That was my opinion as I watched it live.  Uncertain if others saw it the same way - the partisan/homer glasses were on.

3. EnmoreCat.  I have said this before, but The Kitten is a heck of a player.  And, I would add after watching this one up close and paying attention, he is a good sportsman.  I saw several moments of really good sportsmanship out of him.  Class kid.  If we were going to lose, I appreciate the fact that it was The Kitten who knocked in the winning penalty.

That is all.  Back to my group therapy session with us sad Camels.

[Another Mom]

Agree the field was really bad. Washington and Lee's is much better.

Joining you in the post season depression,  especially since this marks the end of my son's playing career.

[MunnyTim]

The rowed ruts on the field were palpable when you walked on it.  The ball on the ground was definitely not the way to go.

Congrats to your son finishing what really looks to be a memorable career - three final fours in four years is amazing, especially with a coaching transition in the midst of it. 

[PaulNewman]

What a night to be a Vermont Catamount....

UVM 2, Marshall 1 OT1

UVM...2024 D1 National Champions

[kevdog]

What a night to be a Vermont Catamount....

UVM 2, Marshall 1 OT1

UVM...2024 D1 National Champions

Come from behind too. Scored in the 82 minute then in the first sudden death OT with breakaway goal by going around the goalie. The Marshall defender should have never left his feet but he was tired. No excuses for him but when you are fatigued sometimes you just don't make the best decision. The defender played a great game just made a little mistake. Hats off to both teams. Thought they both played their hearts out. Congrats to UVM for being the National Champs.

[Newenglander]

Checking in after my one week mandated absence from the board due to serious depression.  That was a tough loss to take for the Camels.  Just a handful of thoughts.

1.  The field was really not good.  All the folks who commented on it via the livestreaming were accurate.  I walked it a bit after the game and it was about as bad as you could imagine.

2.  I need a second opinion.  I thought Amherst was lucky to finish the game with 11 players.  It seemed to me that #14 (McCarthy), who received a yellow with his first hard challenge of the day, had two fouls after that which were as cynical/physical as the first one.  Yet, no other sanction other than a common foul was given.  That was my opinion as I watched it live.  Uncertain if others saw it the same way - the partisan/homer glasses were on.

3. EnmoreCat.  I have said this before, but The Kitten is a heck of a player.  And, I would add after watching this one up close and paying attention, he is a good sportsman.  I saw several moments of really good sportsmanship out of him.  Class kid.  If we were going to lose, I appreciate the fact that it was The Kitten who knocked in the winning penalty.

That is all.  Back to my group therapy session with us sad Camels.

I was there as well and agree that overall the officiating was decent - there were certainly some additional fouls in the second half for 14 but my only criticism is that the head official didn't even pull the player over to talk/give a final warning which tends to calm things down........