Anotheraccomplishrd young woman fom William SMith: - Maddie Buckley ( #14 in your progam and #1 in our heart http://www.abw.org/11th-annual-wooden-cup-awards/
Upcoming games to note-2015 In the past couple of years, top10 and top 25 teams in D3 have scheduled games against each other early in the season. IN 2015, The Wheaton, IL Thunder ‘s Bob Baptista Invitational Features Sept 4: William Smith Herons (2014 Final NSCAA #12) vs. Wheaton Thunder(2014 Final NSCAA #16), and Puget Sound Loggers (2014 Final NSCAA #20) vs. Emory Eagles. (2014 Final NSCAA Rec’d votes) Sept 5: Puget Sound Loggers vs. Wheaton Thunder, and William Smith Herons vs. Emory Eagles
August 7 NSCAA Coaches pre-season Poll Top 25 - nothing jumps out at me as being notable. RANKSCHOOLRECORDPREVIOUS 1 Lynchburg 27-0-11 2 Williams 21-1-22 3Messiah 22-0-35 4IllinoisWesleyan 18-7-14 5 Johns Hopkins 19-4-2 3 6 Trinity (Texas) 22-1-1 6 7 Carnegie Mellon 16-2-1 7 8 Thomas More 23-2-0 9 9 TCNJ 18-3-1 8 10 William Smith 16-3-1 11 11 Chicago 15-5-1 13 12 Montclair State 19-2-2 10 13 Aurora 19-3-2 14 14 Lake Forest 21-1-0 17 15 Misericordia 19-3-1 12 16 Nazareth 15-4-4 18 17 Puget Sound 16-4-1 20 18 Wheaton (Ill.) 18-2-2 16 19 Connecticut College 16-3-1 21 20 Wisconsin-Whitewater 18-4-0 23 21 Centre 16-6-3 15 22 Washington (Mo.) 13-4-2 19 23 SUNY Geneseo 16-3-3 NR 24 Hardin-Simmons 16-3-0 25 25 Ithaca 15-4-1 22
Matches among the Top 25 in August and September ( I apologize for any errors): RANKSCHOOLEARLY TOP 25 GAMES 1 Lynchburg 9-20 host Trinity TX 2 Williams None in Sept 3Messiah 9-9 host Johns Hopkins…9-12 at William Smith…9/19 at Misericordia 4IllinoisWesleyan 8-22 exhibition at Aurora…9-1 host Connecticut College…9-19 at WashU…9-24 host Chicago 5 Johns Hopkins 9-9 at Messiah…9-13 at TCNJ 6 Trinity (Texas)9-20 at Lynchburg 7 Carnegie Mellon 9-12 host Wheaton 8 Thomas More9-13 host Aurora 9 TCNJ9-13 host Johns Hopkins 10 William Smith9-4 at Wheaton…9-12 host Messiah…9-19 vs Ithaca in Rochester, NY 11 Chicago9-24 at Illinois Wesleyan 12 Montclair StateNone in Sept 13 Aurora 8-22 exhibition host Illinois Wesleyan…9-13 at Thomas More…9-23 host Wheaton 14 Lake Forest 8-29 scrimmage at Wheaton 15 Misericordia9-19 host Messiah 16 Nazareth 9-10 host SUNY Geneseo 17 Puget Sound9-5 at Wheaton 18 Wheaton (Ill.)8-29 host Lake Forest scrimmage...9-4 host William Smith…9-5 host Puget Sound…9-12 at Carnegie Mellon…9-23 at Aurora…9-26 at WashU 19 Connecticut CollegeNone in Sept 20 Wisconsin-Whitewater9-1 at Illinois Wesleyan 21 CentreNone in Sept 22 Washington (Mo.)9-19 host Illinois Wesleyan…9-26 at Wheaton 23 SUNY Geneseo 9-10 at Nazareth 24 Hardin-Simmons None in Sept 25 Ithaca 9-19 vs William Smith in Rochester, NY
Thanks Coach Jon for the D3 info. Don't follow most of these schools but I have questions about 2 that I do follow: Emory - not ranked at all by the coaches but #5 in the Hero Sports poll http://herosports.com/sport/collegesoccer/d3-womens-soccer/ Seems like an awful big discrepancy. Any idea why they would be unranked by the coaches? Lynchburg - defending champs and #1 from the coaches but only #17 by Hero. Again, seems like a big discrepancy. Would appreciate reading any thoughts you have on these.
Many posters will explain and some are involved in these rankings but basically, the NSCAA poll is 95% based on last years end of year poll as the regional committees that feed recommendations to the main committee haven't even met yet. HeroSports/Bennett explains their methods but the algorithm is ultimately a trade secret. It's an RPI type but is intended to have some predictive strength. I assume they looked much more carefully at both 2014 post-season performances and then strength of Sr classes. Lynchburg at #1 in the coaches poll is a courtesy, they were undefeated national champs but graduate their top 2 scorers who were both All-Americans. LC has typically soft schedule but this year Trinity and Emory will be good tests. Emory is always good but last year tied for 4th in the UAA and lost 1st NCAA game. I don't know if Hero is doing them any favors with a top-5 ranking. They only scored 39 goals last year and graduated their top scorer but typically have one of the toughest schedules in d3. I agree that both these teams should be in the 10-15 range for the preseason. imho.
Thanks Eddie. I agree that the Coaches poll is primarily based on last year's results. And also that Hero probably did no favor to Emory by ranking them #5. Thanks for the strength of schedule comments. I recall last year that Emory was ranked in top 5 during non-conf schedule but once they started UAA they dropped. Should be a great game between LC & EU at the end of Sept.
EK- thanks for your posts - lots of good information there. - I agree with your thoughts on Lynchburg losing two senior scorers. Regarding Emory - I am not sure why they aren't ranked higher by the coaches right now (pre-season), except they finished 4th in the UAA with a league record of 2W-1L-4T and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament against a lower ranked team.
Opening Week: Some folks out there are Division 3 grads and/or supporters. And some folks will be or should be. We have had some fun with this in the past - see Jeffs, Bears, Tartans and Ephs. I'm a William Smith Herons supporter, and women's soccer supporter in general. PLEASE, post about your favorite team – top 10 or not - Division 3 has more than 250 women’s soccer teams eligible for national ranking in 2015. It should be an exciting year with the perennial standouts being challenged at the top; the 2014 Final 4 did not include any teams that had been in the Final 4 during the previous 5 years. Many teams have video streaming of games, some for free, and some pay per view or per season. I will try and provide links. News #16 Nazareth and #10 William Smith had a scrimmage on Wed 8/26; per the Nazareth twitter feed the outcome was: Great scrimmage result with William Smith. 0-0. Time to eat #nazsoccer Notable Games Week Ending Sunday 9/6/15 Tue 9/1/15 - #20 Wisconsin-Whitewater at #4 Illinois Wesleyan -Streaming video: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/iwu/ The Wheaton, IL Thunder ‘s Bob Baptista Invitational Streaming video: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/wheaton/ Fri 9/4/15 – #10 William Smith vs. # 18 Wheaton, and #17 Puget Sound vs. Emory (2014 Final NSCAA Rec’d votes) Sat 9/5/15 – #17 Puget Sound vs. #18 Wheaton, and #10 William Smith vs. Emory (2014 Final NSCAA Rec’d votes) Other teams being followed: 9/1 – Nazareth opens by hosting R.I.T. 9/4 - Carnegie-Mellon opens at Penn State Behrend 9/5 – Nazareth hosts Emmanuel 9/6 – Nazareth hosts Allegheny 9/8- Amherst opens at Mount Holyoke
Sleeper prediction for 2015, not mentioned by anyone or any poll that I have found...Frostburg. Very solid, near NCAA playoff caliber returning team and incoming class and a D1 transfer that should be phenomenal at this level.
Opening Day for D3! Funny thing about D3 is that every conference has this kind of team. Sorry d1 folks, 85% of you have NO Chance to win a title, but in D3, there's a Cinderella at the Ball just about every year. I took a look and Frostburg will get their chance to make noise playing Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon. Another cool thing about d3 is it only takes 2 or 3 special players to make a big difference year to year so those Hero and rpi type ratings are way harder to interpret. Very little publicity about recruits as well obviously since they don't really sign or get much press. Still though, lots of good facilities and almost everyone does live streaming these days, although it's often not well done and not in hd, and may not even be working early in the season! Here's hoping the work-study student doing the camera shows up for your games and your internet connection doesn't suck! [D1 Heads can easily skip over this thread. Have a nice day ]
D3 results Week Ending 9/6 Top 25 Matches On 9/I: #4 Illinois Wesleyan topped #20 Wisconsin-Whitewater 1-0 on a 15th minute header by junior transfer Emily Snider from a corner kick. I took a peek at the live stream and thought the soccer was far from mid-season in form. I did not note any stand out players. On 9/4: # 18 Wheaton topped #10 William Smith 2-1 in 2OT, with senior forward Kristin Rauh scoring in the 105th minute . I watched on http://portal.stretchinternet.com/wheaton/. IMO Rauh gave WS fits all day and was player of the game. WS looked to be in good form – except for finishing - and generally dominated play, finishing with 15 SOG to 5 for Wheaton and 13 corner kicks to 1 for Wheaton. Wheaton coach Pete Felske (445 wins going into 2015) said during a post-game interview in the broadcast booth: “William Smith is fun to watch.” #17 Puget Sound over Emory 1-0, with a goal by senior Amalia Acorda-Fe in the 22nd minute. On 9/5: #17 Puget Sound beat #18 Wheaton 2-1; PS goals by freshman Tayla MacPherson (60:09) and freshman Luna Morton (75:44). Wheaton goal by senior Ally Witt (88:03) #10 William Smith edged Emory 1-0, with a goal by first year Kristina Camaj in the 87th minute ( being historically a Women’s College, William Smith has no ‘Freshmen’, only ‘First Years’ ) Other teams being followed Amherst – did not play #7 Carnegie Mellon - Shutout wins on 9/4 and 9/5 Frostburg State – Wins on 9/1 and 9/5, and outplayed by Johns Hopkins on 9/6,losing 6-1 #16 Nazareth – tied on 9/1, won on 9/5 and on 9/6 Tomorrow, I will post the upcoming notable games for Week ending 9/13
Notable Upcoming Games Week Ending 9/139/15 For the Top 25, I’m going with the NSCAA rankings for now- the most recent ranking is the pre-season ranking The Bennett Ranking is up to date through 9-6-15 (http://herosports.com/college-rankings/d3-womens-soccer-rankings/) Top 10 games (times are Eastern) Wednesday 9/9- 7 pm - #5 Johns Hopkins at #3 Messiah http://gomessiah.tv/ Saturday 9/12- 1 pm - #3 Messiah at #10 William Smith http://hwsathletics.com/watch/?Live=487 Sunday 9/13- 1:30 pm - #5 Johns Hopkins at #9 TCNJ Top 25 games Thursday 9/10 5 pm - #23 SUNY Geneseo at #16 Nazareth · http://athletics.naz.edu/schedule.aspx?path=wsoc click "details" Saturday 9/12- 1:30 pm - #18 Wheaton at #7 Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Mellon switched to streaming on YouTube this year, so on B S the link embeds: Sunday 9/13- 1:30 pm - #13 Aurora at #8 Thomas More Other Games of Interest: Amherst: 9/8-7 pm-at Mount Holyoke and 9/12 –noon- host Bowdoin (http://nsnsports.net/colleges/amherst/) Frostburg State: 9/9 -7 pm –host Washington and Jefferson (http://portal.stretchinternet.com/frostburg/) Nazareth – 9/12 – noon – host Brockport http://athletics.naz.edu/schedule.aspx?path=wsoc click "details"
Game Report #10 William Smith Herons hosting #3 Messiah 1-1 draw in 2OT. Summer turned to Fall in the course of two days in Geneva, NY. From last Saturday through Wednesday high temperatures ranged from 84-90F under mostly sunny skies; Today at game time it was 62 and the rain ,which had started in the early morning , wass constant throughout the 110 min game The natural pitch was in good shape, as it usually is: kudos to the groundskeepers. The ball played slowly and players slipped here and there, but the conditions were otherwise good. I guess there were about 150 fans in attendance. Messiah came in with the more experienced team; starting 6 seniors, 4 juniors ,and a sophomore. William Smith was relatively inexperienced in the defense - starting a first year keeper with sophomores at center back and right back. To shore up the back line, Junior Emma Diehl, played at left back, even though she had been in the midfield for the first two games in 2015. Via live streaming, I had watched the first half of Messiah’s 5-0 win vs. Johns Hopkins on Wednesday. Senior All American Nikki Elsaesser was outstanding in the attack; IMO playing significantly above the level she showed last year, which was slightly down from the year before. Senior Macauley Soto was excellent at center mid, while Junior Marisa Weaver was superb at forward. The rest of the attacking 6 featured 2 Seniors (F- Holly Burgard and M- Marisa DeMonte) and Junior M- Missy Biener. They played as if they were all on the same sentence from the same page. Given that, and the Heron’s lack of finishing vs. Wheaton and Emory and their inexperienced defense – I was concerned that Messiah would dominate the game today. Although I did believe that William Smith Senior Defender Zoe Jackson-Gibson could handle Elsaesserr, I doubted the rest of the Heron’s defense was good enough to keep the Falcons at bay. Today, even though Messiah carried the attack to William Smith for most of the game., overall William Smith played a stifling defense, and counter attacked. For every minute she was on the field, Nikki Elsaesser had to wear a Zoe Jackson Gibson overcoat. Elsaesser had no goals or assists and ended up with only 3 shots. Messiah’s free kick goal at 4:40, from about 25 yards out was a screamer launched by Marisa Weaver. The William Smith goal at 59:35 came at the end of nice 3-pass sequence in Messiah’s half of the field. The game was rugged, but not chippy IMO; played like a heavyweight boxing match. I admire the stamina and perseverance of these young women in a game you would not file in the column “now that was fun”. It was good that the game was not decided by luck or accident, although the teams exchanged serious own-goal threats about one minute apart in the second overtime. In each case, the keeper made an outstanding save. As a Falcon Dad said to a Heron Dad after the game: “I guess we’ll probably see you again in December.
Bennett Ranking for games through 9/13/15 http://herosports.com/college-rankings/d3-womens-soccer-rankings/ Bennett RankTeamRecord 1Messiah 3-0-12Williams3-03William Smith1-1-14Carnegie Mellon3-0-15Amherst2-06Lynchburg4-07Connecticut College0-1-18MIsericordia5-09TCNJ2-0-2 10Brandeis5-0 Upcoming Top 25 Matchups (Bennett Ranking) Top 25 games (times are Eastern) Saturday 9/19 9/9- 5 pm - #1 Messiah at #8 Misericordia http://athletics.misericordia.edu/schedule.aspx?path=wsoc& click “details” Saturday 9/19 6:30 pm - #3 William Smith vs. #23 Ithaca at Rochester Saturday 9/19- 3 pm - #13 Illinois Wesleyan at #19 WashU http://portal.stretchinternet.com/wustl/ Sunday 9/20- 11:00 am - #24 Trinity at #6 Lynchburg http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lynchburg/
Current NCAA rankings: http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d3 Notable Results fot this past week or so. William Smith’s Aliceann Wilber notched her 500th career win (all at WS) on Sunday with a1-0 win over University of Rochester. Ithaca’s Mindy Quigg claimed her 300th career win (all at Ithaca) on Wednesday with a 6-0 win over Alfred. Quigg was the goalkeeper on Wilber’s 1988 National Championship team . Also on Sunday 9/20: #3 Trinity won 1-0 at #4 Lynchburg #6 Carnegie Mellon beat NR Frostburg 3-1 at home On Saturday 9/19: #1 Messiah won 3-0 at #11 Misericordia #7 WashU beat #9 Illinois Wesleyan 1-0 at home #10 Denison won 2-0 at #13 Centre. On Wednesday 9/23: #23 Wheaton won 3-0 at previously ranked Aurora The following teams are unbeaten and untied going into this weekend #10 Denison 8-0-0 #12 Brandeis 8-0-0 #14 Augsburg 6-0-0 #17 Amherst 4-0-0 #20 Hope 9-0-0 #21 St. Lawrence 7-0-0 Top 25 Upcoming Games Saturday 9/26: 11:00 AM (EDT) - #17 Amherst at #2 Williams ( battle of Massachusetts) http://nsnsports.net/event/ahmerst-vs-williams-womens-soccer/ 1:00 PM (CDT) - #7 WashU at #23 Wheaton http://portal.stretchinternet.com/wheaton/ 3:00 PM (EDT) - #21 St. Lawrence at #15 R.I.T. http://www.ritathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=wsoc click “details” Tuesday 9/29: 7:00 PM (EDT) - #23 Wheaton at #20 Hope http://athletics.hope.edu/sports/wsoc/2015-16/schedule click “video”
I recommend the following games this morning (especially for those of you confined indoors due to bad weather): In spite of giving up a draw to Wellesley College last weekend, undefeated #10 Brandeis is making noise in the UAA, and hosts #5 Carnegie Mellon today at 10:30 am http://www.brandeis.edu/streaming/athletics/soccer.html #2 Williams College (7-0-0) is definitely worth watching. With offense lead by Jrs. Audrey Thomas and Kristi Kirshe, supported by Srs. Crystal Lewin and Mai MItsuyama, they play a very attractive game. Williams plays previously ranked Connecticut College today at 10:50 am http://nsnsports.net/colleges/williams-college/
Teams are into their league/conference schedule now. Two high scoring teams to note are : #2 Texas Tyler (9-0-1) with 4.9 goals per game and only two goals against all season Top scorers are Jr Morgan Manzigo with 8 G and 2 A Sr Chestley Strother with 3 G and 12 A Sr. Nikki Gordon with 6 G and 3 A. #20 Swarthmore (10-0-0) with 5.8 goals per game and only one goal against Top scorers are Fr. Marin McCoy with 11 G and 8 A Jr. Hannah Lichtenstein with 9 G and 9 A So. Katie Dougherty with 6 G and 3 A. UpcomingTop 25 matchups: #23 NYU has two chances to climb in the rankings. Saturday 10/10 11:00 am #23 NYU at #5 Carnegie Mellon Friday 10/16 11:00 am#7 WashU at#23 NYU http://gonyuathletics.com/sports/2015/7/22/VioletVision.aspx Video stream may not be available, but it is worth checking on game day. Saturday 10/17 1:00 pm #9 Illinois Wesleyan at #18 Wheaton http://portal.stretchinternet.com/wheaton/ Sunday 10/18 11:00 am #7 WashU at #11 Brandeis http://www.brandeis.edu/streaming/athletics/soccer.html
Notes from Saturday 10-10 (National Metric Day)....... Due to #24 Hope’s 10-0 start I decided to watch them vs. Adrian on Saturday. Hope’s one goal in the 1-0 win was from a pretty combination; I felt the Hope defense was organized and I liked the play of Sr. midfielder Becca Rees. I tried to watch #12 Texas Tyler (4.9 goals per game) and #20 Swarthmore (5.8 goals per game) due to their high-scoring offenses, but I had problems getting a good video stream for either team. Swarthmore topped Gettysburg 1-0, with the goal coming 5 minutes into the second half – see game story and video here: http://www.swarthmoreathletics.com/news/2015/10/10/WSOC_1010151033.aspx In contrast, Texas Tyler put 6 goals in the net vs. College of the Ozarks; story and video here: http://www.uttylerpatriots.com/wsoc...10-uttylerwsocc-rolls-to-6-0-win-over-ozarks/ I watched the video stream of #6 William Smith winning 5-0 at St. Lawrence. Sr. forward Krista Longo had 3 goals and an assist on the day, while Jr. forward/midfielder Kara Shue notched her team-leading 5th assist on the year.T he second goal was an incisive give-and go in traffic from Longo to Shue to Longo. Longo and Shue are players who are fun to watch. William Smith has an eight game shutout string and has played with 3 backs (vs. the normal 4 back formation) during the last four games. Scoring benefited from the change, with 6,3,6, and 5 goals in those games after scoring no more than 2 in any of the previous seven games.
Some D3 players I've seen on internet streams (or live) who have impressed me this year are: Forwards- Audrey Thomas and Kristi Kirshe (Williams);Nikki Elsasser and Marisa Weaver (Messiah);Krista Longo (William Smith); Allison Seger (Illinois Wesleyan); Midfielders- Crystal Lewin and Mai Mitsuyama (Williams);Becca Rees (Hope); Kara Shue (William Smith); Tori Iatarola (Carnegie Mellon); Sydney Sharkey (Wheaton); Sam Haseltine (Denison) Defenders- Zoe Jackson-Gibson (Wiliam Smith); Erin O'Connor (Wooster); Hannah Maatallah (Brandeis) Goalkeeper- Liz Arnold (Emory) Returning 2014 NSCAA All Ameerican players and opportunities to watch them play are in the table below. PlayerPOS2014 All Am TeamSchoolUpcoming GameVideo Stream Abby OsborneD1stThomas MoreNANA Nikki ElsasserF1stMessiah10-27-15http://gomessiah.tv/ Michelle GreenewayF1stLake Forest10-25-15http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lfc/ Bridget McCarthyGK2ndBowdoin10-23-15http://nsnsports.net/colleges/bowdoin-college Ana BengocheaM2ndJohns Hopkins10-21-15http://portal.stretchinternet.com/jhu/p://nsnsports.net/colleges/bowdoin-college Macaulay SotoM2ndMessiah10-27-15http://gomessiah.tv/ Nicci BermudesF2ndAurora10-21-15https://www.cuchicago.edu/live Olivia HuberF2ndThomas MoreNANA Kristi KirsheF2ndWilliams10-24-15http://https://wwww.nsnsports.net/colleges/williams-college/ Eliza GrayGK3rdGettysburgNANA Mary Kate SchmidtD3rdIllinois Wesleyan10-21-15 http://portal.stretchinternet.com/iwu/ Meghan JohnstonM3rdSUNY Geneseo10-24-15 http://www.potsdambears.com/sports/2015/9/4/WSOC_0904151917.aspx Anna ComacchioneF3rdHanover10-20-15https://www.hanover.edu/about/events/live Mariah KaiserF3rdRoger Williams10-21-15 http://www.rwuhawks.com/schedule.aspx?path=wsoc& Morgan MonzingoF3rdTexas Tyler10-24-15http://portal.stretchinternet.com/uttyler/ Ally WitttF3rdWheaton10-24-15http://livestream.com/accounts/5795570
Yes, indeed. They play a tough Centennial Conference schedule (ranked the 2nd strongest conference- after the UAA- by Herosports.com [Bennet]). 12-0-1 #18 Swarthmore has a challenging home game coming up on Saturday 10/24/14 vs. (11-2-2) Montclair State http://portal.stretchinternet.com/swarthmore/
Week ending 10-18-15 I watched streams of most of #8 Illinois Wesleyan at # 17 Wheaton (CCIW conf. game) and the first half of #7 WashU at #10 Brandeis (UAA conf. game) and the second half+ OT of Emory at #5 Carnegie Mellon (UAA conf. game). #8 Illinois Wesleyan Titans 1-0 over #17 Wheaton Thunder story: http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2015/10/17/WSOC_1017151239.aspx?path=wsoccer The Thunder appeared to be taller than the Titans, almost to a player, however the Titans showed more hustle, and were predominantly first to the ball and defended aggressively after turnovers. They controlled the play in much of the game, especially in the second half. Titan Jr. Forward Allison Seger did not start, but was a spark and creative engine after she entered the game about 23 minutes into the first half. Thunder Sr. midfielder Sydney Sharkey was notably a playmaker for her team, but had to leave the game with an injured ankle about 35 minutes into the first half. IMO Wheaton has good players and plays a nice game of soccer, but got out-hustled by an Illinois Wesleyan team that also has good players and plays good soccer. #10 Brandeis Judges 1-0 in 1OT over #7 WashU Bears story: http://www.brandeisjudges.com/sports/wsoc/2015-16/releases/20151018o9jjge This game was pretty even-up, as the 0-0 score in regulation might indicate. Both teams had extended minutes when they carried the momentum during the first half. I liked the mature play of Brandeis Fr. Defender Hannah Maatallah. Brandeis started the more experienced team with 4 Sr. 5 Jr. 1 So. and 1 Fr. WashU started no Sr. 6 Jr. 2 So. and 3 Fr. #5 Carnegie Mellon Tartans 1-0 in 2OT over Emory Eagles. Story http://athletics.cmu.edu/sports/wsoc/2015-16/releases/20151018mtczxp It was blustery and wet, with sporadic snow falling. Carnegie Mellon controlled most of the play. It seemed to me their style of play is very much like William Smith: passing on the ground, good work in the midfield, good positioning off the ball, not afraid to have defenders challenge the ball in their team’s attacking half after turnovers, and aggressive defending by everyone after giving up possession. Emory Keeper Sr. Liz Arnold came off her line to make back-to-back excellent point blank saves during the second OT: impressive.
I watched 5 games in person since my last post; I was looking for beautiful and/or brilliant play and for players who were standouts on the field. I watched the following games – listing (Massey Ranking, Bennett Ranking)a after each team to indicate the relative strength of the teams in each matchup: Clarkson (169.144) - 0 at William Smith (2,3) – 6; Liberty League game. Mount Saint Mary (180,172) – 0 at William Smith (2,3) – 2; Non -League NYU (24,20) - 1 at Rochester (33,30) – 0; UAA game Brandeis (14,18) - 1 at Rochester ((33,30) – 1; 2OT; UAA game William Smith (2,3) – 1 at R.I.T. (31,28) – 0; Liberty League game The best team play I saw was the Mount Saint Mary defense in the first half vs. William Smith. Second-year MSM (14-6-1) coach, BreLynn Nasypany , who played at WS from 2007-2010 , deployed her team in a 5-4-1 formation that worked brilliantly together to shut out the WS attack (28 goals in previous 5 games) for 47 minutes I felt the following players I saw stood out with intense, blue-collar play: Brandeis: Midfielder Cidney Moscovitch –Jr. – Coral Springs, PL Midfielder Samantha Schwartz – So. – Highland Park, IL NYU: Midfielder Lexi Clarke – Jr – Round Hill , VA – BTW, she played wearing a protective nose guard Right Wing Olivia Braender-Carr – So. – New Hope, PA Willilam Smitsh: Midfielder Brie Ruane – Jr. – Roslyn Harbor, NY Rochester: Forward Laura Cowie-Haskell - So. - Marshfield, MA Defenders who played with both Grit and Grace: Brandeis Left Back Julia McDermott – Jr. –Hopedale, MA R.I.T. Center Back Emily Shoemaker – Jr. – Rochester, NY – Bonus: Great distance and accuracy on throw-ins Rochester Center Back Katie Grasso- Sr. Oakton, VA 1983