Boston College to ACC

Even though BC is struggling a bit this year, it makes the ACC an even tougher soccer conference.

The Eagles swept the Big East last year, winning the reg. season and tourney and they have been a handful for powers like UConn, St. John's and Seton Hall for years and have gotten their share of wins.

They'll come into the conferenc competitive.
It's a long road trip to make but it's still good for the conference. It also means BC has a LOT of long trips to make for conferenc games. To cut down on travel costs, you'll probably see a lot of midweek conference games involving BC with, for example, them playing Duke midweek and State on the weekend.

One question this raises is about the ACC Tournament. With Tech on board, there were eight soccer programs which made the Tourney fairly obvious. How do they work the Tourney with nine teams.

Does 8 face 9 in a play-in? Does the ninth place team not make the tourney? Or, something else?

 

????

But where do you go from there? You still have 5 teams alive .... I think you either have a play-in game with 8 v 9, or #9 doesn't make the tournament.

 

.500 team this year at best

With today's loss, BC is just a .500 team this year with their toughest Big East games ahead of them. Unless BC can upset nationally ranked teams like St. John's, Rutgers and Seton Hall, they may not make the BE playoffs.

Having seen BC play, I am somewhat perplexed by the poor record. They seem very talented and out play teams for long stretches but have troubles getting the ball in the net. Maybe the ACC membership will help them to recruit.

 

The ACC connection certainly didn't hurt when it came to recruiting Charlie Davies of Brooks School in North Andover, Mass. Here's the story I wrote about his decision (he's had nterest from several EPL teams):

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20031013/SP_004.htm

 

Beez, great article.

Charlie is the real deal. He's got one of the quickest first steps I've seen and he can finish from anywhere. It would not surprise me at all if Davies makes it into the pro ranks.

I think his partner Fucito will be a terrific college player as well.

I am not sold on the Brooks keeper. Big and intimidating but he needs to work on his footwork, especially on low shots.

One other Brooks player to keep you eye on is their center mid - Carroll. He's a true # 10 with the ball skills and vision to deliver the final pass. Doesn't seem to have much of a scoring touch himself.

 

Oh and Beez, do you think there is another high school team in the country as good as Brooks ? Maybe St. Benedicts in NJ but Brooks has three regional/national team players at CM and both strikers with three other kids on the team who are on or have been on the state team.

 

Davies is the real deal, but he's not physically ready for the pros just yet. I thought their keeper was a little raw. He does have the physical tools, though. A friend who refs in Jersey said he thought Brooks might be better than St. B, but with the level of competition (he thinks Jersey is better) it's hard to tell. He says he'd pay to see the two face off, which is saying something Because he's cheap as hell!

 

I understand Brooks has already lost a game, so at least someone is better.

 

Last year, Brooks might have been even better (they had an excellent midfielder named Brodie MacDearmid), but they lost in the ISL semifinals to Loomis. They lost to Worcester Academy to start this season. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better striker tandem in New England (and maybe the country, who knows?), and Carroll is quite promising, but I'd be cautious about calling Brooks a national powerhouse.