Williams plays Bowdoin and Harvard in Cambridge this Sunday in pre-season matchups. I'll be playing, but it'll be my last game, as I have failed to make the varsity roster. Ah well. We still look good for the season, though, returning the National Player of the Year, and bringing in a solid frosh class (Josh Bolton from Syracuse Blitz, Matt Bilodeou from South Shore United, Nick Armington (who's trained with the Crusaders, I believe), and a couple more). Certainly not a team as talented as last year's, which might rightly be regarded as one of the most talented squads in DIII history (and whose subsequent waste of that talent bordered on the criminal), but a far less fractious and ego-driven team, and one whose much-improved chemistry can't but help in certain regards. Having gone through all of pre-season, I can say confidently that there's a mental toughness at play this year that wasn't around 10 months ago, and that will make, I think, for a better effort in the post-season. We won't be 19-0, but then again, we're not going to crap out to ************ing Worchester State. Needless to say, it's going to be interesting. Notes: Ted Giannacopoulos '02, first-team All American last year with Williams, blew out his knee this summer playing for the Riverhounds, which was a shame because he was on the verge of breaking into the starting lineup. Word is that he's going to give it one more chance before moving on...Steve Danbusky '99, Eph All-American that season, formerly of the LI Rough Riders and currently of the Connecticut Wolves, was just named an assistant coach at Western New England...
Easybake15, what is the format for Sunday's friendlies. My guess is that some players will play in one game but not the other. Also, one team probably will have to play consecutive games. I'm wondering why Russo and Ainscough agreed to play a friendly a couple of weeks before their regular season game. Perhaps they will play reserves against each other to avoid showing the whole deck. Rumors are that Bowdoin's starting group may include up to 4 freshmen.
Teddy G Teddy Giannacopoulos is asst. coaching for his high school alma mater Belmont Hill this Fall while he rehabs the knee.
Top 25 Match Reports (9/2 - 9/6) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 #1 Redlands 2, Biola 1 http://www.biola.edu/eaglesports/modules/story.cfm?team=40&type=recaps&id=090202467 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 #7 Ohio Wesleyan 3, Capital 0 http://bishops.owu.edu/msoc0903.html http://www.capitalcrusaders.net/msoccer/02msocgm3.htm WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 #6 Rowan 5, Hunter 0 #12 Luther 10, Clarke 1 http://sports.luther.edu/soccer-m/CLARKE.HTM http://www.clarke.edu/athletics/sports/msoccer/results/ccluth94.htm#GAME.NWS #13 Arcadia 2, #17 Kean 1 http://www.arcadia.edu/default.asp?t=4&pmid=4&m=132:-1&pid=1354 http://www.keanathletics.com/pages/soccerm/news.asp #15 SUNY Cortland 2, St. John Fisher 1 http://www.cortland.edu/athletics/msoccer/2002/fisher.pdf http://www.sjfc.edu/athlet/press_releases/MSOC09-04-02.pdf THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 #2 Messiah 2, York (PA) 0 http://www.messiah.edu/sports/msoccer/writeups/york.htm http://www.ycp.edu/sports/mens_soccer/2002/results.html FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 #7 Ohio Wesleyan 2, Kalamazoo 1 (OT) http://bishops.owu.edu/msoc0906.html http://www.kzoo.edu/sports/ms/ms02/msresults02/ms-9-6-02.html #8 UW-Oshkosh 3, Calvin 2 http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/MSoccer/index.html http://www.calvin.edu/archive/calvin-sports/200209/0002.html #9 Richard Stockton 2, Franklin & Marshall 0 http://www.fandm.edu/departments/athletics/msoccer/stories/02826AEC5D.html Chicago 1, #22 Rhodes 0 http://athletics.uchicago.edu/news/mscrhodes-0906.htm #23 Hope 7, Concordia (MI) 2 http://www.hope.edu/pr/athletics/mso/
Re: Teddy G I was under the impression that Gino went to Middlesex, but that's cool.... I think the format is going to be split-squads, full games but a lot of substitutions and switching. At least that's the ideer.
Harvard/Williams/Bowdoin Easybake, thanks for the information on the friendlies' format. I'm told Bowdoin in not bringing their full squad, and some of the players have been told that they will play one game, but not the other. Bowdoin beat Colby 3-1 in a friendly on Friday. Bowdoin started four freshman and at least three sophs, but I don't know whether that reflects injuries, good recruiting, or both.
Well, we are back from Messiah. They appeared to be hitting on all cylinders last nite. EMU is a midlevel Dlll team, but we were quite a few puppies short of Westminster in that game. Beautiful venue, except that tha training room is about a mile from the field. I certainly would expect them to be in the thick of things come tourney time. John Oh.4-0 Messiah
Yeah, they looked pretty good. Still a work in progress, as it's still early in the season and the coach is still seeing what he has with the new freshman and returning bit players who now have to step-up. Messiah looked a bit disjointed in their first two matches, but their on-field chemistry was much better last night. The talent is there, it's just a matter of gelling as a team and execution. The freshmen have been getting plenty of playing time, and some look very good and ready to make an immediate impact. Aaron Casper M/F, Bryan Mohney F, Chris Claassen M have impressed me and apparently the coach as well. They have all scored already as well. Freshman Jon Brubaker has logged big minutes in the back, especially in the first two games. Returning subs Brownie Vincent and Kevin Schneider have stepped into starting roles in the back line, and have looked pretty dependable. Despite this year's team being having good number of 3-yr and 4-yr. starting seniors, this freshmen class combined with the few key starters from each the Jr. and So. classes bodes well for continued top-level success at Messiah. Of course, it's still very early, and Messiah still hasn't had a big test, but last night's display makes me feel a bit more confident that we'll be ready for the challenges when they come. Next weekedn Messiah is at Richard Stockton. That should be a good match. Stockton has already dropped two, including on to Steven's Tech at home in Stockton's own tournament championship match. Is Steven's Tech that good, or Stockton that ordinary this year, or was is just a bad night for them?
Harvard/Williams/Bowdoin Harvard's first team played Williams' first team and prevailed 3-2. Williams' second team beat Bowdoin's second team 1-0. Harvard's half-and-half line up tied Bowdoin's mostly first team 0-0. And it was a bit warm.
Sept. 9 D-III Rankings NSCAA/adidas Rankings Division III Men's Soccer September 9, 2002 Rank School W-L-T Prev. 1 University of Redlands (Calif.) 2-0-0 . 1 2 Messiah College (Pa.) 3-0-0 . 2 3 Rowan University (N.J.) 4-0-0 . 6 4 Ohio Wesleyan University 5-0-0 . 7 5 Trinity University (Texas) 2-0-0 . 14 6 Wheaton College (Mass.) 2-1-0 . 5 7 Plattsburgh State University (N.Y.) 3-0-0 . 24 8 Salisbury University (Md.) 2-0-0 . 18 9 Williams College (Mass.) 0-0-0 . 10 10 Arcadia University (Pa.) 4-0-0 . 13 11 Otterbein College (Ohio) 4-0-0 . 16 11 St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) 0-0-1 . 4 13 Kean University (N.J.) 4-1-0 . 17 14 University of Chicago 2-0-0 . -- 15 Virginia Wesleyan College 4-0-0 . -- 16 Whitworth College (Wash.) 3-0-0 . 20 17 Hope College (Mich.) 4-0-0 . 23 18 Johns Hopkins University (Md.) 4-0-0 . 25 19 University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh 2-1-0 . 8 20 Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) 3-0-0 . -- 21 SUNY-Cortland 3-0-1 . 15 22 Mary Washington College (Va.) 2-0-1 . 11 23 Nebraska Wesleyan University 2-0-1 . -- 24 Bowdoin College (Maine) 0-0-0 . -- 25 Greensboro College (N.C.) 2-1-0 . 3 Also receiving votes: Christopher Newport (Va.), Tufts (Mass.), Gettysburg (Pa.), New Jersey City U., DePauw (Ind.), Luther (Iowa)
Rankings That's a pretty lofty ranking for Bowdoin, given their youth and the fact that they haven't played a regular season game yet. They'll have to earn it over the next couple of weeks though. The schedule shows an easy season opener against Husson, then away against Wesleyan on Saturday. The 21st is away at Williams, and the next weekend is a home double-header against Amherst and Middlebury. In October they play Tufts and Wheaton.
Re: Harvard/Williams/Bowdoin Ya think? I played in the 2nd team game against Bowdoin...who really sucked. I know their top guys are vaguely quality, but their scrubs were, in fact, exactly that. The 1st team look a bit shaky against Harvard - the Crimson really do a good job at closing the ball and pressuring in the middle third, and our guys seemed a tad impatient. Blake and Stevenson, though, were still clearly the 2 best players on the field, and gave the Harvard D - very respectable in their own right - a trying time. The game was really decided in the last minute of the first half, when Harvard scored twice in quick succession on a pair of crosses, beating the frosh Bilodeau who had come in on the right. But for being abuot 95 degrees and sunny as hell, a good effort and contest all around. Williams beat Babson 7-2 today in the season opener, with the score 7-0 at the 40 minute mark when many of the starters came off. Didn't see the game, but....well, Babson was said to suck.
Openers Bowdoin press release says they won their opener 5-0 against Husson. I've heard that Husson 's quality is lower tier--like Babson. Game was played in an intense downpour, and all five goals were scored in the final 20 minutes.
NJAC As far as I know. The NJAC is a very strong and tough Conference in Div III. Ramapo College William Paterson University College Of NJ Richard Stockton Montclair State University Rowan University Kean University New Jersey City University Rutgers-Newark Rutgers-Camden At the moment only two players from two of these schools are either playing now, or have played in MLS with the MetroStars. My Friend Nansha Kalonji of Ramapo College on the 1999 Metro Squad. Current Metro Jeff Moore from Richard Stockton.
arcadia loses Desales University, which i play for, beat tenth rated Arcadia. I may be a little biased but look out for Desales formly Allentown College. We are for real. We didn't beat Arcadia by a fluke. Overall we are 3-1 and the real test will be next sun. when we have Drew at home. If we beat drew, look out the bulldogs from Desales are coming.
Redlands I do not follow DIII, or even college, soccer all that closely, so I was most surprised to see my alma matter -- the good ol' U-of-R -- ranked number 1. We were dreadful when I went there ('98 grad). Finally we are good at something other than debate! The University just finished building a beautiful new soccer ground as I was leaving. I assume this helped with recruiting? It is also not the most difficult school to get into -- more difficult than your average state school probably, but certainly easier than many of the schools on the list, especially for athletes.
2 Weeks In -- Who's Looking Good? Who's Not? Well, it's still early in the campaign, but who has been impressive thus far? Who hasn't been? As far as umimpressive, the two teams that jump to mind first are defending champs Richard Stockton and Greensboro. I say Greensboro just based on seeing how they've lost 3 straight to fall to 2-3 on the year. Richard Stockton I saw first hand against visiting Messiah College and they didn't look good at all. In fact they looked bad and seemed to give-up early in the second half. Messiah won easily, giving Stockton their 3rd loss in 6 games this year. We haven't had a repeat Champion since UNC-Greensboro left D-III in 1988, and that isn't going to change this year. Stockton lost too many senior from last years squad to run with the big boys this year. Additionally, and sometimes as important, they seemed to be lacking in heart and fighting spirit. Of course, that's based on just the single game I saw, so maybe it was just one of those days for them. I'm sure they'll improve throughout the season, but it's hard to imagine them being in the mix for a run at the title. Impressive? Well, Messiah College, of course (Disclaimer: I'm a biased alum). I wasn't too sure after the first two games when their play seemed disjointed. The talent was there, but execution and on-field chemisty was lacking (which is to be expected at the outset). But they have since progressively improved and looked very good in the early going against EMU and F&M before clearing the bench in the second half. And they thoroughly beat and demoralized Stockton. But based on who they've played, it's hard to know how they'd fare against Top 10 or Top 20 type teams. I'm not sure how they would handle a team with two skilled and speedy strikers. But how often will they face that? So far Messiah hasn't conceded a goal while netting 18 themselves, but no opponent thus far has really asked questions of our defense. They are gelling as a team with their passing game becoming very fluid. After giving playing time to a large portion of the squad in the first 3 games, the lineup (and substitution rotation) is slowly crystallizing (though I don't think any starting line-up has been use twice yet this year). They've gotten goals from 9 different playes including three freshman, with Sam Casey (Haydon Woodworth's center-mid partner) leading the way with 5 tallies already. Hopefully, teams like Gettysburg, Bethany, Christopher Newport, Wheaton (Ill.), and E-town will really challenge us so we can gauge ourselves, learn where we are lacking or vulnerable, and ultimately improve. Stockton didn't provide that. You want to already be "battle tested" come conf. and nat'l tournament time. So . . . who have you seen so far who's impressed you? Who is not coming close to meeting expectations? d3soccer message board: http://pub11.ezboard.com/fd3soccerd3soccer
Sept. 16 D-III Rankings NSCAA/adidas Rankings Division III Men's Soccer September 16, 2002 Rank School . W-L-T . /Prev./ 1 Messiah College (Pa.) . 5-0-0 . /2/ 2 Rowan University (N.J.) . 5-0-0 . /3/ 3 Ohio Wesleyan University . 7-0-0 . /4/ 4 Trinity University (Texas) . 5-0-0 . /5/ 5 University of Redlands (Calif.) . 3-0-1 . /1/ 6 Williams College (Mass.) . 2-0-0 . /9/ 7 Plattsburgh State University (N.Y.) . 4-0-0 . /8/ 7 Salisbury University (Md.) . 3-0-0 . /7/ 9 Otterbein College (Ohio) . 5-0-0 . /11/ 10 St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) . 2-0-1 . /11/ 11 Virginia Wesleyan College . 6-0-0 . /15/ 12 Kean University (N.J.) . 5-1-0 . /13/ 13 Centre College (Ky.) . 5-0-0 . /--/ 14 Tufts University (Mass.) . 2-0-0 . /--/ 15 Gettysburg College (Pa.) . 4-0-1 . /--/ 16 Luther College (Iowa) . 3-1-0 . /--/ 17 Drew University (N.J.) . 3-1-1 . /--/ 18 University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh . 4-1-0 . /19/ 19 Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) . 4-1-0 . /20/ 20 Mary Washington College (Va.) . 4-0-1 . /22/ 21 DePauw University (Ind.) . 3-1-1 . /--/ 22 SUNY-Cortland . 4-1-1 . /21/ 22 Wesleyan University (Conn.) . 1-0-0 . /--/ 24 Arcadia University (Pa.) . 5-1-0 . /10/ 24 University of Puget Sound (Wash.) . 3-1-0 . /--/ Also receiving votes: Ohio Northern, University of Chicago, Keene State (N.H.), St. John's (Minn.), Roanoke (Va.), New Jersey City University d3soccer message board: http://pub11.ezboard.com/fd3soccerd3soccer
Re: Openers i played in that game. (i play for husson) we were 0-0 in the 83rd minute against Bowdoin when our top two defenders got hurt. they then scored on a indirect free kick 6 yrds out and a penalty kick. we had a few good opportunities to win, but we failed to convert. Bowdoin had at least 40 shots on us, but our goalie played great. it was 50 degrees ina downpour with 20 mph winds, not friendly conditions. we played extremely well that game, especially to such a good team. we responded with a 2-1 win over UMPI this weekend and play St. Joe's today. Freshman Shane Coffin had two assists against UMPI.
Husson/Bowdoin Fiero20, congrats on coming back from the loss and getting a win against UMPI. I spoke to a Bowdoin player who said that they were very worried when the game entered the final ten minutes and Bowdoin hadn't put any behind your keeper yet. Bowdoin has a lot of young talent, but when you start mostly freshmen and sophmores, you are going to get mistakes. They scored three on the road against Wesleyan, but let in four--two in the final ten minutes while up a man. With Williams on the road this weekend it will be hard for them to avoid a 0-2 start in the NESCAC.
as for the bowdoin game, we started 4 freshman and 3 sophmores, so we have a young team as well. we made our mistakes in the last ten minutes, and they capitalized. they can definately come away with a win this weekend if they finish. they had too many chances against us where the far-post shot would go wide. granted, the conditions didnt help, but the score couldve easily been 10-1. anyway, we won again today 1-0 against st joe's (ME). freshman Mike Hoffman had the GW goal.
The game to watch today will be Ohio Wesleyan and Otterbein. #3 and #7 I think. I think OWU will win 3-1, but its a rivalry so it might be closer. I still think OWU should be #1, but I haven't seen Messiah play yet, so I might be wrong.
Based on how OWU finshed out last season and how they're doing so far this year, they certainly are in the debate over who's #1. They've already played the toughest part of their schedule (except for tonight's clash with Otterbein) and are undefeated. Polls for D-III sports are tough to do with limited inter-regional play and with few people who get actually get to see any significant amount of games from different regions. But they're still fun and interesting and good grist for discussion and argument. As a Messiah alum, it's nice to see them ranked #1, but there's no advantage in having the top ranking come tournament time. What is advantageous is to be the top ranked team in your region and thus be most likely to host the regional matches. Messiah hasn't played as tough a schedule thus far, and their biggest tests are still ahead. Same for Rowan. It's early and I'm sure there's lots of exciting developments remaining in this season.
I saw Ohio Wesleyan play last year and they seemed good. But its hard to say if they are the same this year. I heard they lost some key players from last year, but they are still undefeated. They'll definately be a team that I'll keep my eye on. Does anyone know anything else about them?