AC Men’s & Women’s teams made the cut
https://usatodayhss.com/2019/best-soccer-colleges-2019-ncsa-power-rankings
Unfortunately their style of play on the men’s side is terrible, and frankly difficult to watch. Oh well.
@eb23282 And they also call their incoming class First Years and I read you don’t like that either. I like what they do. To each their own.
We are talking DIII, correct?
@Meddy . Touched a nerve I see. I know plenty of alum, including some who played soccer. Great school yes, ugly soccer yes. That’s all I’m saying.
I fortunate enough to be able to attend quite a few Stanford and Cal men’s and women’s soccer games. Obviously, they play tough schedules against top college opponents. The quality of soccer can be tough to watch at times, even though Stanford is almost always in the College Cup conversation. Although I have to say, the Stanford women have always played some very high quality soccer IMO. From memory, Kelly O’Hara, Kristin Press, Tierna Davidson and Jordan Morris (male) have all recently come through Stanford.
Pretty soccer isn’t always effective soccer.
One a purely soccer ranking, which I guess this isn’t, Tufts would be #1.
@sushiritto Stanford men’s team has one of the best, maybe even the best, freshman in the country on it’s team. In his first game he scored and had an assist. He plays beautiful soccer! (Understanding the team as a whole may not). He was Gatorade National Player of the Year as a high school junior.
Ousseni Bouda? I haven’t seen a men’s game live this season yet, since either I’ve been on the road or they have. They’re undefeated and beat #3 Akron on Labor Day. The Stanford women are undefeated (typical) as well and just ripping up the competition.
The Girls Gatorade National Player of the Year 2018-2019 is a local and now a freshman at Duke.
@sushiritto yes, Ousseni Bouda.
@cinnamon1212 I’ll look forward to watching him. Thank you for the info.
That list of D3 Men’s programs is fairly amusing. 30% of the ranking comes from prospective recruits online search activity/adding schools as “of interest” on their online recruiting profile. The rest of the ranking comes from non-soccer attributes.
If folks are interested in learning more about specific D3 conferences, teams, and coaches, a very useful resource is the message board on d3 men’s soccer. There are folks there, many former players, who comment knowledgeably about conferences, teams, style of play, coaches etc.
@eb23282 I don’t necessarily disagree with you - and I can see @GKUnion’s point about effectiveness. Hard to disparage the results Tufts have got. Can a college play “good” soccer and win with the substitution rules? Or does the physicality of the college game dictate need to lump the ball forward?
Apologies if this drags into some sort of Euro-snob vs winwinwin thread but I’m curious about what observers have about the game and its potential to “evolve”. And yes, my bias is towards a more technical game with possession, build up play, though I’m all for a sweeping counter-attack (just not, you know, back and forth skipping the midfield entirely all the time).
I don’t know that Tufts have built a better soccer program from a purist’s perspective, but I hope so and that it gets copied.
I am curious @eb23282 do you have suggestions of what DIII schools play a prettier style (and I mean that in a positive way?) My son is a midfielder who plays a pretty/European style, which has been challenging in a high school and club soccer world of “kick it up the field and run.” His coach literally spends the game screaming at anyone who makes a lateral pass (or heavens, backpass to defenders) “Go Forward!” In short, he abandoned the idea of pursuing college soccer because finding a good fit for his game has been so daunting. I think the ship has sailed, but when I saw this conversation, I had to ask! Thanks!
And was about to send this when I saw @AmBuddha’s comments…I am looking forward to any responses!
And the advice of @Midwestmomofboys–wish I knew that sooner!
I watched the Amherst Babson game, my 1st d3 game that I saw. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. It was very fast, very physical and the ball spent more time in the air than I like. But sometimes that’s a function of being under a lot of pressure (the case in that game I think). Sometimes neither team had enough time to make a beautiful pass on the ground.
Time for a new coach. Possession of the ball has been the game of soccer for quite some time. I don’t watch any local D3 programs, but the two local programs that I do watch are Stanford and Cal. I find Stanford’s (men’s and women’s) brand of soccer a great mixture of “go forward” and “possession.” OTOH, Cal’s men’s program drive me nuts watching at times, because the coach has his players play so conservatively, and wants possession at all cost, and the match and players become a snore to watch. The coach has been there over 20 years and he’s stuck in his ways.
Ok I just watched the Amherst Middlebury game. It. Was. So. Bad. The ball ping ponged – I’d say 30% of the “passes” were headers. I know they have very talented players, but the game had no flow, it constantly stopped and started due to the numerous fouls, and continual turnover in possession. And this is the #2 ranked team in the country!
(That said, both teams scored when they finally put the ball on the ground and played to feet).
Which begs the question upthread: what d3 school plays better soccer?
Amherst Men’s Soccer is in the Final Four! #TusksUp
I watched yesterday’s game! I revise my opinion about how they play, btw. They looked pretty darn good.
@cinnamon1212 I did see a game on Family weekend. The flip throws by the Amherst player were fun to watch. It was a gorgeous Fall afternoon spent with our daughter and the cherry on top was they won. I’m a fan.