NESCAC

[Frank Rizzo]

Denison and Dickinson were better teams than Middlebury. Was at all 3 games and Middlebury is overrated compared to them

[smoova]

Denison and Dickinson were better teams than Middlebury. Was at all 3 games and Middlebury is overrated compared to them

You were at today's Dickinson and Middlebury games?

[Laxattackjack]

Denison and Dickinson were better teams than Middlebury. Was at all 3 games and Middlebury is overrated compared to them

You were at today's Dickinson and Middlebury games?

I think he is comparing SMCM vs each of those three teams.

[smoova]

Denison and Dickinson were better teams than Middlebury. Was at all 3 games and Middlebury is overrated compared to them

You were at today's Dickinson and Middlebury games?

I think he is comparing SMCM vs each of those three teams.

Ahhh ... that makes more sense.

[Dinah]

Intervening on the Middlebury dragging. The team is undoubtedly not playing its best ball of the year, but winning lacrosse games is hard (debate me) and doesn’t happen on accident, and they’ve done more of that this year than all but a handful of teams in the country.

It’s a team with zero ncaa experience on the roster that came out flat at a neutral site against a team that was much more excited to be there. That happens with 18-22 year olds (or like 24 year olds nowadays with all the COVID rosters; maybe they don’t have an excuse).

They’ve played close games all year against both good competition and bad, it’s not a team built for blowouts. Yesterday was a legitimate poor performance for them, but they’ve shown a number of times that they can gut out close wins if needed.

Disagree with Smoova’s take slightly on where the offensive woes are coming from, but agree that what’s shown up over the last 3 games won’t cut it in the tournament. This is still an excellent, deep team that should beat an injury-plagued Union squad barring a show-stopper day from Donahue. I believe they are a much better team than Denison (Dickinson is probably a better comparison) that can hang with someone like RIT if they play their best ball, but they don’t have the luxury of sleep-walking through any games that some of the more talented teams can get away with.

[smoova]

Disagree with Smoova’s take slightly on where the offensive woes are coming from, but agree that what’s shown up over the last 3 games won’t cut it in the tournament.

I'm just grateful someone reads the tripe that I trot out.

[The12lov3]

Don’t think Amherst played their best game today. Thought it would have been closer. Anyone know what happened?

[Bigdawg69]

Is Jack boyden having the best single season in tufts history?
Bredahl was great last year, we all know about uppgren in any year from 14-16, but is 2023 boyden the best ?

[RamsFan]

"Is Jack boyden having the best single season in tufts history?
Bredahl was great last year, we all know about uppgren in any year from 14-16, but is 2023 boyden the best ?"

Boyden has been pretty much lights out this season. Certainly the best player I saw play in NESCAC (and all D3 for that matter) this season. But granted i did catch him on one of the games when he wasn't locked off and had double digit points.

Pretty sure last year Boyden had the most goals ever for a tufts player: 86 While last year Bredahl has most points ever for a jumbo: 150

Looks like this year Boyden is at 148 pts (64g/84a), with at least 1 (and as many as 3) games remaining, so easy to assume he will surpass Bredahl for the single season scoring points record for tufts.

As a long time NESCAC follower, its kinda hard to compare Boyden/Bredahl/Upgren overall career since upgren had 4 full seasons (3 as starter) and the other two really only 2 or 2.5 seasons (Brehdal got short straw....frosh as a backup, no soph, 1/2 jr, full sr). I feel like Upgren was torching teams for many years, while Boyden and Brehdal were short flashes of blinding brillance

Boyden 86/47= 133 in '22, and (as of today) 64/84 = 148 in '23
Brehdal 73/77 = 150 in '22
Upgren was 65/59=124, 76/53=129, 73/58=131 from '14 - '16

So stats-wise Boyden certainly seems like he will end up the goat based on this year stats, but hard to question upgrens consistency

Not that they need more people on the jumbo bandwagon, but since I spent some time on a few of the NESCAC team stats pages I figured i'd share.........its even more impressive when you compare Boydens stats (64g/84a) to the leaders at the other top NESCAC teams this year

Middlebury: top pts scorers 65 +/- ea for Curtis and Thorndike / goal scorers 44+/- ea for Ryan/Thorndike
Williams: top pts scorer 60 for Caputo / top goal scorer 40 for Caputo
Amherst: top pts 90 +/- for Krummenacher and Gross / top goal scorers 53 for Krummenacher
Bowdoin: top points 83 for Byrne / top goal scorer 58 for Fitzgerald

So bottom line he had more Goals and more Assists than any other individual in 'CAC had for either one this year.

Another crazy stat is that the jumbo attack line were #1,2,and 4 in goals in NESCAC (Swank 65, Boyden 64, Bruun 57) with bowdoin's fitzgerald the only non-tufts guy sneaking into the top 4 with 58....but thats a whole other convo (see below)

One final interesting Bowdoin/Tufts yr-on-yr comparison from my stats dive was what happened when both teams each lost an all-american between '22 and '23 (Mullane to UMD and Bredahl to graduation).

- for Bowdoin, their returning attackmen stats were flat-ish or slightly up (Fitz and Lach) or down (Byrne down 23 goals vs '22). No one really picked up the "lost" goals from Mullane.
- For Tufts, their returning A points were both up dramatically in '23 (15+ pts more ea for both Boyden and Swank), which is surprising given that 77 assists walked out the door with Brehdahl. Plus they added Brun as a "new" 100 pt source

However, all the above could be somewhat irrelevant depending on the outcome of the games this weekend.........

Hopefully there is some great lax up in Medford this weekend, and as a 'CAC homer, would love for RIT and Lynch to be sent home early.

[smoova]

RIT is smothering Middlebury through 2 quarters. Noticed that RIT put a shorty on a Middlebury starting attack for the entire first half. Union did the same thing last week to the same player. Not a lock-off, just a shorty. Lets RIT pole Middlebury's two best middie dodgers every possession.

The attack with the shorty never dodges and just hangs around the crease. Backup attack came in for a few minutes and immediately got a pole, which freed up middies ... but Middlebury went right back to the starter. Total head-scratcher. I've heard NESCAC schools have problems with parent interference, so maybe that's happening here. Really strange to watch.

Saw this in the DIII Bracket thread. Quoted it over here because I didn't want to bog down that thread aaaaaand because I noticed the same thing. I seriously doubt this is parent interference, but double poles on the middies definitely took away a lot of looks against RIT. Kudos to the Union/RIT coaches for figuring that out. With all the covid shenanigans, I'm not sure which players are coming back next year, but certainly optimistic that Midd can lick its wounds and then get to work figuring out what changes to make in order to compete with the top 4 teams in DIII.

[InsiderRoll]

Is Boyden playing anywhere next year for his 5th year? He’s in the portal but I haven’t heard anything. Returning to Tufts?

[Unknown Participant]

Is Boyden playing anywhere next year for his 5th year? He’s in the portal but I haven’t heard anything. Returning to Tufts?

My sources say he is focused on winning next Sunday and will decide after that. Won't even talk about it.

[ah23]

If anyone knows…what is the last class that is technically able to stretch things out for a full six-year COVID career? Is the 2024-25 season the last year where that’s possible?

[laxrules]

This year is the last year for D1/D2 COVID year. 2021,2022,2023 all count. The freshman in 2020 get that year back. So this is the last year for COVID extra years in D1/D2

D3 2020, 2021 did not count so this years seniors have 2 more years! This years Juniors will have 1 more COVID year after their senior year. This years sophomores and freshmen are on track and will be back to normalcy in regards to eligibility.

[Unknown Participant]

Where would everyone rank each faceoff unit in the nescac?

1. Bowdoin
2. Tufts
3. Amherst
4. Wesleyan
5. Hamilton
6. Middlebury
7. Trinity
8. Conn
9. Bates
10. Colby
11. Williams

This was from Feb 19. Today, USILA had Tufts' Mason Kohn as fopoty or "fogo of the year." And Bowdoin's Barnard was HM. Kohn was also 1st team Nescac fogo with a 71% fop.

[Bigdawg69]

This year is the last year for D1/D2 COVID year. 2021,2022,2023 all count. The freshman in 2020 get that year back. So this is the last year for COVID extra years in D1/D2

D3 2020, 2021 did not count so this years seniors have 2 more years! This years Juniors will have 1 more COVID year after their senior year. This years sophomores and freshmen are on track and will be back to normalcy in regards to eligibility.

So ready to be back to normalcy and not waiting around to see who’s taking their 5th and 6th years

[Laxdad457]

Where would everyone rank each faceoff unit in the nescac?

1. Bowdoin
2. Tufts
3. Amherst
4. Wesleyan
5. Hamilton
6. Middlebury
7. Trinity
8. Conn
9. Bates
10. Colby
11. Williams

This was from Feb 19. Today, USILA had Tufts' Mason Kohn as fopoty or "fogo of the year." And Bowdoin's Barnard was HM. Kohn was also 1st team Nescac fogo with a 71% fop.

All in all list wasn't too shabby

[Dr. Pretorious]

Crickets … crickets … crickets …

“Best team in best conference …
Best conference in the country …
Better than most of the D1 programs …
Whole conference should make the tournament …
Top 5 teams in conference are top 5 teams in whole country …
Top 5 teams would all be undefeated if they didn’t play each other …
Best team in the history of D3”

Yada, yada, yada …

[Jumbo]

Crickets … crickets … crickets …

“Best team in best conference …
Best conference in the country …
Better than most of the D1 programs …
Whole conference should make the tournament …
Top 5 teams in conference are top 5 teams in whole country …
Top 5 teams would all be undefeated if they didn’t play each other …
Best team in the history of D3”

Yada, yada, yada …

They might have the best talent in D3. And they could be the most supported program (all the money, swag, equipment, facilities, etc). The best video team. But the coaching staff let them down. The bigger the game, the more this coaching staff lets the players down.

Time for some humble pie for this team and parents.

[Dehuntshigwa’es]

Crickets … crickets … crickets …

“Best team in best conference …
Best conference in the country …
Better than most of the D1 programs …
Whole conference should make the tournament …
Top 5 teams in conference are top 5 teams in whole country …
Top 5 teams would all be undefeated if they didn’t play each other …
Best team in the history of D3”

Yada, yada, yada …

They might have the best talent in D3. And they could be the most supported program (all the money, swag, equipment, facilities, etc). The best video team. But the coaching staff let them down. The bigger the game, the more this coaching staff lets the players down.

Time for some humble pie for this team and parents.

Can’t saying it any better. I had seen Tufts 2x and Salisbury 3 didn’t think it would be a game. Looks like Salisbury is still the big brother Tufts little brother.