Patriot League 2023

[ExLax]

The PL is very likely a one-bid league this year. Army's one quality win over Rutgers has lost its luster, and even if Rutgers wins the B1G tournament, its value is unlikely to improve significantly. And a win over #18 RPI BU won't help Army much either.

We see this story played out every year with one team or another. Last year it was Notre Dame; this year, it's Army. Scheduling opponents like Wagner and Mercer doesn't help build an at-large resume.

Agree completely and the RPI is truly a self-licking ice cream cone - noone wants to schedule lower ranked teams for the RPI impact and potential upset implications. Army v 'cuse was an annual scheduled game until the RPI impacts became clear. The 'hounds having a rare off year impacts the entire PL frankly.

Net / net win the PL and that team is in and place your bets for Round #1 - any given Sunday (or Saturday)!

[QuestionMark]

Really has nothing to do with Loyola being average again this year. More to do with the weakness that Holy Cross, Colgate, Bucknell and Lafayette brings to the resume.

[GreyingHound]

Really has nothing to do with Loyola being average again this year. More to do with the weakness that Holy Cross, Colgate, Bucknell and Lafayette brings to the resume.

That makes no sense. Holy Cross and Lafayette (who is much improved this year) perennially are near the bottom of the RPI, but that hasn't stopped the PL from having multiple bids in the past. The reality is that no PL team has strong enough out-of-conference wins to justify an at-large bid this year. Even in an "average" year Loyola has the best two OOC wins of all the PL teams. Losing Syracuse from the schedule definitely hurt Army this year.

[QuestionMark]

When you have 4 teams in the 50-70 RPI range it very much matters. Big 10 and ACC will never have the issue. Army loses to UMASS and Cornell and won't get in if they don't win the PL.

And yes, Army should beef up their OOC schedule to offset.

[old salt]

Army used to play at Syracuse nearly every year, early in the season.

https://goarmywestpoint.com/sports/mens ... ersity/255

[GreyingHound]

Army used to play at Syracuse nearly every year, early in the season.

https://goarmywestpoint.com/sports/mens ... ersity/255

Yes! And some of those games were epic, along with one (or 2?) recent NCAA first-round game in the Dome. Army has had the Orange's number as of late, but I'm not speculating as to why the game was dropped...

[gymman1031]

Colgate vs. Holy Cross tomorrow evening:


Colgate is 1-9 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

Holy Cross is 1-12 overall and 0-7 in conference play.


Could this be do-or-die for Colgate coach Matt Karweck? He is 12-40 since he started in 2019.

JL didn't start until 2021, and, when he took over, he was their third coach in four years. So he almost definitely will be back next year. However, he is 4-29 since then, and he has only one Patriot League victory(in 2021 over Lafayette). He had only one win (against UMass Lowell) last year, and, unless he wins tomorrow, that will be the case for 2023 as well. And that win also being against UMass Lowell. A win against Colgate will simply result in a less of a, even if just slightly, hot seat going into 2024.

[GreyingHound]

Colgate vs. Holy Cross tomorrow evening:


Colgate is 1-9 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

Holy Cross is 1-12 overall and 0-7 in conference play.


Could this be do-or-die for Colgate coach Matt Karweck? He is 12-40 since he started in 2019.

JL didn't start until 2021, and, when he took over, he was their third coach in four years. So he almost definitely will be back next year. However, he is 4-29 since then, and he has only one Patriot League victory(in 2021 over Lafayette). He had only one win (against UMass Lowell) last year, and, unless he wins tomorrow, that will be the case for 2023 as well. And that win also being against UMass Lowell. A win against Colgate will simply result in a less of a, even if just slightly, hot seat going into 2024.

No doubt it was a tough season for both programs. I will say that Colgate is far better than their record suggests though. Three of their losses were by a single goal and one was by two. They hung with Loyola for three quarters before giving up five straight goals in the final eight minutes of the game to lose 17-11, and they came extremely close to upsetting Army. Colgate led Army 8-7 in the fourth quarter before giving up three EMO goals to lose 10-9. And of course, they completely dominated Navy, scoring 10 unanswered to take a 10-2 lead in the second quarter!

Will be interesting to see where both programs go from here.

[lorin]

Army used to play at Syracuse nearly every year, early in the season.

https://goarmywestpoint.com/sports/mens ... ersity/255

Yes! And some of those games were epic, along with one (or 2?) recent NCAA first-round game in the Dome. Army has had the Orange's number as of late, but I'm not speculating as to why the game was dropped...

Cuse did not want to play Army, my guess is they didn't want to take a chance on an OOC lost, we will now play UNC next 2 years.

[lorin]

Army used to play at Syracuse nearly every year, early in the season.

https://goarmywestpoint.com/sports/mens ... ersity/255

Yes! And some of those games were epic, along with one (or 2?) recent NCAA first-round game in the Dome. Army has had the Orange's number as of late, but I'm not speculating as to why the game was dropped...

Cuse did not want to play Army, my guess is they didn't want to take a chance on an OOC lost, we will now play UNC next 2 years.

[gymman1031]

Colgate vs. Holy Cross tomorrow evening:


Colgate is 1-9 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

Holy Cross is 1-12 overall and 0-7 in conference play.


Could this be do-or-die for Colgate coach Matt Karweck? He is 12-40 since he started in 2019.

JL didn't start until 2021, and, when he took over, he was their third coach in four years. So he almost definitely will be back next year. However, he is 4-29 since then, and he has only one Patriot League victory(in 2021 over Lafayette). He had only one win (against UMass Lowell) last year, and, unless he wins tomorrow, that will be the case for 2023 as well. And that win also being against UMass Lowell. A win against Colgate will simply result in a less of a, even if just slightly, hot seat going into 2024.

No doubt it was a tough season for both programs. I will say that Colgate is far better than their record suggests though. Three of their losses were by a single goal and one was by two. They hung with Loyola for three quarters before giving up five straight goals in the final eight minutes of the game to lose 17-11, and they came extremely close to upsetting Army. Colgate led Army 8-7 in the fourth quarter before giving up three EMO goals to lose 10-9. And of course, they completely dominated Navy, scoring 10 unanswered to take a 10-2 lead in the second quarter!

Will be interesting to see where both programs go from here.

Thanks so much for the clarification regarding Colgate. In other words, they might be one of the better examples of a program right now who is quite a bit better than their record suggests.

[MoralTerpitude]

Man… Army-BU is a helluva game. Army goalie just had some Ruppel-like saves.

[molo]

Terriers took they first lead in the fourth quarter.AWP tied it but BU went up by one and held on to win.

[gymman1031]

Did Army have any good chances to tie it in the end?

[wgdsr]

Did Army have any good chances to tie it in the end?

they had a manup look from 10 yds, but guy went low to low and rebound came up bu. bu made a dicey clear and left 30 seconds after running out the shot clock. army didnt clear w much urgency, but still got another look from ~13 and didn't make the goalie make a save.

[old salt]

Colgate vs. Holy Cross tomorrow evening:


Colgate is 1-9 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

Holy Cross is 1-12 overall and 0-7 in conference play.


Could this be do-or-die for Colgate coach Matt Karweck? He is 12-40 since he started in 2019.

JL didn't start until 2021, and, when he took over, he was their third coach in four years. So he almost definitely will be back next year. However, he is 4-29 since then, and he has only one Patriot League victory(in 2021 over Lafayette). He had only one win (against UMass Lowell) last year, and, unless he wins tomorrow, that will be the case for 2023 as well. And that win also being against UMass Lowell. A win against Colgate will simply result in a less of a, even if just slightly, hot seat going into 2024.

No doubt it was a tough season for both programs. I will say that Colgate is far better than their record suggests though. Three of their losses were by a single goal and one was by two. They hung with Loyola for three quarters before giving up five straight goals in the final eight minutes of the game to lose 17-11, and they came extremely close to upsetting Army. Colgate led Army 8-7 in the fourth quarter before giving up three EMO goals to lose 10-9. And of course, they completely dominated Navy, scoring 10 unanswered to take a 10-2 lead in the second quarter!

Will be interesting to see where both programs go from here.

Thanks so much for the clarification regarding Colgate. In other words, they might be one of the better examples of a program right now who is quite a bit better than their record suggests.

I agree that Colgate is much better than their record suggests...& not just because they beat Navy.

[gymman1031]

Colgate vs. Holy Cross tomorrow evening:


Colgate is 1-9 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

Holy Cross is 1-12 overall and 0-7 in conference play.


Could this be do-or-die for Colgate coach Matt Karweck? He is 12-40 since he started in 2019.

JL didn't start until 2021, and, when he took over, he was their third coach in four years. So he almost definitely will be back next year. However, he is 4-29 since then, and he has only one Patriot League victory(in 2021 over Lafayette). He had only one win (against UMass Lowell) last year, and, unless he wins tomorrow, that will be the case for 2023 as well. And that win also being against UMass Lowell. A win against Colgate will simply result in a less of a, even if just slightly, hot seat going into 2024.

No doubt it was a tough season for both programs. I will say that Colgate is far better than their record suggests though. Three of their losses were by a single goal and one was by two. They hung with Loyola for three quarters before giving up five straight goals in the final eight minutes of the game to lose 17-11, and they came extremely close to upsetting Army. Colgate led Army 8-7 in the fourth quarter before giving up three EMO goals to lose 10-9. And of course, they completely dominated Navy, scoring 10 unanswered to take a 10-2 lead in the second quarter!

Will be interesting to see where both programs go from here.

Thanks so much for the clarification regarding Colgate. In other words, they might be one of the better examples of a program right now who is quite a bit better than their record suggests.

I agree that Colgate is much better than their record suggests...& not just because they beat Navy.

Regardless of Holy Cross as a team, Colgate sure looked great against them last night!

[sinman6]

BU goalie played like everyone expected at the beginning of the season. He has struggled throughout the season, but he appears to be in his groove right now. Good timing for BU fans. The stats say otherwise, and obviously the BU offense was awesome, but given the quality play from Army’s offense, and the shots he faced…. I thought he was the difference maker in the outcome of that game.

[sinman6]

Oh - and KUDOS to the Army goalie, too. I am sure he is carrying that loss on his shoulders, but he shouldn’t. He was great

[gymman1031]

I could be as wrong as can be. But, for some reason, I am smelling a Loyola turnaround and run to a conference title game victory.