Post Season Awards

So gentlemen...

Any predictions for all-conference and player of the year awards...

First Team All Conference
Goalie: Ben Schemper (Grinnell)
Defense: JP Prouty (Grinnell)
Defense: Evan Wright (Grinnell)
Defense: Andrew Mullins (Grinnell)
Defense: Alex Kohut (Grinnell)
Midfield: Alex Exharos (Grinnell)
Midfield: Matti Sahel (Grinnell)
Midfield: Tommy Gerberding (Grinnell)
Forward: Andrew Stephenson (Grinnell)
Forward: Justin Koester (Grinnell)
Forward: Mark Rosenberg (Grinnell)

haha i was unaware grinnell even had midfielders so at least be realistic if you put seven defenders up and three forwards it may be a more realistic prediction

It'll be interesting to see who POY goes to. Had Carroll not lost to Beloit I would've said Prentice was a no brainer, but now I'm not so certain. I still think he deserves it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it went to Stephenson now (would've said BenVA had SNC won). Prentice always seems to get robbed when it comes to post-season awards...

Pren - POY

D-
Pease
Prouty
Ziegler
Pender

M-
Vanden Avond
Carlson
Robinson
Connely


F
Pren
Rosenberg/Wilkins

it's not saving my change...F - Prentice, WIlkins/Rosenberg

POY will be from Caroll/Grinnell.

Anybody you think had a good enough/dominant season from Grinnell?? idk

Carroll - I could see Andy winning it. 12 goals in 10 conference games.

Goal Breakdown:

Ripon 4
Knox 3
Beloit 2
Lake Forest 1
Grinnell 1
Monmouth 1

pretty impressive if you ask me

Keeper - Ben Schemper (Grinnell)

Defense - Alex Exarhos (Grinnell), Scott Pease (Carroll), J.P. Prouty (Grinnell), Ben Cady (Lake Forest)

Midfield - Bo Wilkins (Beloit), Andrew Stephenson (Grinnell), Mark Rosenberg (Grinnell), Craig Carlson (Carroll)

Forward - Ben Vanden Avond (St. Norbert), Andy Prentice (Carroll)

Stephenson and Rosenberg play up top, I believe, but thought the sag enough into the midfield to count as midfielders. Also, Vanden Avond played a few games at forward and a few at midfield, I am not sure where he would qualify.

Although Ben is a quality person between the pipes I would say Stas Miaskowski is hands down the best keeper in the conference and the region. With only giving up 2 goals in 9 regular season games compared to bens 7 I think that says it all.

I haven't seen much of the Carroll keeper, from what I saw he looked pretty solid but didn't stop a single goal in the penalty kicks and did not win the conference tournament.

You have to know better than most that goals against is not the be-all, end-all in terms of goal tending. Carroll was obviously a dominant team during the regular season but if he is not seeing as many shots against, then I would lean towards Schemper.

You cant give a goalie first team all conference because he stopped two penalt kicks in the conference tournament.

Whether they like it or not goalies are judged by how many goals get scored on them just like whether forwards like it or not they are judged by how many goals they score.

Stas 3 in 10 games
Ben 9 in 11 games

Stas is the better goalkeeper. not just because goals against but his play in the air and his communication/direction from the back. Not to mention his punts go 3/4s of the field

Not only do i disagree with you Craig, but I think Schemper should get player of the year. He didn't just save two pk's (which Sta didn't do... the reason you guys lost, probably your least valuable player in the tournament, also getting caught off guard to get scored to send the game to ot in the first place.) He had some HUGE saves in both games of the tournament. No way does Grinnell win either of those games without him. Those were some of the most solid gk'ing performances I have ever seen. On top of that he has been solid all year. You of all people should know that, seeing as he is the reason your first game against Grinnell got to overtime in the first place, making several large saves in that game. MVP of conference. He was Most Valuable Player... Grinnell goes nowhere without him. Plus Sta got his 1st team last year. Share the love, you gotta give Schemper the nod.

How's the weather in Madrid, Cris?

Mr. Ronaldo, Player of the Year??? Not a chance....

How can a goalie get POY when he gave up 9 goals in 11 conference games in one the weakest conferences in the nation??
2 against Ripon
1 Lake Forest
1 Lawrence

Stas gave up 2 goals in the regular season.. LOL 2 GOALS!

You cant base an opinion off 1 regular season game and 2 saves in a shootout. CONSISTENCY is what matters and stas was a beast last year and this year...

Like I told Ben after the Grinnell/Carroll game I said he had one hell of a game and see you in the conference tournament.....I wasnt going to tell him I thought the goal in the overtimes was perhaps a mistake. He didnt come off his line and our guy headed the ball in from inside the 6 off the bounce...

Should I have gotten POY my sophmore year for scoring the winning goal in the semi against Grinnell and then the final against St.Norbert?? NO WAY, because I didnt play against Ripon/Monmouth/IC/ and 1 half against LF cause I was hurt...consistency counts and Ben will not get player of the year.

Prentice will get in my opinion for a very impressive 17 goals on the season and 12 in 9 conference games

I'd love to have seen schemper have to block beloits shots in that shootout vs carroll in my opinion stas is hands down the best goalie in the conference and has to be one of the best in the nation...his saves may not have been many cuz carroll had a good defence to but when the defence got broke down the saves he had to make were often 1v1 or 2v1 and open shots inside the 18 so if whomever votes watched the games its an easy decision...as for the pk debate stas got his hands on shots that were side net and up 2 or 3 of them i believe schemper cant cover that range and i agree with craig on the fact that he gave up a real weak goal which he can only be blamed for to lose in the regular season to carroll

Also, if prentice doesnt get POY then somethings wrong because no one had a comparable year to him statistically let alone the overall importance he had to carroll on the field it could be argued craig has as much importance on the field and thats where prentices statistics come in to play i dont think there are two other players in the conference whos lack of being in the lineup affect their teams game more

Schempi didn't give up the goals against Ripon or Lake Forest because he got a red card against Ripon

But still, it's going to hard to overlook what Prentice did this season, although 3 against Knox isn't all that impressive

You can say all you want about range, punting the ball 3/4's of the field etc... but the most important statistic in any sport, and the one that should receive the most consideration for post season awards is wins. Putting Schemper aside for a moment, Grinnell as a whole better get more than just Prouty on first team all conference, because that seems to be the only player anyone can agree on. They freaking won the conference tourney, and their players are who won it. Soccer is a funny sport, statistics don't always=success, but something that those Grinnell Players did won them the tourney.

Lol, your last two sentences made absolutely no sense! I cant understand what your trying to say.

"but the most important statistic in any sport, and the one that should receive the most consideration for post season awards is wins"

Stas - 8 wins in conference in 10 games

Schemper - 6 wins in conference in 10 games (had to sit out LF)

Nice point Cristiano.....so your agreeing with me that Stas should get it???

My two cents on this...I think Stas is a better keeper but Schemper should be all-conference. They are two separate things.

I'm all about some MWC Love. So doing my part, how come Carroll is ranked 12th nationally, 2nd in the region, and didn't get a bid? St. Olaf also didn't win their conference, isn't ranked nationally, and is 6th in the region and got in.
Here are the links to the most recent rankings.
http://nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=1120
http://nscaa.com/SeniorResReg.php?it=1024&dv=3&rg=North

Do the ranking committees have anything to do with NCAA tournament selection?

The whole thing is about respect. Carroll won an NCAA game last year, Norbert won a couple a few years ago. This is why I'm really pulling for Grinnell. It means the MWC tournament wont eliminate 9 teams by weekend's end...it will give the second or (maybe) someday third team a chance at a bid.

As it stands, St. Olaf gets love for virtually no reason. Hell, Carroll beat St. Thomas two years in a row and they have been conference studs for years (in St. Olaf's conference).

What we need is for other schools to schedule those teams and get decisions.

Let me preface this by saying that I have been a goalkeeper for 35 years. It's difficult for me to say who the best goalkeeper is in the MWC because LFC hasn't exactly tested the opposing keepers in the two years I have been watching. That being said, I don't think it's Stas. Most of the games I have seen have been Carroll blowouts and in most of the MWC games, the game has not been riding on him. I don't think it's Schemper either - that's more of a gut reaction as I only saw him play on last Friday's webcast and Saturday's shootout. I'm not saying these guys aren't good but I'm not sure either should be first team all-conference. Lipps from Beloit is probably the goalkeeper who delivered the most for his team in the games that mattered - and was by far the best in the shootouts. Why anybody would choose to shoot to his right is beyond me unless they can consistently hit side netting. Beloit's goal difference was 4th in the conference - they were in a lot of close games.

Just throwing it out there. Take it for what it's worth

In my humble opinion, the best goalkeeper shows up consistently every game, including the big games. Ben Schemper did that this year for Grinnell College. One loss in conference (to Carroll) and some huge saves in the conference tournament makes him number one keeper in the MWC. As for allowing more goals than Stas...not all goals scored are the keeper's fault, which is a fact every soccer player knows.

Not every goal scored by the person that scored it was all them, but they get the credit right?? Goalies are judged by how many goals they let in whether they like it or not.

Just cause Stas didnt see a lot of "action" in MWC games doesnt mean hes not the best goalie in the conference LFCdad. Stas physically is a beast and the was the anchor to our team. I wasnt even nervous on crosses cause I knew he was going to get the ball. Ask any professional goalie coach or any good goalie and they will tell you that what seperates goalies at this level and the next is 1.) how they come off their line on through balls and 2.) how they approach crosses/corner kicks. Those are the two things that seperate goalies. Stas did both extremely well...

Performance wise he was the best in the conference and out of conference. And if you seriously took a panel of goalie coaches and they watched each goalie practice together and compete it wouldnt even be fair. We dominated teams last year in the conference and Stas still got 1st team...

2nd point. Manenough, the reason we didnt get a bid was because the MWC has no respect with NCAA. 1 team SNC has advanced to the sweet 16 and they got worked 3-0. They would rather give 3 at large bids like they did this year to a team from the NESAC because their conference is ridiculous. Bowdoin/Williams/Middelbury and others are in their conference. The top 6 teams in that conference didnt lose an out of conference game...impressive??? And it didnt help that St.Olaf lost their conference tourney/Wartburg beat Loras and UWW beat UWO making that win not look so good anymore.

It will take some MWC team advancing in the tourney and have bottom feeders in our conference get big wins out of conference for their to be more than 1 MWC team in the NCAAs.

Finally the NSCAA rankings DONT MATTER. They have no weight in the at large bids and I tried to stress that to my players when they were excited about the "ranking." Didnt mean ****...

You know as well as I do that the All-conference voting will not have answeres from pro (or even knowledgable) goal keepers...if they did try to make these awards functional, Prentice would have been first team for the last two years, not honorable mention.

The whole voting style is a joke, all teams want representation but when the conference is so top heavy, all teams do not deserve representation.

hey we actually agree on something carter!!!!
must be friday the 13th...

if Knox or Monmouth get anyone on then i will lose all confidence i have in the system

I agree with carter. Obviously the best players in the conference are coming from the top 4 or 5 teams, but the voting never goes that way. This is college; we shouldn't still be giving out consolation prizes...

I've been reading a lot of what has been going back and forth, and I figured I'd participate a bit by throwing in my two cents...

Cent 1:

This site was created by an ex-Carroll player, unlike the website d3kicks which was created by ex-Lawrence player(s). When reading/posting, you have to understand you're going to get a mostly Carroll-biased response simply for that fact. In this writer's opinion, at least the Carroll faithful aren't making ridiculous speculations much like those made at d3kicks. Last I checked, they have been predicting Lawrence as top in the league for the past couple of years. Erroneous. Ergo, when the Carroll guys talk their players up, at least they have examples of why a player should get a certain award and not just throwing random names on the table.

Cent 2:

In my opinion, this year was a rebuilding year for Carroll. Next year is a rebuilding year for Carroll. The national ranking for them this year after only having one loss with a not-so-challenging schedule was in large part to the accomplishments of the team in the 2007 and 2008 seasons. In 2008 Carroll took many strides forward battling in some big games and posting some good results. Even after some big wins over nationally ranked teams at the time, Carroll saw no love and received no national recognition. They went on to come back from behind to win their first ever NCAA tournament game, and they lost with 30 seconds left in the second overtime in the round of 32. After those two tournaments games and that 2008 season, the NCAA was almost obligated to give them a national ranking this year after they posted good results, something they had coming to them.

I said before that I thought this was a rebuilding year. Carroll's 2008 team graduated 4 of their 5 starting midfielders. Carroll's midfield in 2008 was what created almost EVERYTHING. The runs on the wings created easy tap-ins for anyone who was playing up front. The middle core held an outstanding presence on and off the ball, and they commanded the ball at their feet to create play on the field. Take out 4 of the 5 players that played in every game propelling Carroll to success and now you have a group of young guys that need some experience. On top of that, you lose a solid defender who had some amazing crosses and handful of guys who fought hard off the bench.

This year, Carroll loses the rest of the 2008 midfield core, the two work horses up top that continued to find the back of the net this year, and a solid keeper. Before Stas came to Carroll, Carroll didn't have a standout goalie that kept them in every game. A lot of the freshmen got experience on the field in big games, and that will only help them as Carroll moves forward. However, Carroll loses 9 of its 11 players from its unprecedented 2008 season.

That all being said, the fact that Carroll was able to get as far as they did surprised me. The young guys coming in as freshman and the returning sophomores had some big shoes to fill, and a 14-2-3 season is nothing to snuff at. Instead of stumbling back to 2005 where Carroll didn't even make the tournament, Carroll continued to produce and even win the conference right-out. Next year should be interesting; if Carroll can continue to play hard and grow as a team in 2010, the couple seasons to come could separate Carroll from the rest of the conference even more.

i completly agree dehboy two minor mistakes the record finishes 14-1-4 due to a loss in pks which has been debated on another topic for hours on whether it should be a tie or loss but it is a tie nonetheless and we lost 10 of 11 from 08 now with ziegler in the center back being the only returning starter from that year but i agree with the fact that this seasons schedule was weak but still a 14-1 record deserves some credit because you still have to take care of business in the easy games or someone can take an upset obviously as beloit did in the tourny so yes im sure the committee did look at the 08 team getting no recognition for a great season but the 09 team still got the resutls to deserve some recognition maybe not 12th but still recognition was deserved

Good point about the midfield. One of my happier moments this year was when I lined up at kickoff and didn't see Dona glaring back at me...

Also, how the **** do you guys play on that field every time? It's been a week and my knees still feel like they're 80 years old.

Good post Dehboy. I think this sites creator is a creep and a Carroll homer. I fault him on both counts.

If memory serves, d3kicks had even more homer-ish posts that gave credit where credit was clearly not deserved. Carroll has at least had good teams over the past few years making the homer posts tolerable. Just my opinion of course.

hey everyone...when do awards come out?

Schemper said:

First Team All Conference
Goalie: Ben Schemper (Grinnell)
Defense: JP Prouty (Grinnell)
Defense: Evan Wright (Grinnell)
Defense: Andrew Mullins (Grinnell)
Defense: Alex Kohut (Grinnell)
Midfield: Alex Exharos (Grinnell)
Midfield: Matti Sahel (Grinnell)
Midfield: Tommy Gerberding (Grinnell)
Forward: Andrew Stephenson (Grinnell)
Forward: Justin Koester (Grinnell)
Forward: Mark Rosenberg (Grinnell)

LOL. what. a douchebag.

??? Didnt carter say that as a joke???

ok carter. lets pretend prentice or carleson was on a really bad team with no help, but still did everything to help that team as best they could. would they deserve all conference?


the answer is yes by the way. it's about how much impact you have on a team.

well that's what it should be about.

its Carlson* And if I was on Knox I wouldnt get first team recongnition, I cant play with bad people. If I play against/ with bad players I dont stand out as much. Hard to admit but its true....

And its not really about how much impact you have on your team I think its more how much you stand out against all other 9 conference teams. Did you take control of the game?? Run the defense or midfield?? All of which can be attributed to having the biggest impact on your team but its not just your team or one game, its about consistently playing good soccer throughout the conference season. IMO

everyonesanexpert wrote:ok carter. lets pretend prentice or carleson was on a really bad team with no help, but still did everything to help that team as best they could. would they deserve all conference?


the answer is yes by the way. it's about how much impact you have on a team.

well that's what it should be about.

It's not really a fair question because it happens all the time. I know if Prentice played on a team where he didn't get so many attempts, he wouldn't have so many goals and he would struggle to make first team. Same goes with Hietpas. In 2008 he was in a perfect position to benefit from an amazing midfield that rarely lost control of the ball. With all that possession and attacking, Hietpas had more chances in one year than most people would see in two or three years.

So no...if they were on different teams they would probably not make all-conference.

I thought Craig answered his side pretty well but he is being modest. He would still make it being a center mid...he would always be around the ball even if he were on a bad team. Forwards are the ones that tend to struggle...likewise...keepers seem to benefit from being on bad teams...in terms of all-conference awards.

Awards have been posted