BC Women Class of New England 2012

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BC will need help from the incoming freshman class if they are going to be successful this year. Especially up top where at times last year the Eagles failed to get much production in the ACC. In past years, BC has played a rather "common" non-league schedule. They still have some New England opponents but it is a much rougher road outside the ACC for the Eagles in 2012. That means they don't have the luxury of slowly finding the right fits before the meat grinder of the Conference season. Its still not as tough as at could be (they avoided UCLA on the Bruin's trip east) and scheduled a weaker Pacific side (along with ultra-strong Stanford) when they head west - so BC still has a much easier NL slate thansome other Top 20 sides.

The two keys remain Mewis and Dimartino. Mewis has been less effective when forced to create from the inside. She prefers the space provided by running the wing but BC has been unable to find enough high quality in the MF to move her. She is a great player, but the ACC is full of great players, and BC really needs her to have 15+ assists (with 10+ goals) and play every night at All-American form. Maybe Woeltz, Jeffrey or Lutz can provide that relief at CM and free Mewis up offensively. Dimartino had a very rough 2011 and she really needs to return to her 2010 form and give BC a consistent forward scoring option when the Eagles face top opponents. If she doesn't, then Meehan will absolutely need to produce for the Eagles.

BC does not compete in New England, they play in the nation's #1 League and expect to make a deep run into the NCAA Tourney - every year! Fact is that Wake Forest and Duke surpassed them last year and its plausible that BC could finish even lower than 5th in the ACC.

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BC will need help from the incoming freshman class if they are going to be successful this year. Especially up top where at times last year the Eagles failed to get much production in the ACC. In past years, BC has played a rather "common" non-league schedule. They still have some New England opponents but it is a much rougher road outside the ACC for the Eagles in 2012. That means they don't have the luxury of slowly finding the right fits before the meat grinder of the Conference season. Its still not as tough as at could be (they avoided UCLA on the Bruin's trip east) and scheduled a weaker Pacific side (along with ultra-strong Stanford) when they head west - so BC still has a much easier NL slate thansome other Top 20 sides.

The two keys remain Mewis and Dimartino. Mewis has been less effective when forced to create from the inside. She prefers the space provided by running the wing but BC has been unable to find enough high quality in the MF to move her. She is a great player, but the ACC is full of great players, and BC really needs her to have 15+ assists (with 10+ goals) and play every night at All-American form. Maybe Woeltz, Jeffrey or Lutz can provide that relief at CM and free Mewis up offensively. Dimartino had a very rough 2011 and she really needs to return to her 2010 form and give BC a consistent forward scoring option when the Eagles face top opponents. If she doesn't, then Meehan will absolutely need to produce for the Eagles.

BC does not compete in New England, they play in the nation's #1 League and expect to make a deep run into the NCAA Tourney - every year! Fact is that Wake Forest and Duke surpassed them last year and its plausible that BC could finish even lower than 5th in the ACC.

These are last year's stats for the top 4 on BC, including the two players you have discussed which I found quite interesting.

## Player gp g a pts sh sh% sog sog% gw pk-att
19 Kristen Mewis 20 8 6 22 81 .099 29 .358 1 0- 1
10 Gibby Wagner 21 5 4 14 34 .147 18 .529 2 1- 1
1 Victoria Dimartino 20 4 5 13 36 .111 18 .500 1 0- 1
9 Stephanie McCaffrey 21 4 5 13 19 .211 10 .526 2 0- 0

Note the # of shots of the player with the most points. I guess this supports the idea that you can't score if you don't take a shot, but she still has the most assists on the team.

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Looks like you are gonna be the chump when she excels. Seen her since ten years old. Always had it, always will!

Every kid on every Division 1 roster was a childhood phenom. Especially at a prominent program like BC Women. The kid may be special, she has been so far, but to assume she is going to dominate at this level is a bit of a stretch. Let her be a freshman. She is going to spend the first two weeks trying to find her classes like every on else.

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Expect a breakout year from McCaffrey.

BC competes in New England for players...although other than 1 high level recruit they snag ALL the top talent, so it's not much competition. BC is THE top program and it's the one all the top boy's and girl's in the area consider first.

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Expect a breakout year from McCaffrey.

<SNIP> it's the one all the top boy's and girl's in the area consider first.

I do agree that this is true from a soccer perspective, it just isn't like growing up in, say, Research Triangle, (where there are so many ranked programs in the area), so if you are looking to stay in New England for college, you have to consider it, probably first, if you can. A pretty good choice academically too, socially it depends on your kids point of view, one can't generalize. So yeah, I'd agree BC has a good chance recruiting NE kids.

I'd add that both men's and women's coaches have good reputations (of course, not everyone would agree, but I think that is generally true).

I'll leave it to others to debate whether there are as many prospects (and as good) in New England vs. the Carolinas, or Cali, or TX....

Just 2¢. Good luck to all in your HS and College seasons, and in your recruiting! Have fun...

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Expect a breakout year from McCaffrey.

BC competes in New England for players...although other than 1 high level recruit they snag ALL the top talent, so it's not much competition. BC is THE top program and it's the one all the top boy's and girl's in the area consider first.

They have not gotten all the top local recruits for the last several years but most certainly.

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.....but....

....it is still just a pre-season game that some parent is putting up there as though an American man won the Olympic Marathon....

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Agreed - no one but a parent would weather a rain storm to watch either. The thing about these spring season scrimmages is that everyone typically plays and there's a huge advantage to the deeper team. Plus the lack of familiarity with all the players can depress scoring.

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Understand that in a real game between a top team like BC and a good team out of a mid-major (like U Mass), you would expect a team like U Mass to try to execute a game plan that includes lots of defense and a hope to connect on the occasional counter opportunity. It would also mean some pretty physical man marking on Mewis. BC enters each season with the reasonable expectation that they will compete for an ACC title and then reach the Final Four. U Mass realizes that they will need a lot of breaks to even get into the NCAA Tourney. Same holds true for other good local sides like Northeastern and Harvard. Basically you need to win your conference, or earn a big upset or two, or you are out of NCAA contention. Even then no New England team other than BC (and maybe U Conn if they can get it together) has any real shot to win more than a single game in the Tournament - and yes that includes BU.

BC likes to beat up on their New England neighbors, and they have to because they cannot afford for top local recruits to think that things might be better for them as a superstar in Amherst, Cambridge or on Huntington Ave. And they certainly can't have those kids heading to Storres or worse of all a couple miles east on Comm. Ave!!! But there is an argument that their recruiting pre-occupation with New England (and a certain household on LI) has left them behind their real competition in the ACC.

This is a make it or break it season for the Eagles. The Mewis/ Dimartino combination was expected to reap HUGE results for BC - especially after the Final Four appearance in 2010. The current Soph. and Junior classes have some solid performers but lack depth, so if this year's recruits don't pan out big, then it is possible that the Eagles could be an ACC also ran by 2013. They are already behind UNC, Wake and Duke. They could easily slip behind Maryland, FSU and UVA. The ACC is definitely the nation's best conference, but its all relative and a 7th (or 8th) place finish is still 7th or 8th - and the excuse that they would easily win the Colonial, A-10 or even Big East (maybe?) really doesn't cut it outside of I-495.

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BC will be fine the next couple of years, but expect to see a decline after that. They no longer even have the ability to pull in the top players from New England (except HD) in the next few classes and have some serious issues to potentially deal with. There is also talk that UConn maybe headed to the ACC with Notre Dame and if that happens BC soccer will certainly feel the effects. I hope BC wins a national championship in the next two years but let's see what happens.

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BC will be fine the next couple of years, but expect to see a decline after that. They no longer even have the ability to pull in the top players from New England (except HD) in the next few classes and have some serious issues to potentially deal with. There is also talk that UConn maybe headed to the ACC with Notre Dame and if that happens BC soccer will certainly feel the effects. I hope BC wins a national championship in the next two years but let's see what happens.

Lets hope they can finish in the top 4 of the ACC before starting to hope for a National Title!! What 2010 showed was that any of the top 5-6 teams in the ACC can get to the F4 with the right draw, but that is still miles away from actually winning the Big Dance. This year's edition is a much weaker side than the '010 edition - in all three areas of the field. But the current group of freshmen represent their best overall recruiting class since '09. If they can mature quickly and fill important roles then they could make some noise in November. Last year's squad lacked the type of consistent "team" effort that BC needs to win in the ACC. They were 3-6-1 down the stretch last year and outside of a blow-out over Marist in Rd1 of the NCAAs, they averaged less than a goal a game in their last 10 matches. They were entirely outclassed by eventual champion Stanford in the QFs, no big deal for most, but if you want to be a legitimate contender, then you must be competitive with everone.

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ACC is the perhaps the strongest conference in the country, both genders. BC is the only way to play in it in this area, for now. UConn and Syracuse join next year. It will be interesting to see the effect of expansion on the league...

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Anyone who thinks college soccer is a higher level than club is wrong, wrong, wrong.

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How can you annoint this current recruiting class? It's very premature. BC is missing defenders and solid defensive midfielders and loading up on wings and forwards. Unless a few of the annointed can convert quickly and learn to shut down top ACC offenses, it could be another disappointing season. That said, every other college in NE would like to recruit as well and be as competitive as BC. It's all relative and the top program has set a high bar.

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Anyone who thinks college soccer is a higher level than club is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Are you seriously going to tell me/us that the best club team is better than the best college team?