Centennial Conference 2023

[MDlacrosse45]

Susquehanna goalie had 24 saves which kept the score line from getting ugly. The weather was not the best and mid week games are tough for the traveling team so Dickinson was a bit out of sorts. I suspect they will play well on Sunday vs Roanoke.

Top 10 teams don't make excuses due to "weather" or "mid week games". Susquehanna is better than anticipated but still if Dickinson is who they say they are they should have rolled here.

[boredatwork]

Susquehanna goalie had 24 saves which kept the score line from getting ugly. The weather was not the best and mid week games are tough for the traveling team so Dickinson was a bit out of sorts. I suspect they will play well on Sunday vs Roanoke.

Top 10 teams don't make excuses due to "weather" or "mid week games". Susquehanna is better than anticipated but still if Dickinson is who they say they are they should have rolled here.

To be fair, I don't think Dickinson is making the excuses, just a fan lax poster. I'm sure they will be fine

[SpartanLaxFanatic]

Another solid night overall for the conference with the one stinker being Ursinus getting beaten handily by York. York is a good team with a phenomenal head coach and culture but I was not expecting that in the slightest. Will be interesting to see how the Bears respond this weekend. Dips with another meh opening season victory, Devils take care of business. Haverford doesn't look like they are at the same level as last year and Swarthmore's offense is going to be a problem this season.

Another very interesting slate of CC games on tap for this weekend.

Friday
Muhlenberg/Colorado Coll - Interested to see how the Mules respond coming off a great performance against RIT. Hoping to see Dalimonte play because he is really the key to their offense. CC is a complete blind spot coming off a 6 goal loss to Mesa, I think the Mules take care of business. Mules 13 CC 7
Saturday
Swarthmore/Vassar - Swat plays such an odd OOC every year, would love to see them challenge themselves a bit more. Vassar is not a very good team, Swarthmore is. Only worry for Swat is the long-ish travel. Garnet handle this one fairly easily. Garnet 16 Vassar 9
Haverford/Mary Wash - Sneaky tough turnaround for the Fords as they travel to DC to play Mary Wash. I simply think that Mary Wash is a bit more talented than the Fords this year and the home game will help as well. Mary Wash 13 Fords 10
WAC/W&L - Certainly a more interesting game than it has been recently. WAC coming off a solid win over Eastern while the Generals have shown two impressive performances over York and Catholic. I think WAC is slightly improved but they aren't at W&L's quality. W&L 17 WAC 9
F&M/Catholic - Little test here for the Dips as they travel to DC to play Catholic. Catholic coming off a beat down at the hands of W&L. Would not be a great look for the Dips to drop this one but will certainly be a step up in competition compared to Messiah and Lebanon Valley. I think the Dips have enough talent on the offensive end to get it done. Dips 16 Catholic 11
Gburg/Salisbury - Chance for the Bullets to put themselves firmly onto the national scene coming off an Elite 8 appearance a year ago. Bullets looked the part in a dominant opening game win over Desales. Salisbury has a ton of talent on the top 6 but they lack a bit of depth that the previous Gulls teams provided. Will be a great test of the Bullets defense and new goalie if they are up for the challenge. Gulls defense showed some weaknesses against a talented Roanoke offensive unit, curious to see who the "guys" on this Gburg offense end up being. Think this is the game of the weekend. Bullets 13 Salisbury 11
Sunday
Ursinus/Colorado Coll - I can't figure this Ursinus team out. Great showing game 1 and then Wednesday night happens in York. Tough team to read but I think the talent is there to beat a team like Colorado College coming off a quick one day turnaround after a physical game against the Mules. Ursinus needs this one to get back on track and they do. Ursinus 15 CC 10
Dickinson/Roanoke - Another solid early season test for the Devils. Roanoke has played Salisbury and then two below average opponents so it's tough to truly know where they stand. Devils could have a nice advantage at the X with McKee, can the Devils turn those extra possessions into goals against a so-so Noke defense. Need to start a bit faster in this one than they did against Stevens or else the Noke offense will be able to separate a bit better than the Ducks were. Devils 16 Noke 13

[westernbestern]

Weekend score predictions:
Muhlenberg 15 v Colorado College 8
Swarthmore 17 v Vassar 9
Haverford 8 v Mary Wash 14
WAC 8 v W&L 15
F&M 14 v Catholic 9
Gettysburg 10 v Salisbury 11
Ursinus 14 v Colorado College 10
Dickinson 15 v Roanoke 11

[SixBySix]

Pretty heavy snow for this Swarthmore/Vassar game. I hope the old steal-some-nitrile-gloves-from-the-chemistry-lab-and-wear-them-under-your-lax-gloves trick has been passed down to the current generation--made a big difference in February!

[Leonard Washington]

While other teams in the Centennial grab all the headlines (some deservedly so) the Diplomats will continue to fly under the radar and not be an easy out this year. May take at least once win at the Mustang Classic to turn some heads.

[CTlaxer12]

While other teams in the Centennial grab all the headlines (some deservedly so) the Diplomats will continue to fly under the radar and not be an easy out this year. May take at least once win at the Mustang Classic to turn some heads.

Centennial may be the best/deepest conference in the country this year. The Dips may have 3 of the top 10/15 freshmen in DIII this year and two all american goalies . They will not win the conference, but they should be in the top 5. While that is impressive, the Bullets and Mules will take the headlines along with the devils. Nonetheless this needs/should be a 4-5 bid league.

[Leonard Washington]

They will not win the conference, but they should be in the top 5. While that is impressive, the Bullets and Mules will take the headlines along with the devils.

Noted that the Dips wont win the conference!

Glad that we won't have to sit and go back over this on May 7th

[Asgot]

While other teams in the Centennial grab all the headlines (some deservedly so) the Diplomats will continue to fly under the radar and not be an easy out this year. May take at least once win at the Mustang Classic to turn some heads.

Let’s see them get past Roanoke first before you get to crazy as I recall F&M was 6-0 before they got to the Mustang Classic last year.

[Leonard Washington]

Let’s see them get past Roanoke first before you get to crazy as I recall F&M was 6-0 before they got to the Mustang Classic last year.

Do you actually know what the definition of crazy is? I'm pretty sure it's not applicable to me, especially in this case. Then again, it's not like F&M "got to the Mustang Classic" and won a game while there.

Might as well be happy just finishing 5th this year.

[Matnum PI]

Gettysburg...

[WashedUp06]

Conference Ranking through 2 Weeks (IMO):
1) G'burg
2) Mules
3) Dickinson
4) Dips
5) Ursinus
6) WAC
7) Swat
8) Haverford
9) McDaniel

Top 2 are built on defense (could be 2 of the best units in the country...if not the best after some impressive performances against Top 5 opponents), next 3 seem more offensive focused - just looking at scores. Will be interesting to see how the "lesser" of the units develop throughout the season and who becomes the most complete team.

Mid Week Games:
McDaniel vs Goucher - McDaniel by 5
Ursinus vs Arcadia - Bears by 10
WAC vs Etown - WAC by 5
Muhlenberg vs Desales - Mules by 8 (Mules lost this one last year, expect them to come out motivated for revenge)

[ReturnOfTheWAC]

Conference Ranking through 2 Weeks (IMO):
1) G'burg
2) Mules
3) Dickinson
4) Dips
5) Ursinus
6) WAC
7) Swat
8) Haverford
9) McDaniel

Top 2 are built on defense (could be 2 of the best units in the country...if not the best after some impressive performances against Top 5 opponents), next 3 seem more offensive focused - just looking at scores. Will be interesting to see how the "lesser" of the units develop throughout the season and who becomes the most complete team.

Mid Week Games:
McDaniel vs Goucher - McDaniel by 5
Ursinus vs Arcadia - Bears by 10
WAC vs Etown - WAC by 5
Muhlenberg vs Desales - Mules by 8 (Mules lost this one last year, expect them to come out motivated for revenge)

Mid week predictions

McDaniel over Goucher 14-7
Ursinus over Arcadia 21-7
WAC sneaks by Etown 11-9
Mules destroy DeSales 20-5

[Laxdds]

Conference Ranking through 2 Weeks (IMO):
1) G'burg
2) Mules
3) Dickinson
4) Dips
5) Ursinus
6) WAC
7) Swat
8) Haverford
9) McDaniel

Top 2 are built on defense (could be 2 of the best units in the country...if not the best after some impressive performances against Top 5 opponents), next 3 seem more offensive focused - just looking at scores. Will be interesting to see how the "lesser" of the units develop throughout the season and who becomes the most complete team.

Mid Week Games:
McDaniel vs Goucher - McDaniel by 5
Ursinus vs Arcadia - Bears by 10
WAC vs Etown - WAC by 5
Muhlenberg vs Desales - Mules by 8 (Mules lost this one last year, expect them to come out motivated for revenge)

The Bullets put up 12 against a Salisbury defense that had 3 preseason AA's on a brutally cold day. They certainly don't have the firepower of RIT, Tufts or CNU but that's not to shabby. Certainly agree the defense is tough and the heart of the Team and should be getting a SSDM back from injury any day. If the offense continues to make strides they will be a tough out.

[SixBySix]

WAC - Etown should be a good game, but I'm expecting a shootout. O/U 28.5 and I'm taking the over.

[SpartanLaxFanatic]

Great early season start for the Centennial. Won't post updated rankings until a few more weeks in to get a true feel for what each of these teams are. I will admit that Gburg looks like the class of the conference with those next 4 teams trying to pick them off, in no particular order. Dickinson looks like they are sleepwalking a bit, Dips have a ton of young talent on the offensive end, Mules have a top notch defensive unit and Ursinus is solid pretty much everywhere. WAC looks like they have certainly improved in year 2 under Notty. Don't want it to go unnoticed that the Fords picked up a really gutty win this weekend at Mary Wash, hopefully something they can build on as we move into March.

McDaniel/Goucher - Terror coming off a nice win over the weekend, this rebuild wasn't going to take a year or even two. Terror 15 Goucher 5
Ursinus/Arcadia - Bears got a nice bounce back win over a solid Colorado College squad on Sunday. Neal is the real deal but they might lack some scoring depth outside of him. Won't matter this Wednesday. Bears 19 Arcadia 9
Muhlenberg/Desales - Mules are/should come off with their fricken hair on fire for this game. The one true blunder on their schedule from last year and realistically what might've taken them out of Pool C contention. Mules 18 DeSales 6
WAC/Elizabethtown - Really really good game to close out the slate on Wednesday. Etown has a ton of talent offensively and can score with anybody. Defense is most likely the issue moving forward for both of these teams. I simply trust ETown a little bit more offensively than I do WAC. Etown 14 WAC 11

Interested to know who some of you think the best players in the conference are going to be on both sides of the ball?

[westernbestern]

Wednesday predictions -
McDaniel 14 v Goucher 6
Ursinus 18 v Arcadia 7
Muhlenberg 15 v Desales 8
WAC 16 v Etown 10

[secondarybreak]

Wednesday -
McDaniel 10 v Goucher 5
Ursinus 14 v Arcadia 6
Muhlenberg 19 v Desales 4
WAC 14 v Etown 12

[Laxdds]

I don't want to be to much of a CC homer, but it does look like a clean sweep for the conference today. WAC over Etown should be a good win for a young team. The McDaniel score will be close.

[WashedUp06]

Clean sweep yesterday for the conference! Mules struggled in 1st half against Desales but flexed there muscles in the second half, good showings by Ursinus, WAC, & McDaniel

Weekend Slate has some good ones:

Mules v RPI - Mules (-1.5)
WAC v Widener - WAC (-6.5)
Dickinson v Cabrini - Dickinson (-2.5)
Swat v E'town - Swat (-1.5)
Ursinus v Desales - Ursinus (-7.5)
G'Burg v Stevenson - G'burg (-4.5)

Let's see if the conference can keep the momentum and win a couple good OOC matchups!