Centre suffers 1st conference play loss since 4/12/19 (1443 days
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
Rhodes continues to absolutely own Berry in a competitive 15-12 win in Rome,Ga that Berry led by as many as 5 goals early and well into Q3 before collapsing. I believe that's now 9 in a row for Rhodes in the series back to 2016. Berry drops to 0-2 in SAA play after a 3OT loss to Centre the week prior.
Hendrix wins close one with Oglethorpe 15-13. That does not bode well for Hendrix to win any of their remaining games in conference as they close with the best 4 teams left. They try to extend a modest streak to 2 wins vs Sewanee next week whom they knocked off in a great regular season game last year. Oglethorpe continues to improve relative to the SAA winning a # of games OOC (against admittedly weak teams), but they will almost certainly go 0-6 (again)
1) Rhodes - tested with some good OOC play, but have tough Centre/Sewanee double header next weekend
2) Sewanee -may be favorite as their schedule is pretty evenly paced to rest down the stretch
3) BSC - record only 6-5 (but losses all <4 goals). With Centre win they've beaten everyone in SAA at least once last 3 yrs
4) Centre - still with long road trips to Rhodes & Sewanee
5) Berry - can hang with everyone, but their 5 season record trend (3-12) vs teams 1-4 is telling
6) Hendrix -beat Bridgewater earlier (nice), but transitive property suggests they've taken a step back from 2022
7) Oglethorpe - played Hendrix close, suggesting improvement.
Would absolutely not be surprised for a 3 or 4 way tie of 1-loss teams in SAA play after next weekend between Rhodes, BSC, Centre, & Sewanee. The early clashes had been 1 & 2 goal affairs between Sewanee/Centre/BSC and they (and Rhodes) share lots of common opponents as data point (ILL-Weslyan, Transylvania, Elmhurst, Southwestern, Piedmont, So. Virginia). All suggest the talent difference between 1-5 is pretty minimal this season