Centennial Conference 2023

[HomerCoach]

Who is competing for the 4 and 5 seeds? Are there any important seeding games today?

F&M is 5, traveling to #4 Muhlenberg Tuesday

[mjp318]

Can you say unsportsmanlike to Gettysburg? 25 -11 against Washington. Now 26- 11. Horrible and I'm a Gburg alum.

[SixBySix]

For fun, some recent context for those who don't follow the rivalry as closely as I do:

-27-20 all-time record in favor of the Fords (thanks Mike Murphey )
-6-4 in favor of Swat in the last 10 meetings
-Of those, 6 were one-goal games, 2 more were decided by two goals
-Of the one-goal games, 5 were decided in overtime or by a goal with less than 90 seconds left in the 4th
-Last year's game finished with Swat going up 11-9 with 45 seconds left, the Fords scoring at 0:23 and 0:05 to force OT, and the Garnet getting the overtime winner

It has been an absolutely spectacular rivalry series for the few who have been paying attention.

Add it to the list. Haverford gets the equalizer with 1:14 in the 4th and gets possession on a loose ball hold, but can't convert before the end of regulation. Fords FOGO rakes the ball out of play on the FO, and Swat converts the first and only possession of OT.

Great day by the Fords keeper--stats were great, but some of the saves were spectacular.

[HomerCoach]

FIRST ROUND: Tuesday, May 2 | Allentown, Pa.
#5 Franklin & Marshall at #4 Muhlenberg 7:00 pm

SEMIFINALS: Friday, May 5 | at #1 & #2 seeds
#4/5 winner at #1 Dickinson
#3 Gettysburg at #2 Swarthmore

CHAMPIONSHIP: Sunday, May 7 | at highest remaining seed
Semifinal winners, 1 p.m.

Final Standings
7-1 Dickinson
7-1 Swarthmore
6-2 Gettysburg
5-3 Muhlenberg
4-4 F&M
3-5 Haverford
2-6 Washington
2-6 Ursinus
0-8 McDaniel

[hooray]

Let's get some end of season predictions going.

Play in game (F&M vs Muhlenberg): Muhlenberg - think Mules take care of business at home after a disappointing end to the regular season. 13-11 Mules

Dickinson vs Muhlenberg: Dickinson - Red Devils avenge their only conference loss in a game that ends up breaking away from what will be a close start. 16-9 Dickinson

Swarthmore vs Gettysburg: Swarthmore - Imagine this will be an uncommon choice but after a very messy Haverford game, Swat cleans it up and pulls out a very very very close game vs Gettysburg. Expect this one to be very back and forth, if Swat D shows up and Pretzer plays to his high ceiling in net, then the Garnet take the W and advance to their first CC final ever. 11-10 Swarthmore

Dickinson vs Swarthmore: TBD - will revisit after CC semis but see this one going either way, definitely don't expect the same lopsided result as earlier in the season.

End of season awards:
Coach of the Year: Pat Gress, Swarthmore - this is a 100% lock in my opinion, very well deserved
OPOY: Von Mabbs, Swarthmore - also a 100% lock in my opinion, led the conference in points and goals and has been on an absolute tear. Imagine he will end up as a 2nd team All-American
DPOY: Chris Brandau, Dickinson - hard to argue with a stud goalie on the top team, ~8 GAA in conference and second best SV %. Jacob Abraham, Haverford G is also very deserving
ROY: Tommy Garofalo, F&M - 65 points as a freshman should lock this up. Pretzer, Swat freshman G is also very deserving but think Garofalo takes this one

[smoova]

Coach of the Year: Pat Gress, Swarthmore - this is a 100% lock in my opinion, very well deserved

Amen

[SixBySix]

Coach of the Year: Pat Gress, Swarthmore - this is a 100% lock in my opinion, very well deserved

Would have to think another win or two would put him in the conversation for national COTY.

[RE6ULATOR]

2 bids max

[ReturnOfTheWAC]

Let's get some end of season predictions going.

Play in game (F&M vs Muhlenberg): Muhlenberg - think Mules take care of business at home after a disappointing end to the regular season. 13-11 Mules

Dickinson vs Muhlenberg: Dickinson - Red Devils avenge their only conference loss in a game that ends up breaking away from what will be a close start. 16-9 Dickinson

Swarthmore vs Gettysburg: Swarthmore - Imagine this will be an uncommon choice but after a very messy Haverford game, Swat cleans it up and pulls out a very very very close game vs Gettysburg. Expect this one to be very back and forth, if Swat D shows up and Pretzer plays to his high ceiling in net, then the Garnet take the W and advance to their first CC final ever. 11-10 Swarthmore

Dickinson vs Swarthmore: TBD - will revisit after CC semis but see this one going either way, definitely don't expect the same lopsided result as earlier in the season.

End of season awards:
Coach of the Year: Pat Gress, Swarthmore - this is a 100% lock in my opinion, very well deserved
OPOY: Von Mabbs, Swarthmore - also a 100% lock in my opinion, led the conference in points and goals and has been on an absolute tear. Imagine he will end up as a 2nd team All-American
DPOY: Chris Brandau, Dickinson - hard to argue with a stud goalie on the top team, ~8 GAA in conference and second best SV %. Jacob Abraham, Haverford G is also very deserving
ROY: Tommy Garofalo, F&M - 65 points as a freshman should lock this up. Pretzer, Swat freshman G is also very deserving but think Garofalo takes this one

-Muhlenberg vs F&M- 2 teams that have been very hot and cold all season. Both offenses have shown they can score and bunches but I give a massive edge to Muhlenberg on the defensive side of the ball. The wild card is how Muhlenberg approaches this game after blowing out the Dips 2 weeks ago. The Mules have a tendency to play down to their opponents they don’t respect. Mules squeak by 12-11

-Dickinson vs Muhlenberg- to me this is will be the better semi final. Both teams can score and defend at high levels and both have very talented goalies. Faceoffs and the final 2 min of each quarters will matter in this game. The team that scores more goals in those windows win. Devils 14-9

- Gettysburg vs Swarthmore- what I witnessed Saturday was a team on a mission to prove something when the Bullets ran over Washington. This is the most impressive collection of talent in the conference. Like I’ve said all year their Faceoff and goal is the weakness. Swarthmore comes in riding high but they have lived on the edge this season. Mabbs is great but Swarthmore had to score 5 goals in the 4th quarter vs Gettysburg to come back and steal that one. I don’t see that happening again. Gettysburg 18-10

-CC championship. I’ll hold to see if I get these correct but early read says Bullets

COY- Swarthmore Gress
OPOY- Mabbs
DPOY - Marquet
GOY- Brandou(got hot down the stretch of the season) Haverford and McDaniel goalies are the next 2 best that I watched
ROY- Garlofolo

[SixBySix]

2 bids max

Man, the York fans are giving themselves a bad reputation this year.

[SexyBaldMan]

Haverford College HC job is open. Should be a very attractive. Great school, Centennial conference, strong OOC schedule, young team.

[WashedUp06]

anyone have any insight into why HCs leave Haverford so frequently? seems like a rotating door there, so curious if its an administration issue. The team had a great finish to the year and has some promising talent + can recruit a relatively wide area due to the caliber of the academics.

[RE6ULATOR]

2 bids max

Man, the York fans are giving themselves a bad reputation this year.

I can’t weigh in and make a prediction if it isn’t just like yours? Super soft of you. My bad. G’burg peaked early. Dickinson has been grumbled about for a few years now and just never hits a consistent stride. Swarthmore seems to be peaking but I don’t think they have the horses. Discuss.

[SpartanLaxFanatic]

2 bids max

Man, the York fans are giving themselves a bad reputation this year.

I can’t weigh in and make a prediction if it isn’t just like yours? Super soft of you. My bad. G’burg peaked early. Dickinson has been grumbled about for a few years now and just never hits a consistent stride. Swarthmore seems to be peaking but I don’t think they have the horses. Discuss.

Reality is that Centennial has a great chance to be a 3 bid league and would certainly get a third team in over York if they were to lose out in the MAC tournament. Regional Rankings make that very clear.

[CurrierWasSnubbed]

anyone have any insight into why HCs leave Haverford so frequently? seems like a rotating door there, so curious if its an administration issue. The team had a great finish to the year and has some promising talent + can recruit a relatively wide area due to the caliber of the academics.

Because the school refuses to pay their coaches adequately. Basically, the last two coaches have opted for relatively local private schools (where their kids can go for free, and they can get paid more). Rumor has it the AD is trying to get the HCs paid by the endowment, not the Athletic department, but the school rejected this idea. Sad!

[CurrierWasSnubbed]

In all honesty, and I have no connection to Haverford, but Haverford has got to be one of the best destinations for a Coach. Especially within the Centennial Conference.

1) It is near a major metropolis, in a beautiful suburb (only Swat and Ursinus can really say this)
2) Practically every other sports team at the school competes in the playoffs, so the team's lack of making the playoffs is not really an institutional problem. There is clearly a recipe for success that is achievable (Mike Murphy did it, Dawson was on the verge of greatness).

3) You also get to work with extremely smart young men. I'd assume the alumni network is phenomenal too given a lot of them work on Wall St/Corporate Law/ Get a engineering degree from Penn using the 4+1.

If I were a coach in the Philly area (or the even the greater mid-atlantic/NY area) I'd be chomping at the bit.

[RE6ULATOR]

2 bids max

Man, the York fans are giving themselves a bad reputation this year.

I can’t weigh in and make a prediction if it isn’t just like yours? Super soft of you. My bad. G’burg peaked early. Dickinson has been grumbled about for a few years now and just never hits a consistent stride. Swarthmore seems to be peaking but I don’t think they have the horses. Discuss.

Reality is that Centennial has a great chance to be a 3 bid league and would certainly get a third team in over York if they were to lose out in the MAC tournament. Regional Rankings make that very clear.

I know, I know, I like York. If they lose the MAC they’re out. Period. Now you softies heard that and can hopefully move forward. When Denison gets the AQ and not Kenyon, KENYON has a better shot at pool C than Swarthmore. Regional rankings make that clear. MY PREDICTION is 2 bids. Swarthmore strings together a few solid wins and Ya’ll are putting the Centennial up there with Liberty and NESCAC. Been fun reading. Now feel free to go back to attacking my team instead of my point.

Also FWIW I’ve heard the Haverford Coach is going to Princeton Day. Don’t know how true that is.

[CurrierWasSnubbed]

2 bids max

Man, the York fans are giving themselves a bad reputation this year.

I can’t weigh in and make a prediction if it isn’t just like yours? Super soft of you. My bad. G’burg peaked early. Dickinson has been grumbled about for a few years now and just never hits a consistent stride. Swarthmore seems to be peaking but I don’t think they have the horses. Discuss.

Reality is that Centennial has a great chance to be a 3 bid league and would certainly get a third team in over York if they were to lose out in the MAC tournament. Regional Rankings make that very clear.

I know, I know, I like York. If they lose the MAC they’re out. Period. Now you softies heard that and can hopefully move forward. When Denison gets the AQ and not Kenyon, KENYON has a better shot at pool C than Swarthmore. Regional rankings make that clear. MY PREDICTION is 2 bids. Swarthmore strings together a few solid wins and Ya’ll are putting the Centennial up there with Liberty and NESCAC. Been fun reading. Now feel free to go back to attacking my team instead of my point.

Also FWIW I’ve heard the Haverford Coach is going to Princeton Day. Don’t know how true that is.

It is true.

[YCOLaxFanSU]

2 bids max

The committee will follow the criteria(hopefully) and it is what it is. I agree that 2 bids seems sufficient but I would not be surprised if 3 teams get in. I think the perceived strength of the conference this year are based on Muhlenberg's close loss to RIT and Gettysburg's win over Salisbury. Both of those happened a long time ago but they happened. I can see a Centennial team or two make some noise in the tournament. Hopefully a repeat of 2019 does not occur: 3 teams in, 3 teams bounced in the 1st round, all at home.

[SixBySix]

When Denison gets the AQ and not Kenyon, KENYON has a better shot at pool C than Swarthmore. Regional rankings make that clear.

Wait, what? Are you suggesting that because Kenyon was 3rd in Region IV vs Swat being 4th in Region III that Kenyon would be picked first? Because that is absolutely not how it works.