Centennial Conference 2024

[CentennialPundit]

Gettysburg fogo 2/26. Absolutely embarrassing performance. Take out a few lucky rebounds for Gettysburg and this game was a blowout. Excited to see the changing of the guard next week as the Red Devils come to town.

2/26 is a special level of suck. Shows just as much about the Swarthmore faceoff unit as it does Gettysburg. Normally you can clean up atleast a few GBs…

Hard to imagine how a program with as much success as Gettysburg can’t get a single serviceable faceoff man.

[SixBySix]

Gettysburg fogo 2/26. Absolutely embarrassing performance. Take out a few lucky rebounds for Gettysburg and this game was a blowout. Excited to see the changing of the guard next week as the Red Devils come to town.

2/26 is a special level of suck. Shows just as much about the Swarthmore faceoff unit as it does Gettysburg. Normally you can clean up atleast a few GBs…

I mean, Swat's winning 68.7% (!) of draws on the year. Huge area of strength for the team.

[CentennialPundit]

Gettysburg fogo 2/26. Absolutely embarrassing performance. Take out a few lucky rebounds for Gettysburg and this game was a blowout. Excited to see the changing of the guard next week as the Red Devils come to town.

2/26 is a special level of suck. Shows just as much about the Swarthmore faceoff unit as it does Gettysburg. Normally you can clean up atleast a few GBs…

I mean, Swat's winning 68.7% (!) of draws on the year. Huge area of strength for the team.

Right - and when you get that far above 50% it’s a testament to their wings just as much fogos. Great performance from the entire unit. Will carry them far if they keep it up.

[WashedUp06]

Mid-Week Game of the Week (in the CC) - Mules vs Ursinus

This one will provide some more clarity to who will be in /out of playoff contention. Ursinus is coming off a big OT win and the Mules are coming off a dominant effort vs McDaniel (the score isn't indicative of the dominance of the performance & the score was pretty lopsided). Both teams have had head scratching losses & glimpses of being quite formidable...which teams show up on Wednesday is anyone's guess.

My pick: Mules 11 Ursinus 9 - Mules seems to be trending in an upward fashion and their young players are really starting to click with a lot of the early season learning / experience behind them.

Other Picks:

Gburg over F&M - 14-9
Dickinson over Mcdaniel - A lot to a little
SWAT over WAC - 15-8

[ToeDipper78]

Mid-Week Game of the Week (in the CC) - Mules vs Ursinus

This one will provide some more clarity to who will be in /out of playoff contention. Ursinus is coming off a big OT win and the Mules are coming off a dominant effort vs McDaniel (the score isn't indicative of the dominance of the performance & the score was pretty lopsided). Both teams have had head scratching losses & glimpses of being quite formidable...which teams show up on Wednesday is anyone's guess.

My pick: Mules 11 Ursinus 9 - Mules seems to be trending in an upward fashion and their young players are really starting to click with a lot of the early season learning / experience behind them.

Tough game to predict. Both teams have been in many tight game grinds. They seem evenly matched. Huge game for both teams and F&M-Haverford.

[ReturnOfTheWAC]

Mid-Week Game of the Week (in the CC) - Mules vs Ursinus

This one will provide some more clarity to who will be in /out of playoff contention. Ursinus is coming off a big OT win and the Mules are coming off a dominant effort vs McDaniel (the score isn't indicative of the dominance of the performance & the score was pretty lopsided). Both teams have had head scratching losses & glimpses of being quite formidable...which teams show up on Wednesday is anyone's guess.

My pick: Mules 11 Ursinus 9 - Mules seems to be trending in an upward fashion and their young players are really starting to click with a lot of the early season learning / experience behind them.

Other Picks:

Gburg over F&M - 14-9
Dickinson over Mcdaniel - A lot to a little
SWAT over WAC - 15-8

Mules vs Ursinus- Mules are slightly better and are more put together in between the lines. Ursinus plays tough vs everyone but the Mules have more talent in the middle of the field. X factor is Ursinus’s goalie who is red hot Mules 10-9

Gettysburg vs F&M- Bullets come out angry vs a melancholy Dips team and roll 12-5

Dickinson vs Western Maryland- The Red Devils are playing a bit down recently to competition. McDaniel will be a welcomed break. McDaniels Face-off situation is bleak(even Gettysburg’s guys ate him up) Dickinson 20-4

Swat vs WAC- spirited effort by the Shoremen over the weekend. Swat might come in feeling a bit to big for their britches. Chestertown at night might be just the recipe for an upset. Shore 11-10

[CentennialPundit]

Mid-Week Game of the Week (in the CC) - Mules vs Ursinus

This one will provide some more clarity to who will be in /out of playoff contention. Ursinus is coming off a big OT win and the Mules are coming off a dominant effort vs McDaniel (the score isn't indicative of the dominance of the performance & the score was pretty lopsided). Both teams have had head scratching losses & glimpses of being quite formidable...which teams show up on Wednesday is anyone's guess.

My pick: Mules 11 Ursinus 9 - Mules seems to be trending in an upward fashion and their young players are really starting to click with a lot of the early season learning / experience behind them.

Other Picks:

Gburg over F&M - 14-9
Dickinson over Mcdaniel - A lot to a little
SWAT over WAC - 15-8

Mules vs Ursinus- Mules are slightly better and are more put together in between the lines. Ursinus plays tough vs everyone but the Mules have more talent in the middle of the field. X factor is Ursinus’s goalie who is red hot Mules 10-9

Gettysburg vs F&M- Bullets come out angry vs a melancholy Dips team and roll 12-5

Dickinson vs Western Maryland- The Red Devils are playing a bit down recently to competition. McDaniel will be a welcomed break. McDaniels Face-off situation is bleak(even Gettysburg’s guys ate him up) Dickinson 20-4

Swat vs WAC- spirited effort by the Shoremen over the weekend. Swat might come in feeling a bit to big for their britches. Chestertown at night might be just the recipe for an upset. Shore 11-10

Here are my predictions for the week :

Ursinus V Muhlenberg: Best game of the week but I think muhlenberg will handle ursinus with some comfort. Mules 13-8

Dickinson V McDaniel: nothing to be said here, Dickinson 25-5

Gettysburg V F&M: could see this being scary for bullets. I’m sure they want to get right after they were rolled this weekend, but the faceoffs are a problem that are not going to get better. If F&M plays well they will be in this game, 90% faceoffs makes up for a lot of slack. Give me bullets 11-9 in a close one.

Swarthmore V WAC: for whatever reason wac has given the garnet trouble recently- don’t expect it to last. Swarthmore has all the talent and moxy they need to roll into Chesterton and put a good old fashion whomping on the shoremen. Give me Swarthmore 22-8

[MrLacrosse]

Mid-Week Game of the Week (in the CC) - Mules vs Ursinus

This one will provide some more clarity to who will be in /out of playoff contention. Ursinus is coming off a big OT win and the Mules are coming off a dominant effort vs McDaniel (the score isn't indicative of the dominance of the performance & the score was pretty lopsided). Both teams have had head scratching losses & glimpses of being quite formidable...which teams show up on Wednesday is anyone's guess.

My pick: Mules 11 Ursinus 9 - Mules seems to be trending in an upward fashion and their young players are really starting to click with a lot of the early season learning / experience behind them.

Other Picks:

Gburg over F&M - 14-9
Dickinson over Mcdaniel - A lot to a little
SWAT over WAC - 15-8

Mules vs Ursinus- Mules are slightly better and are more put together in between the lines. Ursinus plays tough vs everyone but the Mules have more talent in the middle of the field. X factor is Ursinus’s goalie who is red hot Mules 10-9

Gettysburg vs F&M- Bullets come out angry vs a melancholy Dips team and roll 12-5

Dickinson vs Western Maryland- The Red Devils are playing a bit down recently to competition. McDaniel will be a welcomed break. McDaniels Face-off situation is bleak(even Gettysburg’s guys ate him up) Dickinson 20-4

Swat vs WAC- spirited effort by the Shoremen over the weekend. Swat might come in feeling a bit to big for their britches. Chestertown at night might be just the recipe for an upset. Shore 11-10

That WAC/Swat prediction is all emotion and no logic, gotta ride for your boys I guess…… Swat -12. WAC is McDaniel bad

[ChopMan23]

Mid-Week Game of the Week (in the CC) - Mules vs Ursinus

This one will provide some more clarity to who will be in /out of playoff contention. Ursinus is coming off a big OT win and the Mules are coming off a dominant effort vs McDaniel (the score isn't indicative of the dominance of the performance & the score was pretty lopsided). Both teams have had head scratching losses & glimpses of being quite formidable...which teams show up on Wednesday is anyone's guess.

My pick: Mules 11 Ursinus 9 - Mules seems to be trending in an upward fashion and their young players are really starting to click with a lot of the early season learning / experience behind them.

Other Picks:

Gburg over F&M - 14-9
Dickinson over Mcdaniel - A lot to a little
SWAT over WAC - 15-8

Mules vs Ursinus- Mules are slightly better and are more put together in between the lines. Ursinus plays tough vs everyone but the Mules have more talent in the middle of the field. X factor is Ursinus’s goalie who is red hot Mules 10-9

Gettysburg vs F&M- Bullets come out angry vs a melancholy Dips team and roll 12-5

Dickinson vs Western Maryland- The Red Devils are playing a bit down recently to competition. McDaniel will be a welcomed break. McDaniels Face-off situation is bleak(even Gettysburg’s guys ate him up) Dickinson 20-4

Swat vs WAC- spirited effort by the Shoremen over the weekend. Swat might come in feeling a bit to big for their britches. Chestertown at night might be just the recipe for an upset. Shore 11-10

That WAC/Swat prediction is all emotion and no logic, gotta ride for your boys I guess…… Swat -12. WAC is McDaniel bad

WC is not McDaniel bad. Swats only ranked win in program history is G'Burg. They still have a lot to prove. Shoremen and Dickinson were tied heading into the 4th...

[CentennialPundit]

Mid-Week Game of the Week (in the CC) - Mules vs Ursinus

This one will provide some more clarity to who will be in /out of playoff contention. Ursinus is coming off a big OT win and the Mules are coming off a dominant effort vs McDaniel (the score isn't indicative of the dominance of the performance & the score was pretty lopsided). Both teams have had head scratching losses & glimpses of being quite formidable...which teams show up on Wednesday is anyone's guess.

My pick: Mules 11 Ursinus 9 - Mules seems to be trending in an upward fashion and their young players are really starting to click with a lot of the early season learning / experience behind them.

Other Picks:

Gburg over F&M - 14-9
Dickinson over Mcdaniel - A lot to a little
SWAT over WAC - 15-8

Mules vs Ursinus- Mules are slightly better and are more put together in between the lines. Ursinus plays tough vs everyone but the Mules have more talent in the middle of the field. X factor is Ursinus’s goalie who is red hot Mules 10-9

Gettysburg vs F&M- Bullets come out angry vs a melancholy Dips team and roll 12-5

Dickinson vs Western Maryland- The Red Devils are playing a bit down recently to competition. McDaniel will be a welcomed break. McDaniels Face-off situation is bleak(even Gettysburg’s guys ate him up) Dickinson 20-4

Swat vs WAC- spirited effort by the Shoremen over the weekend. Swat might come in feeling a bit to big for their britches. Chestertown at night might be just the recipe for an upset. Shore 11-10

That WAC/Swat prediction is all emotion and no logic, gotta ride for your boys I guess…… Swat -12. WAC is McDaniel bad

WC is not McDaniel bad. Swats only ranked win in program history is G'Burg. They still have a lot to prove. Shoremen and Dickinson were tied heading into the 4th...

few things:

1) that’s just not true, swat beat Muhlenberg last year when they were ranked and maybe even other teams I’m forgetting.

2) You’re using beating Gettysburg 4 times in a row as a knock on Swarthmore? When was WACs last ranked win? Regardless, using the number of unique ranked wins Swarthmore has as a metric for how badly they’re going to whomp WAC makes no sense. Maybe that would be valuable if Swarthmore was playing RIT. Probably makes more sense to look at Swat’s performance against teams more around WAC’s level e.g. widener, vassar, or Arcadia… all of which don’t bode well for the shoremen’s chances.

[ChopMan23]

Mid-Week Game of the Week (in the CC) - Mules vs Ursinus

This one will provide some more clarity to who will be in /out of playoff contention. Ursinus is coming off a big OT win and the Mules are coming off a dominant effort vs McDaniel (the score isn't indicative of the dominance of the performance & the score was pretty lopsided). Both teams have had head scratching losses & glimpses of being quite formidable...which teams show up on Wednesday is anyone's guess.

My pick: Mules 11 Ursinus 9 - Mules seems to be trending in an upward fashion and their young players are really starting to click with a lot of the early season learning / experience behind them.

Other Picks:

Gburg over F&M - 14-9
Dickinson over Mcdaniel - A lot to a little
SWAT over WAC - 15-8

Mules vs Ursinus- Mules are slightly better and are more put together in between the lines. Ursinus plays tough vs everyone but the Mules have more talent in the middle of the field. X factor is Ursinus’s goalie who is red hot Mules 10-9

Gettysburg vs F&M- Bullets come out angry vs a melancholy Dips team and roll 12-5

Dickinson vs Western Maryland- The Red Devils are playing a bit down recently to competition. McDaniel will be a welcomed break. McDaniels Face-off situation is bleak(even Gettysburg’s guys ate him up) Dickinson 20-4

Swat vs WAC- spirited effort by the Shoremen over the weekend. Swat might come in feeling a bit to big for their britches. Chestertown at night might be just the recipe for an upset. Shore 11-10

That WAC/Swat prediction is all emotion and no logic, gotta ride for your boys I guess…… Swat -12. WAC is McDaniel bad

WC is not McDaniel bad. Swats only ranked win in program history is G'Burg. They still have a lot to prove. Shoremen and Dickinson were tied heading into the 4th...

few things:

1) that’s just not true, swat beat Muhlenberg last year when they were ranked and maybe even other teams I’m forgetting.

2) You’re using beating Gettysburg 4 times in a row as a knock on Swarthmore? When was WACs last ranked win? Regardless, using the number of unique ranked wins Swarthmore has as a metric for how badly they’re going to whomp WAC makes no sense. Maybe that would be valuable if Swarthmore was playing RIT. Probably makes more sense to look at Swat’s performance against teams more around WAC’s level e.g. widener, vassar, or Arcadia… all of which don’t bode well for the shoremen’s chances.

Relax dude, sorry I forgot Muhlenberg was ranked. They have a cup cake schedule for such a highly regarded team. WC and Swat always play each other close. And I am not out here saying WAC is guaranteed to win, I just think it will be close. WAC has been keeping games close for the most part outside of W&L eastern and haverford. Conference play is a different ball game compared to OOC, especially in the Centennial. Look at the Muhlenberg game, Swat is lucky to come away with a win there, and they let a bad F&M team hang with them. Anything can go in the CC.

The last 4 match ups have been Swat W, Wac W, Wac W by 1, Swat OT win.

[SixBySix]

WAC has a lot more talent than your upper-half MAC squads. That said, they're bad at the X, don't have an outstanding goalie, and are mediocre man-up and man-down, which is not a good combo for pulling an upset. I'm expecting a comfortable Garnet win, but I was expecting the same last year and that was an OT game. Put me down for a 17-9 final with the visitors winning at least 75% of the face offs.

If Gress isn't able or willing to upgrade the OOC next year, it will be a reasonable criticism. Roanoke being added last year and Amherst this year to me definitely indicates that they are looking to schedule more marquee match-ups, but at the end of the day the other good teams have to agree to play you, too. Swat has only consistently been ranked this year and last year, and with most of these agreements being two-year home-and-home arrangements, it can take a while for the scheduling desirablity to catch up to the national perception.

[D3LaxFan2]

Relax dude, sorry I forgot Muhlenberg was ranked. They have a cup cake schedule for such a highly regarded team.

Last year Muhlenberg's out of conference schedule was RIT, Colorado College, RPI, and St. John Fisher, all of whom were top-20 or NCAA tournament teams, along with Scranton and Desales, who are above average teams, and Emerson who is averageish. Not really out of conference cupcakes for the Mules. Not sure what you are referring to.

[ChopMan23]

Relax dude, sorry I forgot Muhlenberg was ranked. They have a cup cake schedule for such a highly regarded team.

Last year Muhlenberg's out of conference schedule was RIT, Colorado College, RPI, and St. John Fisher, all of whom were top-20 or NCAA tournament teams, along with Scranton and Desales, who are above average teams, and Emerson who is averageish. Not really out of conference cupcakes for the Mules. Not sure what you are referring to.

Swathmore schedule, not Mules.

[D3LaxFan2]

Swathmore schedule, not Mules.

Oh. No comment there.

[ChopMan23]

Swathmore schedule, not Mules.

Oh. No comment there.

Coulda worded it better but I wasn't an english major

[WashedUp06]

Swat is more than likely going to beat WAC. WAC is better than McDaniel

Swat doesn't have much of an excuse for OOC scheduling, Muhlenberg doesn't have much national recognition / history at all (apart from past 2-3 years) and gets good names on the schedule...Swat should do the same...better all around for the conference & the players. However, the conference is strong enough to still get into the NCAAs if you finish in the top 2 & have a good record. Looks like Swat, Devils have the best chance unless Gburg or others win in the championship - then its likely Swat or Dickinson in tourney - dont see a path for 3 this year with chaos in the NESCAC & clear dominance from the LL

Teams on the lower end (Mcdaniel) need to learn how to win first, so scheduling some weaker opponents helps build momentum and gain traction in recruiting (fun to win) then they will start being more competitive in conference.

[DeepPocket]

WAC has a lot more talent than your upper-half MAC squads...

I respectfully disagree.

MAC Commonwealth
York (WAC isn’t close)
Stevenson (WAC isn’t close)
Eastern (doubled up WAC this year- isn’t close)
Messiah (beat MW by 1, who beat WAC by 2)
End of top half
Widener (lost by 1 to E’town who WAC beat by 6)

MAC Freedom
Stevens (WAC isn’t close)
Arcadia (3 goals loss to Eastern, vs WACs 7 goal loss)
DeSales (beat Mules by 3, who beat WAC by 7)
Misericordia (lost by 7 to Ithaca, who beat WAC by 4)
End of top half

I see WAC as able to be somewhere around or just below Messiah in the Commonwealth, and above Misericordia in the Freedom. Arcadia and DeSales have had many Centennial OOC games that will provide more insight as WAC trudges through their conference schedule.

[SixBySix]

WAC has a lot more talent than your upper-half MAC squads...

I respectfully disagree.

I see WAC as able to be somewhere around or just below Messiah in the Commonwealth, and above Misericordia in the Freedom. Arcadia and DeSales have had many Centennial OOC games that will provide more insight as WAC trudges through their conference schedule.

A very reasonable disagreement. I was initially struggling with the terminology to use in my post, and I think I should have stuck with "Second-tier MAC squads"--obviously York, Stevenson, and Stevens are nationally-relevant programs and I meant to refer to the "upper-half-but-not-top-teams". I would stick with my claim that WAC has a lot more talent than Misericordia, DeSales, Arcadia, Eastern, and Messiah, but note that that is NOT the same as claiming that they are a better team than any of those listed. I think WAC has done less with more and failed to establish a coherent identity over the past 10 years, but consistently has individual players who can compete with the top end of the Centennial year in and year out.

[DeepPocket]

A very reasonable disagreement. I was initially struggling with the terminology to use in my post, and I think I should have stuck with "Second-tier MAC squads"--obviously York, Stevenson, and Stevens are nationally-relevant programs and I meant to refer to the "upper-half-but-not-top-teams". I would stick with my claim that WAC has a lot more talent than Misericordia, DeSales, Arcadia, Eastern, and Messiah, but note that that is NOT the same as claiming that they are a better team than any of those listed. I think WAC has done less with more and failed to establish a coherent identity over the past 10 years, but consistently has individual players who can compete with the top end of the Centennial year in and year out.

Fair. Though a lot of perspective on talent comparisons goes to the individual observer’s familiarity.

Take for example Messiah. They have a great deal of talent that they have gathered in the last few years. And their record has improved, but not in a manner relative to the talent they have, or such that would be noticed by anyone who wasn’t already paying attention. So they would be quickly dismissed, from a talent perspective, by anyone who was unfamiliar.

My point is, while you are familiar with the WAC talent, you might find that there are other teams you are unaware of, who also are more that what you see in the schedule results.

Good luck to WAC this evening, enjoy the game.