Early Exits: Husson, Fitchburg State, Westminster (MO), Neumann, Baruch and Heidelberg

Dark Horses: Christopher Newport--playing at home, can put up crooked numbers, and back line playing better down the stretch; Catholic--a stingy defense and clutch in PK shootouts makes them a tough out. IF they score more than a goal, they could surprise (lastguyoffthebench--I don't consider Muhlenberg to be a dark horse as champion of the Centennial--but agree they have (somehow) been under the radar).

Best First Round matches: Rochester v. Salisbury and Tufts v. Dickinson (I am admittedly not familiar with teams in the Central Quadrant, but based on posts, sounds like some compeititve action awaits!

I am another first timer. I echo Professional Ballboy's thoughts about the CAC, though want to add that Christopher Newport joins the CAC this Fall and will add serious depth. Jalen Brown is legit. Another post remarked about E-Town joining the Landmark Conference. I agree that E-Town could be a surprise some team, bringing a young team that competed well last year. The Landmark has had 4-5 quality teams over the past 3 years, and it will be interesting to see how E-Town does. Both Scranton and Susquehanna have had excellent 2 year runs, competing well versus traditional conference power Catholic, but both are losing significant talent and leadership to graduation (Susqy loses starting keeper, 3-4 defenders and their leading scorer (Murphy) while Scranton loses McGuiness, McFadden and 2 defenders). Catholic loses their leading scorer (Romano) and 2 CB's, but defense should remain strong thru depth from the prior year. The question remains whether CUA can score enough to win against the top tier out of conference teams (ex. lost 2-1 to Messiah, 1-0 to Salisbury).