Mid-Atlantic Region 2016

[Shooter McGavin]

Here is Messiah's schedule from their website...

Messiah College
2017 Men's Soccer Schedule

Date              Opponent                                                      Location         Time
9/1/2017        Chapman University                                      Fredericksburg, VA   2:30 PM
9/2/2017       University of Mary Washington                      Fredericksburg, VA   5:00 PM
9/6/2017       Haverford College                                      Haverford, PA   5:00 PM
9/9/2017       Montclair State University                              Grantham, PA   7:00 PM
9/13/2017       Dickinson College                                      Grantham, PA   7:00 PM
9/16/2017       College of Mount Saint Vincent                       Riverdale, NY   7:00 PM
9/20/2017       York College of Pennsylvania                       York, PA   7:00 PM
9/23/2017       Misericordia University                               Grantham, PA   7:00 PM
9/27/2017       Elizabethtown College                                  Elizabethtown, PA   7:30 PM
9/30/2017           Conference Game   Alvernia University        Grantham, PA   7:30 PM
10/3/2017     Conference Game   Albright College                  Reading, PA   7:00 PM
10/5/2017       Johns Hopkins University                                  Grantham, PA   7:00 PM
10/11/2017   Conference Game   Arcadia University          Grantham, PA   7:00 PM
10/14/2017   Conference Game   Widener University          Chester, PA   5:00 PM
10/17/2017   Conference Game   Lycoming College               Williamsport, PA   3:30 PM
10/21/2017   Conference Game   Lebanon Valley College   Grantham, PA   6:00 PM
10/25/2017   Conference Game   Hood College                   Frederick, MD   7:00 PM
10/28/2017   Conference Game   Stevenson University           Grantham, PA   7:30 PM

Falcons will be tested but should fly by with ease. I see them going around 15-1-2. They should be ranked top 5 nationally throughout the year and most likely be the #1 team in this region again.

[Shooter McGavin]

HAVERFORD 2017 SCHEDULE

SEPTEMBER
Fri. 1   at Cabrini, TBA
Wed. 6   Messiah, 5:00 PM
Sat. 9   vs. Elizabethtown @ Eastern (Jimmy Mills Tournament), TBA
Sun. 10   Catholic (Jimmy Mills Tournament), 1:00 PM
Wed. 13   Stevens, 5:00 PM
Sat. 16   at Johns Hopkins*, 7:00 PM
Wed. 20   at Scranton, 7:30 PM
Sat. 23   Franklin & Marshall*, 2:00 PM
Wed. 27   at Muhlenberg*, 7:00 PM
Sat. 30   at Gettysburg*, 7:00 PM

OCTOBER
Wed. 4   at Rutgers-Camden, 7:00 PM
Sat. 7   McDaniel*, 2:00 PM
Wed. 11   at Drew, 7:30 PM
Sat. 14   at Washington College*, 4:00 PM
Wed. 18   Ursinus*, 4:00 PM
Sat. 21   at Dickinson*, 4:00 PM
Sat. 28   Swarthmore*, 3:30 PM



Non-conference slate includes Messiah, E-town, Stevens, Rutgers-Camden and Scranton on top of a very competitive Centennial Conference schedule.  As their release stated, they "will play each of the other top six teams in last year's NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region rankings and seven of the top nine."

Big early test for both Messiah and Haverford on 9/6.  Hope/assume this means Haverford coming to Grantham in 2018.

Feeling full of predictions in the early off-season...lets go with this for the Fords

12-4-1 range? 11-3-3? Somewhere in that area would be my best guess. Losses to Messiah, F&M, the likes of any other conference foe and maybe Stevens? Haverford tends to find a way through a difficult schedule over the past few years so I see no difference this upcoming fall.

[Shooter McGavin]

Etown's Schedule

Fri. 9/1/2017         Morrisville State    Elizabethtown, Pa.
Sat. 9/2/2017       William Paterson    Elizabethtown, Pa.
Jimmy Mills Tournament
Sat. 9/9/2017       Haverford    St. Davids, Pa. - Eastern University TBA  Details 
Sun. 9/10/2017     Eastern    Haverford, Pa. - Haverford College 3:30 p.m.  Details 
Wed. 9/13/2017    Franklin & Marshall    Lancaster, Pa. 7 p.m.  Details 
Sat. 9/16/2017     Penn State Harrisburg    Middletown, Pa. 1 p.m.  Details 
Wed. 9/20/2017   Alvernia    Reading, Pa. 7 p.m.  Details 
Sat. 9/23/2017     Conference Game Drew    Madison, N.J. 4 p.m.  Details 
Wed. 9/27/2017    Messiah    Elizabethtown, Pa. - Ira R. Herr Field 7:30 p.m.  Details 
Sat. 9/30/2017     Conference Game Scranton    Elizabethtown, Pa. - Ira R. Herr Field 7 p.m.  Details 
Wed. 10/4/2017   Conference Game Moravian    Elizabethtown, Pa. - Ira R. Herr Field 7 p.m.  Details 
Sat. 10/7/2017    Conference Game Catholic    Elizabethtown, Pa. - Ira R. Herr Field 7 p.m.  Details 
Thu. 10/12/2017    Penn State Berks    Reading, Pa. 7 p.m.  Details 
Sat. 10/14/2017   Conference Game Goucher    Towson, Md. 7 p.m.  Details 
Sat. 10/21/2017   Conference Game Susquehanna    Elizabethtown, Pa. - Ira R. Herr Field 4:30 p.m.  Details 
Wed. 10/25/2017    Muhlenberg    Elizabethtown, Pa. - Ira R. Herr Field 7 p.m.  Details 
Sat. 10/28/2017  Conference Game Juniata    Huntingdon, Pa. 3:30 p.m.  Details

Once again Etown has a lack luster, not overly challenging schedule...

Should be around 12-3-2 if all goes well in my estimation.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

As for the overall shape of the region I see it shaping up with some regulars by the end of the year. Here is my preseason best guesses for the regional rankings.

1. Messiah
2. F&M
3. Fords
4. Misericordia
5. Etown
6. Lycoming
7. Hopkins
8. Eastern
9. Scranton
10. Dickinson
HM: Drew, Kings, Gettysburg, Muhles, Leb Val,

[Shooter McGavin]

As for the overall shape of the region I see it shaping up with some regulars by the end of the year. Here is my preseason best guesses for the regional rankings.

1. Messiah
2. F&M
3. Fords
4. Misericordia
5. Etown
6. Lycoming
7. Hopkins
8. Eastern
9. Scranton
10. Dickinson
HM: Drew, Kings, Gettysburg, Muhles, Leb Val,

I like the list MAF. I agree with most of it. I'd go something like this at the moment...

Rank---Team---2016 Record

1. Messiah (19-1-3)
2. Fords (14-3-4)
3. F&M (15-4-4)
4. Etown (14-4-2)
5. Hopkins (12-3-3)
6. Misericordia (12-5-2)
7. Leb Val (18-4-0)
8. Scranton (15-4-1)
9. Eastern (15-4-3)
10. Lycoming (9-6-4)

RV: Drew (13-6-3, Gettysburg (9-4-3), Dickinson (8-8-2), Kings (9-8-2)

Obviously my gut tells me it won't end up anywhere near this. Once the non-conference schedule is done we should have a better idea of where teams stand going into conference and rankings season. Should be another competitive year in this region.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

As for the overall shape of the region I see it shaping up with some regulars by the end of the year. Here is my preseason best guesses for the regional rankings.

1. Messiah
2. F&M
3. Fords
4. Misericordia
5. Etown
6. Lycoming
7. Hopkins
8. Eastern
9. Scranton
10. Dickinson
HM: Drew, Kings, Gettysburg, Muhles, Leb Val,

I like the list MAF. I agree with most of it. I'd go something like this at the moment...

Rank---Team---2016 Record

1. Messiah (19-1-3)
2. Fords (14-3-4)
3. F&M (15-4-4)
4. Etown (14-4-2)
5. Hopkins (12-3-3)
6. Misericordia (12-5-2)
7. Leb Val (18-4-0)
8. Scranton (15-4-1)
9. Eastern (15-4-3)
10. Lycoming (9-6-4)

RV: Drew (13-6-3, Gettysburg (9-4-3), Dickinson (8-8-2), Kings (9-8-2)

Obviously my gut tells me it won't end up anywhere near this. Once the non-conference schedule is done we should have a better idea of where teams stand going into conference and rankings season. Should be another competitive year in this region.

Respectable. I think that's a good possibility of shaping up that way. I went for more on what I believe will happen this upcoming fall without reading too much into last season's records and historical play. Always enjoy your posts Shooter!

[Mr.Right]

Just noticed Hopkins is playing 4 games in 8 days starting Sept 30th...Why would you do that to your team? That is how injuries happen fast...They have

9/30 Muhles
10/2 Stevenson
10/5 at Messiah
10/7 at Swarthmore

That is also 2 conference games sprinkled in with Messiah and Stevenson. Isn't Stevenson the team that sits 10 deep against better teams?

[Flying Weasel]

That is peculiar.  When I first saw the schedules, the Messiah-Hopkins match struck me as odd from the Messiah perspective as it was a second mid-week game (away at Albright on Tuesday) without any game that weekend.  The Stevenson-Hopkins match is one of those rare Monday matches, but Stevenson's preceding weekend game is on Friday night instead of Saturday, so two days off which is normal.  For Hopkins, however, that 8 day stretch is asking a lot.  How far in advance do conferences finalize their schedules?  Makes me wonder if Hopkins had agreements in principle to play Messiah and Stevenson this year, but then when the Commonwealth and Centennial schedules came out it then made that difficult.  Or maybe more likely, the chance to add Messiah to their schedule came along but they were still on the hook for the home game of their home-and-away with Stevenson and decided to squeeze the game in rather than take a pass on strengthening their schedule.

BTW, I noticed that Stevenson is playing two home conference matches on Friday night instead of Saturday, something they haven't done in past seasons. Both the women's soccer team and the football team are also at home those weekends and all play in the same stadium, but it's turf and the football team plays midday on Saturdays and the women play 4:30 or 5 pm on Saturday those weekends.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

http://athletics.misericordia.edu/schedule.aspx?path=msoc

Misericordia finally releases their schedule for 2017 and it is no cupcake! Difficult stretch of Scranton, @Salisbury, @Rutgers-Camden, @Messiah, @Lycoming, @Kings, and Dickinson. That 7 game stretch may be as tough as any in this region not to mention they also play @Rochester and home vs Lebanon Valley before this and travel to conference rival Eastern later in the season.

This could go all sorts of ways but my best ballpark prediction for the Cougars would be something around 11-4-3 range. Maybe 10-6-2. I see them reaching double digit wins again but barely. 4 losses is a best case scenario. 10-6-2 seems more reasonable to me considering the difficulty of their schedule. 11-4-3 would without a doubt get them an at-large bid in my estimation no matter what other teams around the region do.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

That is peculiar.  When I first saw the schedules, the Messiah-Hopkins match struck me as odd from the Messiah perspective as it was a second mid-week game (away at Albright on Tuesday) without any game that weekend.  The Stevenson-Hopkins match is one of those rare Monday matches, but Stevenson's preceding weekend game is on Friday night instead of Saturday, so two days off which is normal.  For Hopkins, however, that 8 day stretch is asking a lot.  How far in advance do conferences finalize their schedules?  Makes me wonder if Hopkins had agreements in principle to play Messiah and Stevenson this year, but then when the Commonwealth and Centennial schedules came out it then made that difficult.  Or maybe more likely, the chance to add Messiah to their schedule came along but they were still on the hook for the home game of their home-and-away with Stevenson and decided to squeeze the game in rather than take a pass on strengthening their schedule.

BTW, I noticed that Stevenson is playing two home conference matches on Friday night instead of Saturday, something they haven't done in past seasons. Both the women's soccer team and the football team are also at home those weekends and all play in the same stadium, but it's turf and the football team plays midday on Saturdays and the women play 4:30 or 5 pm on Saturday those weekends.

Although Stevenson does tend to sit in verse good teams and can be tough to break down I don't anticipate JHU expending too much energy verse them but 4 games in 8 days is tough no matter who you face.

As for Messiah, with two mid-week games, the one is Albright. With Messiah's depth and massive rotations from the bench I don't think they will get too worn down with having to face Albright during that week. It's nice scheduling by McCarty though for putting this game right after facing the worst conference opponent.  Obviously the conference schedule is set in advance and it may have just worked out this way for Messiah but interesting scheduling in both instances nonetheless.

[NEPAFAN]

http://athletics.misericordia.edu/schedule.aspx?path=msoc

Misericordia finally releases their schedule for 2017 and it is no cupcake! Difficult stretch of Scranton, @Salisbury, @Rutgers-Camden, @Messiah, @Lycoming, @Kings, and Dickinson. That 7 game stretch may be as tough as any in this region not to mention they also play @Rochester and home vs Lebanon Valley before this and travel to conference rival Eastern later in the season.

This could go all sorts of ways but my best ballpark prediction for the Cougars would be something around 11-4-3 range. Maybe 10-6-2. I see them reaching double digit wins again but barely. 4 losses is a best case scenario. 10-6-2 seems more reasonable to me considering the difficulty of their schedule. 11-4-3 would without a doubt get them an at-large bid in my estimation no matter what other teams around the region do.

why so high on Miseri? Coach?

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

http://athletics.misericordia.edu/schedule.aspx?path=msoc

Misericordia finally releases their schedule for 2017 and it is no cupcake! Difficult stretch of Scranton, @Salisbury, @Rutgers-Camden, @Messiah, @Lycoming, @Kings, and Dickinson. That 7 game stretch may be as tough as any in this region not to mention they also play @Rochester and home vs Lebanon Valley before this and travel to conference rival Eastern later in the season.

This could go all sorts of ways but my best ballpark prediction for the Cougars would be something around 11-4-3 range. Maybe 10-6-2. I see them reaching double digit wins again but barely. 4 losses is a best case scenario. 10-6-2 seems more reasonable to me considering the difficulty of their schedule. 11-4-3 would without a doubt get them an at-large bid in my estimation no matter what other teams around the region do.

why so high on Miseri? Coach?

Like Scranton, they lose a pretty big Senior class with 9 departing, but only 4 were active contributors to last year's success. I believe the coach has done a good job recruiting since he has taken over and they were a tough out for a lot of teams last fall.

Last season they went 12-5-3. Losses were @Leb Val, @Arcadia, @Scranton, @Dickinson, Eastern, tied Messiah and @Susquehanna, and tied (lost in PK's) to Eastern in the conference final. Quality wins included York, Rutgers-Camden, Lycoming, and Kings. With a similar upcoming schedule and most likely another good recruiting class I don't see why they can't do about the same as last year. I think 10-6-2 is realistic for them with a large part of that being the conference they are in. Scranton has a challenging non-conference schedule PLUS a tough conference schedule whereas Misericordia has a slightly weaker conference than that of the Royals.

If they crank out 6 wins in conference again that is over half way to 10 or 11 total wins and they can afford to drop a few of the tougher non-conference games and still be in the mix for at-large bid qualification. What are your thoughts on Misericordia NEPA? That's a local rivalry with Scranton correct?

[NEPAFAN]

http://athletics.misericordia.edu/schedule.aspx?path=msoc

Misericordia finally releases their schedule for 2017 and it is no cupcake! Difficult stretch of Scranton, @Salisbury, @Rutgers-Camden, @Messiah, @Lycoming, @Kings, and Dickinson. That 7 game stretch may be as tough as any in this region not to mention they also play @Rochester and home vs Lebanon Valley before this and travel to conference rival Eastern later in the season.

This could go all sorts of ways but my best ballpark prediction for the Cougars would be something around 11-4-3 range. Maybe 10-6-2. I see them reaching double digit wins again but barely. 4 losses is a best case scenario. 10-6-2 seems more reasonable to me considering the difficulty of their schedule. 11-4-3 would without a doubt get them an at-large bid in my estimation no matter what other teams around the region do.

why so high on Miseri? Coach?

Like Scranton, they lose a pretty big Senior class with 9 departing, but only 4 were active contributors to last year's success. I believe the coach has done a good job recruiting since he has taken over and they were a tough out for a lot of teams last fall.

Last season they went 12-5-3. Losses were @Leb Val, @Arcadia, @Scranton, @Dickinson, Eastern, tied Messiah and @Susquehanna, and tied (lost in PK's) to Eastern in the conference final. Quality wins included York, Rutgers-Camden, Lycoming, and Kings. With a similar upcoming schedule and most likely another good recruiting class I don't see why they can't do about the same as last year. I think 10-6-2 is realistic for them with a large part of that being the conference they are in. Scranton has a challenging non-conference schedule PLUS a tough conference schedule whereas Misericordia has a slightly weaker conference than that of the Royals.

If they crank out 6 wins in conference again that is over half way to 10 or 11 total wins and they can afford to drop a few of the tougher non-conference games and still be in the mix for at-large bid qualification. What are your thoughts on Misericordia NEPA? That's a local rivalry with Scranton correct?

Agree with everything you said and wasn't try to complain with your thoughts about Scranton vs. Miseri. It seems like only a few years ago that Scranton was plodding along with an constant under .500 record. So this is gravy.

Bigger rivalry now with the student vs the teacher aspect to it for sure. The Miseri coach is also coaching the Electric City Shock who have a mix of d1-3 talent on the roster. Re: Schedule  It is also the first time that Kings has played Scranton in a long time.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

http://athletics.misericordia.edu/schedule.aspx?path=msoc

Misericordia finally releases their schedule for 2017 and it is no cupcake! Difficult stretch of Scranton, @Salisbury, @Rutgers-Camden, @Messiah, @Lycoming, @Kings, and Dickinson. That 7 game stretch may be as tough as any in this region not to mention they also play @Rochester and home vs Lebanon Valley before this and travel to conference rival Eastern later in the season.

This could go all sorts of ways but my best ballpark prediction for the Cougars would be something around 11-4-3 range. Maybe 10-6-2. I see them reaching double digit wins again but barely. 4 losses is a best case scenario. 10-6-2 seems more reasonable to me considering the difficulty of their schedule. 11-4-3 would without a doubt get them an at-large bid in my estimation no matter what other teams around the region do.

why so high on Miseri? Coach?

Like Scranton, they lose a pretty big Senior class with 9 departing, but only 4 were active contributors to last year's success. I believe the coach has done a good job recruiting since he has taken over and they were a tough out for a lot of teams last fall.

Last season they went 12-5-3. Losses were @Leb Val, @Arcadia, @Scranton, @Dickinson, Eastern, tied Messiah and @Susquehanna, and tied (lost in PK's) to Eastern in the conference final. Quality wins included York, Rutgers-Camden, Lycoming, and Kings. With a similar upcoming schedule and most likely another good recruiting class I don't see why they can't do about the same as last year. I think 10-6-2 is realistic for them with a large part of that being the conference they are in. Scranton has a challenging non-conference schedule PLUS a tough conference schedule whereas Misericordia has a slightly weaker conference than that of the Royals.

If they crank out 6 wins in conference again that is over half way to 10 or 11 total wins and they can afford to drop a few of the tougher non-conference games and still be in the mix for at-large bid qualification. What are your thoughts on Misericordia NEPA? That's a local rivalry with Scranton correct?

Agree with everything you said and wasn't try to complain with your thoughts about Scranton vs. Miseri. It seems like only a few years ago that Scranton was plodding along with an constant under .500 record. So this is gravy.

Bigger rivalry now with the student vs the teacher aspect to it for sure. The Miseri coach is also coaching the Electric City Shock who have a mix of d1-3 talent on the roster. Re: Schedule  It is also the first time that Kings has played Scranton in a long time.

Yes it didn't even occur to me that the coach vs mentor factor adds to the rivalry now! Kings has been slowly declining in recent years so I am curious to see how they shape up this fall. They never play a challenging schedule so games like Scranton are ones that intrigue me. Has anyone mentioned the Kings schedule in this thread yet? It is awfully light compared to others in the region.

Kings 2017 Schedule
Allegheny
Centenary
Scranton
@Juniata
@Wells
@New Paltz
@Cabrini
@Widener
Alvernia
Misericordia
Penn College
Manhattanville
@Wilkes
@Del Val
Eastern
DeSales
Elmira
@FDU-Florham

If they don't win at least 11 games that's a huge disappointment and even if they put up 15 wins I can't see them having a strong enough SOS or RvR to get an at-large bid. Looks like conference AQ or bust to me. 9-8-2 with a similar schedule last season. Wouldn't be surprised to see that range again this year.

[Shooter McGavin]

Scranton and Misericordia should be battling it out for top dog in that Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. Kings is way off in the distance compared to these two programs. Marywood is probably next in line after that then Wilkes.

To comment on Kings schedule for this upcoming fall, I see them performing similarly to last season. I will spot them at 9-7-2.