Mid-Atlantic Region

[Another Mom]

I'd say 3, their GK, Center back and striker.  However, first year GK has stepped up and is very good. New center backs are also excellent, Tyler Smith has dropped back from the midfield,  where he was also really good.

They have a pretty deep bench too, moreso than many teams.

[PaulNewman]

I'd say 3, their GK, Center back and striker.  However, first year GK has stepped up and is very good. New center backs are also excellent, Tyler Smith has dropped back from the midfield,  where he was also really good.

They have a pretty deep bench too, moreso than many teams.

That's what I thought...very similar to Conn Coll with most of team returning although comparatively Conn has had an even more diffcult time.  And yeah, I forgot about Zimmerman but iirc he really got hot the second half of the season long after W&L had been #1 for weeks.

[Chargers96]

Anecdotal take here -- watched CNU play both Messiah and W&L.  W&L is good, Messiah is on another level -- unlike any other team I've seen play this year.

[Coach Jeff]

Anecdotal take here -- watched CNU play both Messiah and W&L.  W&L is good, Messiah is on another level -- unlike any other team I've seen play this year.

What other teams have you watched other than messiah CNU and W&L. I wonder what you think about the rest of the mid Atlantic and the rest of the quality teams in the country.  This is not just a two team bracket. 

[MessageBoardMessi]

W&L win 5-0 over Averett and look to be back to their old form. Whether that's because they were playing a weaker team remains to be seen . . .

While you can't take too much away from any win, much less a 5-0 win, I don't know if a win over Averett is necessarily a resounding marker for success.  Thats a pretty low hurdle. Washington and Lee definitely has some talent - I just don't see much form even at their best.  A lot of run and gun and unstructured movement from that side.

Have you watched the team much? Their style can be chaotic at times, for sure, but I would disagree that it's run and gun. Sometimes the looseness of the play bothers me, but I think that looseness allows for more creativity, when it goes well. In my opinion, the issue with the team is their psychology. Do they want it badly enough? Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't:-) This unevenness happened last year around this time too.

Watched them a fair amount this season.....they have some really good talent. Absolutely expect them to be in the mix come tournament time....

[Hopkins92]

Widener with a big 2-0 win over Stevenson. They are now 7-4-2 and 3-0-1 in the the MAC-C. Fatiga scored to open things up and now has 7 goals on the season. They have Alvernia and Messiah to end the season.

I'll go back and look, but this is shaping up to be one of the best seasons in Pride history.

[MessageBoardMessi]

Widener with a big 2-0 win over Stevenson. They are now 7-4-2 and 3-0-1 in the the MAC-C. Fatiga scored to open things up and now has 7 goals on the season. They have Alvernia and Messiah to end the season.

I'll go back and look, but this is shaping up to be one of the best seasons in Pride history.

Widener looks to be the real deal......a good collection of players.

[Ejay]

Widener with a big 2-0 win over Stevenson. They are now 7-4-2 and 3-0-1 in the the MAC-C. Fatiga scored to open things up and now has 7 goals on the season. They have Alvernia and Messiah to end the season.

I'll go back and look, but this is shaping up to be one of the best seasons in Pride history.

Widener looks to be the real deal......a good collection of players.

Come on now, "real deal" seems to be a bit hyperbolic.  Their 7 wins:
Cairn - 5-4-4
Susquehanna - 1-9-3
Neumann - 5-6-1
Keystone - 4-8-1
York 6-5-2
Eastern 5-8-1
Stevenson 4-6-5
I suspect Messiah wins by 5.

Are you going to call Rosemont the Real Deal because they're 6-2-3 and feature a 20 goal scorer in So. Kaiden Fields and 14 goal scorer in Fr. Clayton Crosse?

[MessageBoardMessi]

Widener with a big 2-0 win over Stevenson. They are now 7-4-2 and 3-0-1 in the the MAC-C. Fatiga scored to open things up and now has 7 goals on the season. They have Alvernia and Messiah to end the season.

I'll go back and look, but this is shaping up to be one of the best seasons in Pride history.

Widener looks to be the real deal......a good collection of players.

Come on now, "real deal" seems to be a bit hyperbolic.  Their 7 wins:
Cairn - 5-4-4
Susquehanna - 1-9-3
Neumann - 5-6-1
Keystone - 4-8-1
York 6-5-2
Eastern 5-8-1
Stevenson 4-6-5
I suspect Messiah wins by 5.

Are you going to call Rosemont the Real Deal because they're 6-2-3 and feature a 20 goal scorer in So. Kaiden Fields and 14 goal scorer in Fr. Clayton Crosse?

Hyperbolic, maybe - but when you have a paucity of discrete data points - you can't look past the reality of what the record is.  But, I agree - Messiah should have little problem adding to their loss column.

[Ejay]

Widener with a big 2-0 win over Stevenson. They are now 7-4-2 and 3-0-1 in the the MAC-C. Fatiga scored to open things up and now has 7 goals on the season. They have Alvernia and Messiah to end the season.

I'll go back and look, but this is shaping up to be one of the best seasons in Pride history.

Widener looks to be the real deal......a good collection of players.

Come on now, "real deal" seems to be a bit hyperbolic.  Their 7 wins:
Cairn - 5-4-4
Susquehanna - 1-9-3
Neumann - 5-6-1
Keystone - 4-8-1
York 6-5-2
Eastern 5-8-1
Stevenson 4-6-5
I suspect Messiah wins by 5.

Are you going to call Rosemont the Real Deal because they're 6-2-3 and feature a 20 goal scorer in So. Kaiden Fields and 14 goal scorer in Fr. Clayton Crosse?

Hyperbolic, maybe - but when you have a paucity of discrete data points - you can't look past the reality of what the record is. 

Yes. Yes you can.

[Hopkins92]

Yeah, I hope folks understand I'm not hyping Widener as a tournament team... I just like it when traditional also-rans and/or doormats pop up and make a mark. Last year it was Ursinus (for a time), this year McDaniel is having one of their better years in the Centennial in many years and Widener (former MAC team) is putting up a stellar year compared to most in the past.

But, yeah, a little too one-dimensional on attack and as Ejay states, they haven't really pulled a result that makes you stand up and really feel like something out of this world is afoot. They've got 2 very not good teams (no offense) in Albright and Hood, then they finish against always tough Alvernia and then the Falcons. By way of transitive property/comparison Messiah beat Alvernia 4-0 earlier this season. Alvernia is 9-2-4.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

MAF Power Rankings (Region 4 and Region 5)

Region 4
1. Stevens
2. Montclair
3. Misericordia
4. Lycoming
5. St. Mary's (Md)
6. Stockton
T7. Lancaster Bible/PSU-Harrisburg

Region 5
1. Messiah
2. Hopkins
3. F&M
4. Gettysburg
5. Catholic
6. Alvernia
7. McDaniel
8. Drew

Some notes from the last few games I have watched in the region:
-Messiah is the real deal--as if we didn't already know this  the Falcons are simply on another level and I would be shocked if they don't make the final 4 pending the outcome of the bracket. The only gripe is how are they not scoring more than 4 or 5 goals a game? Talk about insanity that only scoring 4 times might be disappointing to someone. A huge favorite heading into the postseason and an absolute joy to watch. 

-Hopkins is a contender despite how close some of their games are--give me the teams that find a way to edge out a win or a way to not lose. 14 games in with 0 losses is no accident and the Blue Jays are already dancing their way into NCAAs...although a loss might not hurt before the knockout stage.

-Drew is fake--its conference AQ or bust for the Rangers, if they even qualify for the conference playoffs--their weak non-conference schedule is coming to light as they continue to struggle

-F&M are quite a few levels below Messiah and Hopkins--the Diplomats seem more inconsistent than ever before and this will haunt them in conference and NCAAs

-Gettysburg will miss NCAAs--they are more than qualified to make NCAAs but the Bullets have dropped points in 4 of their last 5 conference games and are 1-1-3 in their last 5. I see them being one of the first few on the outside looking in come NCAAs.

-Stevens is legit but can be beaten--I watched a majority of their game vs Lyco over the weekend and I must say I was not overly impressed with Stevens. Lycoming was in control for much of the contest and was unlucky not to come away with a result. With that said, credit to Stevens as they continue to find ways to get shutouts (9 on the year and 6th straight). That stat alone is something that can take them far into NCAAs. Similar to Hopkins, a loss might not be the worse thing for the Ducks before the knockout rounds.

-Misericordia has me torn. A nice resume and only 1 loss on the year but an upcoming clash with Stevens will tell me more. TBD on the Cougars chances.

-Lycoming has potential but its AQ or bust for the Warriors. Back to back losses will haunt them if they don't find a way to win the conference. I'm anticipating a highly contested rematch with Stevens in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

-St. Mary's, LBC, PSU-H is anybody's guess who comes out of this conference on top. All 3 are playing wonderful soccer and I have seen bits and pieces of each throughout the season. I would not want to face the AQ in the first round of NCAAs as all are capable of pulling off the upset come November. 

[Ejay]

MAF - Region 4 and 5 get pretty thin after your top 3 or so.

• Stevens is definitely beatable.  I feel they're hanging on by a thread and wouldn't be surprised to see them to get bounced early in either conference or NCAA.
• You know what you're getting from Montclair.  They have the talent and potential to make a Sweet 16 or E8 run, but I'd be hard pressed to pick them beyond that.
• Misericordia/St. Mary's I haven't seen yet, but I have seen Lycoming and Stockton and was just not impressed.
  



• Messiah is definitely cream of the crop in Region 5.
• Hopkins is very good, but like Stevens they're hanging on by a thread.  I think they're better than Stevens and would expect them to advance further.
• F&M doesn't thrill me this year and I can see them getting bounced early too.
• Surprised not to see Etown ranked over Drew after their 2-0 win. They've won 6 in a row and will fight with Catholic for #1 Landmark seed.

[Hopkins92]

I watched a good chunk of the Lyco - Stevens game, too. I came away with a similar opinion of them as I do of Hopkins. Organized, playing as a unit... Goals just seem a little difficult to come by and that concerns me as we get to conf. playoffs and the Dance. Agree with everything else you wrote, particularly around the Rangers.

With that said, as I mentioned over the weekend, look out for E-town... They are on a tear and I expect them to pop up in the regional rankings. Moravian (3rd pl), Goucher and then Catholic to end the regular season. Should be a fun ride for the (other) Blue Jays.

And the Misery v. Mighty Ducks game should be appointment viewing for M.A. aficionados. Both teams are riding 3 game winning streaks. Mis. don't want to sleep on the mid-week clash with Wilkes (W2 streak) who has a weird record but has pipped some conference foes the last few weeks.

[camosfan]

MAF - Region 4 and 5 get pretty thin after your top 3 or so.

• Stevens is definitely beatable.  I feel they're hanging on by a thread and wouldn't be surprised to see them to get bounced early in either conference or NCAA.
• You know what you're getting from Montclair.  They have the talent and potential to make a Sweet 16 or E8 run, but I'd be hard pressed to pick them beyond that.
• Misericordia/St. Mary's I haven't seen yet, but I have seen Lycoming and Stockton and was just not impressed.
  



• Messiah is definitely cream of the crop in Region 5.
• Hopkins is very good, but like Stevens they're hanging on by a thread.  I think they're better than Stevens and would expect them to advance further.
• F&M doesn't thrill me this year and I can see them getting bounced early too.
• Surprised not to see Etown ranked over Drew after their 2-0 win. They've won 6 in a row and will fight with Catholic for #1 Landmark seed.

Interesting your thoughts on Stevens and Montclair, I mention two weeks ago that Montclair is a deeper team and was basically laugh at!