November 4, 2015
Mid-Atlantic Review: Conference Championships
By Phil Naegely
It's the most wonderful time of the year. No, not the holiday season. It's conference playoff time for Division III soccer teams. Some team's conference championship dreams are already over, while others kick off their conference tournaments this week. For clarification and ease of reading, numbers in front of teams below is their seed within their respective conference tournament.
Capital Athletic Conference (CAC)
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
The CAC conference tournament is in full swing with the first round of games already taking place. Each game will be played at the higher seed in each matchup. Semifinal games will be played on Wednesday, while the final is slated for Saturday.
No. 4 Mary Washington (12-5-2 / 5-3-2) advanced past No. 5 Christopher Newport (11-2-6 / 4-2-4) in penalty kicks after playing to scoreless draw through two overtime periods. Mary Washington will now face No. 1 Salisbury who went 7-0-2 in regular season conference action and 11-3-3 overall.
No. 6 St. Mary’s (Md.) (8-8-2 / 4-4-1) defeated No. 3 Wesley (9-9-1 / 6-3-0) 3-2 to advance to the semifinal round. They will face No. 2 York (Pa.) who is 9-7-2 overall and 6-2-1 in CAC play.
Centennial Conference
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
The three-round conference tournament begins on Wednesday with No. 5 Swarthmore (7-8-3 / 3-3-3) headed to No. 4 Johns Hopkins (10-4-3 / 5-2-2). The winner of this game will face No. 1 Haverford (14-3-0 / 9-0-0) on Saturday.
All semifinal games and the final will be played at Haverford due to them being the highest seeded team. The semifinal games will be played at 11 am and 1:30 pm on Saturday and the final will be played on Sunday at 1:00 pm. The other semifinal game features No. 3 Dickinson (11-3-3 / 5-1-3) against No. 2 Franklin and Marshall (15-2-0 / 7-2-0).
Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC)
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Just like the CAC the top six teams make the CSAC tournament and the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds get a first-round bye. This year the Cabrini Cavaliers (13-2-3 / 7-1-1) and Marywood Pacers (7-7-3 / 6-2-1) are the top seeds.
No. 3 Immaculata (8-10-0 / 6-3-0) fell to No. 6 Keystone (7-8-1 / 4-5-0) 1-0. No. 4 Centenary (11-8-0 / 6-3-0) lost to No. 5 Neumann (6-9-2 / 4-4-1) 2-1 in the other first round contest. Cabrini will face Keystone, while Marywood prepared to take on Neumann. These games will take place on Thursday The championship game is scheduled for Saturday and will be hosted by the highest remaining seed.
Commonwealth Conference
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
No. 1 Lycoming (14-1-2 / 7-0-1) will face No. 5 Widener Pride (9-9-1 / 4-4-0) after they won 3-2 over No. 4 Arcadia (11-6-3 / 4-2-2) in double overtime. No. 3 LVC (8-9 / 5-3-0) will travel to No. 2 Messiah (13-4-1 / 7-1-0) in the other semifinal game. The highest remaining seed will then host the final on Saturday.
Unlike in past years, Messiah is not a lock for the NCAA tournament and needs to win the automatic qualifier or they could miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1996. Lycoming comes into the C’Wealth tournament on a sixteen-game unbeaten streak since they lost in their season opener. Messiah and Lycoming played in the 2014 MAC Commonwealth Final with the Falcons winning the AQ. In 2013, Lycoming stunned Messiah in the semifinal round to advance to the final.
Freedom Conference
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
The Freedom Conference tournament features the top four teams. No.1 King's (15-3-1 / 5-1-1) will host No. 4 Manhattanville (9-5-4 / 3-1-3), while No. 2 FDU-Florham (9-7-1 / 5-2-0) will host No. 3 Eastern (14-2-2 / 4-2-1)
Landmark Conference
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
No. 2 Scranton (9-6-2 / 4-2-2) defeated No. 3 Susquehanna 2-0 (9-7-2 / 4-2-2) in the first semifinal match of the Landmark Conference playoffs. It will be the first time since 2012 that the Royals participated in the Landmark Conference championship final.
No. 1 Elizabethtown (16-1-1 / 8-0-0) will host No. 4 Catholic on Wednesday. The winner will then meet Scranton in the final on Saturday with the highest remaining seed hosting.
North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC)
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Six teams qualify for the NEAC Championship and play for the automatic qualifier. The semifinals and finals portion of the championship will be hosted by NEAC regular season champions Morrisville State (11-4-2 / 10-1-1).
The Mustangs and No. 2 Wells (12-6-0 / 9-3-0) won’t know their semifinals opponent until Wednesday when the opening round commences. No. 3 Keuka (11-2-3 / 8-2-2) will host No. 6 Penn State-Berks (9-8-1 / 7-5-0). No 5. SUNY Poly (11-5-2 / 8-3-1) will travel to No. 4 Lancaster Bible (12-5-3 / 8-3-1) after losing the tiebreaker for the fourth seed due to head-to-head record.
New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC)
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
The six-team conference championship kicked off on Halloween. In a game pitting two sister campuses against each other, No. 3 Rutgers-Camden (12-7-1 / 6-3-0) defeated No. 6 Rutgers-Newark 2-1. They will now face No. 2 Stockton (6-2-1 / 14-4-1) on November 4.
In the other first round matchup, No. 4 Rowan (16-4-0 / 6-3-0) won 3-0 over No. 5 Kean (14-6-0 / 5-4-0). The Profs will now head to No. 1 Montclair State (17-2-0 / 8-1-0) on Wednesday.
Comments or feedback for the author? E-mail Phil Naegely.
