September 29, 2015
Mid-Atlantic Review, Week 4
By Phil Naegely
Capital Athletic Conference (CAC)
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Conference play got underway in the CAC this past week starting a stretch of important games for all teams involved. In a rematch of last year's CAC final, Christopher Newport (8-0-2/1-0-0) defeated Penn State-Harrisburg (2-3-2/0-1-0) 5-0, continuing strong play from the 4th-ranked team in last week's D3soccer.com Top 25 poll. No. 12 Salisbury (6-2-0/1-0-0) lost to yet-undefeated Eastern 1-0 before opening CAC play with a 2-0 win over York (Pa.) (2-6-1/ 0-1-0).
Centennial Conference
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Conference play got underway in the Centnnial Conference and quickly showed that divide in talent across the conference. Franklin and Marshall continues their strong play with three key results. A 1-0 win against Swarthmore (3-6-0/0-2-0), a 1-0 double-overtime victory over Stevenson, and a 1-0 road decision against Washington College (4-4-0/0-2-0) keep the Diplomats undefeated and atop the conference standings. They are now 9-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in conference games.
The Bullets of Gettysburg (7-0-2/2-0-0) are off to their best start since 1993 with three successive wins after tying Messiah 0-0 in double overtime two weeks ago. Two of those wins came against conference foes Ursinus (1-4-2/0-1-1), 2-1 in overtime, and Muhlenberg (3-4-1/1-1-0), 2-0. They face Johns Hopkins (5-3-1/1-1-0) and Haverford (5-3-0/2-0-0) this week, games which could determine if they can challenge for the #1 seed or will be in a fight for a playoff spot. Dickinson (5-2-1/1-0-1) remains undefeated in conference play with a win against Washington College and a 2-2 tie against Ursinus.
Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC)
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Conference action has also begun in the CSAC with each team playing their first conference game. As a result, there isn't much separation between the teams. Cabrini (6-1-2/1-0-0), the lone team to do well out of conference, started with a resounding 9-1 win over Rosemont (0-7-1/0-1-0) in a game that was advanced to Monday due to the Pope's visit to Philadelphia over the weekend.
Commonwealth Conference
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Commonwealth Conference play has yet to start, only kicking off this weekend. In preparation, Lycoming scored sevens goals this past week to extend their record to 7-1-1; they defeated Keystone 5-1, Mount Aloysius 2-0, and tied Rochester 0-0. The Warrior's play in conference action will be worth watching this year after a strong non-conference start.
Messiah bounced back from a rocky start to their season by winning 1-0 against York (Pa.) and 4-1 against Misercordia to improve to 5-2-1 on the season. In their win against Misercordia, senior centerback Matthew Kyne found the net a pair of times, both headers off corner kicks, which is twice his previous goal haul in a Falcon uniform (1 goal in 80 games). Messiah battles an improved Elizabethtown in their annual Marshmallow Bowl on Wednesday, September 30; it's probably the first time in over a decade that the Falcons do not come into the game as heavy favorites.
Freedom Conference
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Eastern and King's are off to successful starts in their respective 2015 seasons. Eastern, who received votes in last week's D3soccer.com Top 25 poll, is off to a 8-0-1 start to the season. This past week they defeated No. 12 Salisbury 1-0 before coming away victorious against Albright, 4-1. King's (7-2-0) went 1-1 this past week with a 2-0 loss to Alfred and a 1-0 win over Hood. Their first conference match is on Saturday against DeSales.
Landmark Conference
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Conference play was on tap for the second straight Saturday with first Scranton and now Drew getting the early bye-weeks in the nine-team Landmark Conference. Drew goalkeeper John Marques leads the Landmark with a 85% save percentage, .64 goals against average, and five shutouts. His strong play is a key reason why Drew (7-1-1/1-0-0) has gotten off to such a good start, but the Rangers did lose for the first time this year when they were outplayed by TCNJ in a 3-1 midweek loss. Susquehanna (5-3-1/1-0-1) sits second in the early conference standings.
Elizabethtown (7-1-1/2-0-0) sits at the top of the conference standings. The Blue Jays locked up their fourth shutout of the season in a scoreless affair against Alvernia midweek. On Saturday, defenseman Martin Fevre scored the 40th minute game-winner and a goal in the 71st minute to lead the Blue Jays past Juniata 4-1. For the first time since 2004 Elizabethtown will be ranked heading into their annual rivalry match against Messiah making it a Top 25 tilt as it so often was in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's.
North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC)
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Morrisville State leads the NEAC with a perfect 5-0-0 conference record while going 5-2-1 overall. Keuka (6-0-1) remains undefeated across all competition and is 3-0-0 in conference play. Last but not least, Penn State-Abington (5-2-0) is also 3-0-0 in NEAC action.
New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC)
Standings | Conference Schedule | Composite Schedule
Two games into the NJAC schedule and, not unexpectedly, Montclair State and Rutgers-Camden have staked their positions at the top of the standings with a pair of wins. Kean and Rowan, teams with surprisingly good non-conference records, both started conference play with Saturday wins while everyone else is already carrying a conference loss or two.
Rutgers-Camden (7-1-1/2-0-0) defeated Misercordia 7-1 in their lone game last week. Their next two games against conference opponents Rowan (8-1-0/1-0-0) and Kean (9-1-0/1-0-0) should be tough tests for all parties involved and will give an indication as to what kind of conference race can be expected. Rowan kept the momentum going from their upset of Messiah the week prior in a 7-1 dismantling of Rutgers-Newark (8-3-0/1-1-0) on Saturday.
Montclair State (9-1-0/2-0-0) have outscored their opponents by a margin of 38 to 9 thus far on the season. Their toughest run of NJAC games is still a week and a half away when they face Rowan on October 10 followed by matches against Kean and Rutgers-Camden on the 14th and 17th.
Comments or feedback for the author? E-mail Phil Naegely.
