October 30, 2009

MAC FOOTBALL - WEEK #9

This weekend begins a frantic three week push for the MAC title, with the key players facing each other Nov. 7 and Nov. 14. The current situation has Delaware Valley and Albright tied at 4-0 in the MAC, and LVC a game behind at 3-1. DVC and Albright will play each other next week; LVC plays Albright Nov. 14; and DVC has already beaten LVC. If the Aggies win out, they would win it outright. LVC has not won the MAC championship since it was tri-champ in 1969.

FDU - Florham (0-4, 1-6) travels to Albright (4-0, 7-0), the top ranked team in the East Region and #21 nationally. After a disappointing 7-6 loss at Wilkes last week, the Devils under the leadership of Bill Winters hope to get on the winning track. They will face Tanner Kelly, one of the MAC's top quarterbacks, and his favorite receiver Nate Romig. Offense is not all the Lions bring to the field as they have one of the top defense’s in Division III football - currently 14th in points allowed per game (13.00) and 15th overall in total yards allowed with 257.14 yards per game.

Delaware Valley (4-0, 6-1), ranked 3rd in the East Region and 23rd nationally, plays at King's (1-3, 2-5). King's hope to repeat last years performance as spoiler when they defeated conference NCAA tournament representative Lycoming. The Aggies lone loss this year was a 31-13 defeat on September 19 to Wesley (7-0), which is currently ranked third by the AFCA and D3Football.com. The accolades keep pouring in for Delaware Valley College junior defensive end Garrett Wooters as he was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Southeast Defensive Player of the Week and earned a spot on the D3football.com Team of the Week.

Lebanon Valley (3-1, 6-1), ranked eighth in the East Region, plays at Widener (1-3, 3-4). With a win Saturday, Lebanon Valley would go to 7-1 for the first time in program history, and ensure a seven-win season for the first time since going 7-3 in 1992. The Pride, hoping for a winning season, needs to stop the LVC running game of Charlie Parker and Ben Guiles if they are to prevail.

Wilkes (1-3, 4-3) is at Lycoming (2-2, 3-4). Two programs that have been in the MAC title chase in recent years are playing for pride on Saturday as a 2009 championship is not to be. Wilkes defeated Lyco last year, one of the few blemishes on first-year coach Mike Clark's 2008 trip to the NCAA tournament. Wilkes Rob Johnson leads the Colonels offense against a stout Warrior defense, ranked third in the MAC.

October 29, 2009

WOMEN'S SOCCER TIEBREAKERS

Commonwealth:

If Widener beats Albright:

#1 Messiah

#2 Arcadia

#3 Elizabethtown

#4 Widener

If Albright beats Widener and Elizabethown loses to Messah:

#1 Messiah

#2 Arcadia

#3 Albright

#4 Elizabethtown

If Albright beats Widener and Elizabethown defeats Messiah:

#1 Messiah

#2 Arcadia

#3 Elizabethtown

#4 Albright

Freedom with no ties:

Manhattanville is #1

If Misericordia beats King's they are #2 and the winner of Eastern/FDU is #3

If Misericordia loses, the winner of Eastern/FDU is #2 and Misericordia is #3

The loser of Wilkes/DeSales is eliminated.

If FDU loses, they are eliminated and winner of DeSales/Wilkes is #4

If Eastern loses, and DeSales wins, Eastern is #4 and DeSales is eliminated

If Eastern loses, Wilkes wins, Misericordia wins, then Eastern is #4 and Wilkes is out

If Eastern loses, Wilkes wins, Misericordia loses, then Wilkes is #4 and Eastern is out

Freedom with ties:

Manhattanville is #1

If Misericordia ties, they are #2 unless Eastern wins - then Eastern is #2 and Misericordia is #3

If Eastern and FDU tie, and Misericordia ties or wins, Misericordia is #2 and Eastern is #3

If Eastern and FDU tie, and Misericordia loses, Eastern is #2 and Misericordia is #3

If Eastern and FDU tie, Wilkes wins, they are #4; if Wilkes ties or loses, FDU is #4

MEN'S SOCCER TIEBREAKERS

Commonwealth:

Messiah is #1

If Arcadia beats Alvernia or Elizabethown loses or ties Messiah, Arcadia is #2 and Etown is #3

If Arcadia loses or ties Alvernia and Elizabethtown defeats Messiah, Etown is #2 and Arcadia is #3

If Lebanon Valley ties or wins against Lycoming, they are #4

If LVC loses and Widener defeats Albright, Widener is #4

Freedom:

Manhattanville is #1

If Misericordia beats or ties King's, Wilkes beats DeSales:

#2 Misericordia

#3 Wilkes

#4 King's

If Misericordia beats or ties King's, DeSales defeats Wilkes:

#2 Misericordia

#3 DeSales

#4 King's

If Misericordia beats King's, DeSales and Wilkes tie:

#2 Misericordia

#3 Wilkes

#4 DeSales

If Misericordia ties King's, DeSales and Wilkes tie:

#2 Misericordia

#3 King's

#4 Wilkes

If King's beats Misericordia:

#2 King's

#3 Misericordia

#4 Wilkes/DeSales winner

October 28, 2009

MAC FIELD HOCKEY TIEBREAKERS

Freedom:

If Wilkes defeats Manhattanville and Delaware Valley:

#1 Eastern

#2 Wilkes

#3 King's

#4 DVC

If Wilkes splits with Manhattanville and Delaware Valley and King's beats DeSales:

#1 Eastern

#2 Wilkes

#3 King's

#4 DVC

If Wilkes defeats Manhattanville and loses to DVC and King's loses to DeSales:

#1 Eastern

#2 DVC

#3 Wilkes

#4 King's

If Wilkes defeats DVC and loses to Manhattanville and King's loses to DeSales:

#1 Eastern

#2 Wilkes

#3 King's

#4 DVC

If Wilkes loses to Manhattanville and DVC and King's beats DeSales:

#1 Eastern

#2 King's

#3 DVC

#4 Wilkes

Commonwealth:

If LVC beats Widener:

#1 Messiah

#2 LVC

#3 Elizabethtown

#4 Widener

If Widener defeats LVC by more than two goals and beats Arcadia:

#1 Messiah

#2 Widener

#3 LVC

#4 Elizabethtown

MAC VOLLEYBALL TIEBREAKERS

Commonwealth

If LVC defeats Elizabethtown, Widener and Messiah win:

#1 LVC

#2 Elizabethtown

#3 Messiah

#4 Widener

If LVC defeats Elizabethown, Widener Wins, Messiah loses:

#1 LVC

#2 Elizabethtown

#3 Widener

#4 Messiah

If Elizabethtown beats LVC, Widener wins, and Messiah win/loses:

#1 Elizabethown

#2 Widener

#3 LVC

#4 Messiah

If Elizabethtown beats LVC, Widener loses, Messiah wins:

#1 Elizabethtown

#2 LVC

#3 Messiah

#4 Widener

Freedom

If Wilkes beats Misericordia:

#1 Eastern

#2 DeSales

#3 FDU

#4 Wilkes

If Wilkes loses to Misericordia, King's beats DeSales:

#1 Eastern

#2 DeSales

#3 FDU

#4 King's

If Misericordia beats Wilkes 3-0 and DeSales defeats King's:

#1 Eastern

#2 DeSales

#3 FDU

#4 King's

October 23, 2009

FOOTBALL

With four weeks to go in the season, the MAC championship chase is in full swing. Delaware Valley visits Lycoming where a win will not only keep them in first place but will also assure the squad of their seventh straight non-losing season. That would tie a school record that was first accomplished from 1979 to 1985. Lycoming (2-1 in the MAC) needs a win to stay alive in the title race and repeat as conference champions.

Although King's is 1-2 in the conference, they have given every team a battle. They will visit Lebanon Valley as the homecoming opponent. In the rain, this will be two teams running the ball at each other all afternoon. LVC needs the win to stay close to conference leaders DVC and Albright.

Widener (1-2) takes the show on the road to Albright after two disappointing losses in a row. Albright, with their best start in over a decade (6-0, 3-0), can't afford a loss as they still have games with DVC and LVC, the two teams in hot pursuit of the championship.

FDU visits Wilkes as each team hopes to pick up their first conference win. Wilkes started the year 3-0 with great non-conference wins, but has fallen short against the three conference leaders - Albright, LVC, and DVC.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL TENNIS

The tournament has been moved to the Kingston Indoor Tennis Club because of inclement weather. See MAC web site for details. Based on forecast, the semi's and finals should be played outdoors at King's/Wilkes on Sunday. Semi-finalists last year, who are returning this year include: Kate Steiner, DeSales; Megan Gillespie, Arcadia; Lauren Verret, Maura Haupt, Courney Otto, Misericordia; Sarah Grodzinski, Shayna Heitzelman, Lebanon Valley; Katie Marstaller, Steph Knepper, Messiah; Emily Swarr, Jessica Russell, Elizabethtown; Michelle Knight, Xiaoqiao Zhang, Rebekah Shanaman, Wilkes; and, Lauren Breen, King's.

TEAM TENNIS

The teams are all set for the team championships in May 2010. Commonwealth: Elizabethtown, Lebanon Valley, Messiah, and Alvernia; Freedom: Wilkes, King's, Misericordia, and Manhattanville.

FIELD HOCKEY

Delaware Valley field hockey (4-1) clinched its first Freedom Conference playoff berth since 2006 with a victory over Misericordia University. A big reason are the two seniors on the team - Danielle Heyne and Bethany Pavlik - who are just nine points shy of a 200 for the duo. They have combined for 71 goals and 51 assists for 191 points. Tomorrow they play Wilkes (3-1) for 2nd place. Nothing gets easier as they play 5-0 Eastern in the conference regular season finale. Eastern hopes to hold on to the top Freedom Conference seed as they visit Misericordia this weekend.

Messiah, ranked #1 in the country, plays perennial powerhouse TCNJ after their convincing win over #7 LVC on Wednesday.

VOLLEYBALL

The Commonwealth championship tournament teams are all set - Elizabethtown, Lebanon Valley, Messiah, and Widener. Elizabethtown and LVC play for first place; Widener and Messiah are both 4-2 so they need to keep playing for the best seed.

Three teams are set for the Freedom tournament - Eastern, DeSales, and FDU. King's, Wilkes, and Misericordia are battling for the 4th spot.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Two big matchups this weekend as Elizabethtown (3-1) travels to Arcadia (4-0) and Eastern (3-0-2) makes their way to Manhattanville (5-0). DeSales plays Misericordia - the winner enhances their chance at tournament berth.

MEN'S SOCCER

Similar to the women, Elizabethtown 3-0-1 is at Arcadia (3-0-1) with the winner staying in the hunt with Messiah (3-0) for the top seed. Lebanon Valley and Widener battle for one of the last Commonwealth spots. Eastern (2-2) hopes to improve their tournament chances as they visit Manhattanville (5-0). DeSales, Misericordia, Wilkes, and King's are all chasing those last seeds in the very competitive Freedom race.

October 19, 2009

WOMEN'S TENNIS

As we enter the final week of conference play, here are the scenarios for championship tournament berths.

Commonwealth:

If Lebanon Valley defeats Elizabethtown, they are 1st place and the Blue Jays clinch 2nd.

If Etown beats LVC, they are 1st and the Dutchmen are 2nd.

If Messiah wins over Arcadia and Albright, they are 3rd.

If Messiah splits with Arcadia and Albright and Alvernia beats Etown, Alvernia is 3rd. If Messiah's loss is to Arcadia, Messiah is eliminated and the Knights take 4th; if Messiah's loss it to Albright, Messiah takes 4th and Arcadia is eliminated.

If Messiah loses to Albright and Arcadia, the Falcons are eliminated and Alvernia takes 3rd and Arcadia 4th.

If Messiah loses to Arcadia and beats Albright and Etown beats Alvernia, the three way tie between Alvernia, Messiah, and Arcadia will be broken by match scores.

If Messiah beats Arcadia and loses to Albright and the Blue Jays defeat Alvernia, Messiah is 3rd and Alvernia is 4th.

Freedom

If King's beat Wilkes, they are 1st and the Colonels are 2nd.

If Wilkes beats King's, they are 1st and the Monarchs are 2nd.

If Misericordia defeats Manhattanville, they are 3rd and the Valiants are 4th.

If Manhattanville beats the Cougars, they are 3rd and Misericordia is 4th.

The championship tournaments are at the site of the higher seeds May 4 for semi-finals and May 8 for finals.

Women's individual tournament is this weekend - October 24-25 at Wilkes and King's.

October 16, 2009

FOOTBALL

Wilkes heads to Delaware Valley for their third tough conference game in a row. After opening 3-0 with some great non-conference wins, the Colonels have lost to MAC title contenders Albright and Lebanon Valley. The road to DVC is no easier, as the Aggies are 4-1 overall including a great win over Johns Hopkins, Centennial Conference leader. Both are used to grass fields, but the weather may have significant impact.

Lycoming travels to Widener as both teams try to get back on the winning side after losses to Albright and King's last weekend. Although Lycoming would prefer to be at home normally, playing on the Pride's turf rather than chewing up their grass for the rest of the year is some consolation. In recent years, this has been one of the MAC's great rivalries. The winner of this game stays alive for the title while the loser probably drops out of contention.

Lebanon Valley travels to FDU, again a fortuitous situation as they save their field for next weeks homecoming. Bill Winters continues to rack up significant numbers, and although FDU is 1-4, they have been known to knock off title contenders - DVC in 2008. LVC showed great poise last week as they had the game in the bag - on the one with a possible 28-12 advantage, but a fumble and 99 yard Wilkes return made the score 21-18. For his effort against Wilkes, Alex Gilchrist, LVC linebacker, was honored as D3Football player of the week.

King's hosts Albright, ranked 23rd in the country. King's has had two great conference showings - two weeks ago they lost to Lyco but had them on the ropes; last week they came from behind to knock off Widener. Tanner Kelley, Albright College Senior Quarterback, was named ECAC Southeast Offensive Player of the Week. Kelly helped the Lions to their first 5-0 start since 1997. He threw for a game high 393 yards, three touchdown passes, and was 22-for-34 without an interception for the fifth consecutive game. On the ground, Kelly rushed for an additional 87 yards which also led the Lions offense. Kelly now has over 1,380 yards passing and 246 yards rushing this season. He has thrown for 11 touchdowns and rushed for an additional three. Going into Saturday’s game, his passing efficiency was in the top-five in Division III football.

FIELD HOCKEY

Jocelyn Novak, Lebanon Valley College Sophomore Forward, was named ECAC Mid-Atlantic Offensive Player of the Week. Novak became the fastest player in LVC history to reach 100 career points as she scored six goals in three games for nationally ranked #7 Lebanon Valley last week. Novak tallied twice against Franklin and Marshall, then scored the late game winner against Haverford, and had her eighth career hat trick against Shenandoah. She leads the Dutchmen to William Smith on Saturday for the teams annual match up against the perennial power.

Kudos to Alvernia for knocking off #17 Juniata 1-0. Juniata, 11-3, had enjoyed a nine game winning streak.

The big match up this weekend has King's (3-0) visiting Eastern (3-0) for sole possession of first place in the Freedom Conference.

Widener travels to #1 Messiah in hopes of knocking off the conference leader and enhancing their Commonwealth Conference tournament position.

GOLF

The MAC showed well at the Gettysburg Invitational as Messiah took first by winning four of the top five places. Dan Wort shot a 73 to lead the pack. Albright took send in a very competitive field.

WOMEN'S TENNIS

Two key matches will probably determine the two conference regular season champions. On Monday Wilkes (4-0) plays at Kings (5-0) for the Freedom title, and on Tuesday Elizabethtown (4-0) travels to Lebanon Valley (5-0) for the Commonwealth lead.

MEN'S SOCCER

The big match this weekend pits Arcadia (3-0) against #3 nationally ranked Messiah (2-0) for first place in the Commonwealth. Arcadia has had a great soccer tradition until the past couple of years. A win at Messiah would be a major statement about the reemerging program.

#24 Elizabethtown plays Widener, with the Pride needing a win to stay in the Commonwealth tournament picture.

On the Freedom side, Manhattanville hopes to continue their winning ways and conference lead (3-0) at Kings's (2-1).

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Dan Mouw, Eastern coach, nabbed his 100th win against DVC this week.

The undefeated Arcadia side (ranked ninth in region) travels to nationally ranked #1 Messiah for their biggest test to date. Both teams are 3-0 in the Commonwealth.

Manhattanville won their seventh straight game, breaking a record that dates to 1984.

Eastern (2-0-1) and Misericordia (2-1) play this weekend - Eastern, last years Freedom champion, needs a win to stay in the hunt for the regular season top seed.

VOLLEYBALL

Congratulations to Kat Clerici, King's new career blocks leader with 376, and to DeSale's Jen Mellon who has the program's all-time kills record.

DeSales big win over FDU 3-1 this week was their 11th straight. Other than getting by Freedom foe nationally ranked #24 Eastern, the Bulldogs have been dominant.

Delaware Valley's program, once defunct, has emerged with their second winning season in a row. Congratulations to Shawn Rush and the Aggies on the turnabout!

Messiah (3-2) travels to Widener (4-1) this week for a match that has great bearing on Commonwealth tournament seeds.

October 9, 2009

FOOTBALL

Senior quarterback Bill Winters leads his team against Delaware Valley this week. He is quickly turning into the best statistical quarterback in FDU-Florham football history. At his present pace, he could own as many as six records by the end of the season. Winters broke the all-time passing completions record this season at TCNJ and he currently has 391 completions which is 62 more than second place. Last week against Widener, he set the all-time record for passing yards (4,281) and passing attempts (728). Winters will also finish his career with the passing completion percentage record. To date he has 30 passing touchdowns which puts him in third place all-time, five from the record. A true dual-threat quarterback, he presently has 16 rushing touchdowns which ranks him fifth all-time. After their big win over LVC last week, the Aggies hope to keep their hold on first place in the MAC.

Wilkes and Lebanon Valley square off for homecoming in Wilkes-Barre. Both teams entered the conference season last week with 3-0 record against non-conference opponents, but both lost. The winner of this weeks game stays in the hunt for the conference title.

ECAC Division III Southeast Offensive Player of the Week Tanner Kelley, Albright College Senior Quarterback from Clearfield, Pa., leads the Lions (4-0) against last year's MAC champion Lycoming (2-2). Both won their opening conference games so this match up is for a share of first place. Of the 611 yards that the Albright offense accumulated in Saturday’s win over Wilkes University, Kelly tallied 499 (436 passing, 69 rushing) of those yards. In the air, the senior was nearly perfect yet again going 32-for-39 (82.1%). He also did not throw an interception or turn the ball over for the fourth consecutive game and was responsible for four touchdowns. His longest pass of the day was a 53 yarder to Nate Romig. Kelly also led the Lions run game recording 63 yards on 12 carries.

King's (1-3) travels to Widener (3-1). The Pride has racked up points in their last two games, outscoring FDU and Frostburg 76-30, and hope to keep pace with the top conference teams.

VOLLEYBALL

The King’s College women’s volleyball team handed head coach Bernie Kachinko his 400th career victory as the Lady Monarchs posted an emotional 3-0 victory over the visiting University of Scranton Thursday in Scandlon Gymnasium. King’s won by scores of 25-15, 25-23, 25-10. With the win, King’s improved to 16-7 while Scranton slipped to 5-13. King’s was led by Kat Clerici who posted 16 kills and seven total blocks, equaling the school-record of 372 total blocks set by Michelle Simcoe from 1992-95. For Kachinko, the victory upped his career mark to 400-257 in his 21 years with the Lady Monarchs.“It is very gratifying to reach 400 wins and obviously it would never have happened without all my players over the years as well as the assistant coaches we have had,” Kachinko stated. “It brings back a lot of memories and having the chance to reflect on all the players who came through here and played for me is very special. Their efforts are the reason why this milestone was able to come about and I thank them all for what they have given me over the years.” King’s will be idle until Wednesday when the Lady Monarchs host Manhattanville College at 7:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gym.

The DVC Aggies have a 13-7 overall record with eight matches remaining. One victory will give them back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since they posted three straight from 1996 to 1998.

Eastern is ranked #24 in the latest AVCA poll.

WOMEN'S TENNIS

Senior Sarah Grodzinski became the first player in LVC tennis history to reach 100 combined wins as she led her team past Neumann, 6-3, to push Lebanon Valley's perfect start to 10-0 and 3-0 in conference play. The Dutchmen travel to Arcadia on Saturday for a CC match up.

GOLF

The Elizabethtown College golf team won its own 16-team Blue Jay Classic at the Hershey Country Club East Course shooting 318 as a team in windy conditions to edge Messiah College by two strokes. Matt Burkhart of Messiah shot a 74 to win the tournament by three strokes over Joey Goldstein of Dickinson College. The MAC and NCAA Championships will be hosted by E-town on this course!

MEN'S SOCCER

Lycoming College men’s soccer head coach Scott Kennell claimed his 100th victory at the helm of the program, becoming just the second active coach in the Commonwealth Conference to reach the milestone. His Warriors travel to Arcadia on Saturday for a big Commonwealth match up.

DVC junior transfer Tom Antonucci has already set Aggie single-season records for goals (15), assists (7) and points (37) in just 10 games. He is just four point shy of moving into the top five on the school's all-time scoring list as he leads the team against Kings's for Family Weekend on Saturday.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Widener’s women’s soccer team has received votes in the latest NSCAA/adidas Top 25 Poll. The Pride (10-1-1) have tied the 1995 squad for the best start in school history, using a combination of great offense, standout defense and tremendous comebacks to reach the mark. Four of Widener’s victories as well as its tie have come after the team was trailing. The Pride have outscored their opponents 28-10 this season. Coach Brian Sheehan looks for his 100th win as his team hosts perennial power Messiah on Saturday.

Arcadia University Women's Soccer finds themselves in good company atop the NCAA Division III team and individual goals-against, save and shutout percentages. The 9-0-3 Knights have yet to find the loss column thanks to superb goalkeeping by first year Jacki Law (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains Fanwood), this week's Commonwealth Goalie of the Week. They have outscored their opponents by a 29-2 margin, having last allowed a goal against in a 2-1 home win against Ramapo back on Sept. 9. The Knights grabbed the #10 spot in this week’s NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Rankings, and along with #1 Messiah, remain the only unbeaten ranked teams in the Mid Atlantic Region. The team looks to remain undefeated when they host Commonwealth Conference opponent Lycoming on Saturday.

Junior Holly Nonis (Brampton, Ontario) scored a pair of goals to give head coach Matt Paton his 100th career victory as the Manhattanville women’s soccer team, once again ranked eighth in this week’s NSCAA Div. III Mid-Atlantic Regional rankings, defeated Ramapo College by a 3-1 score in non-conference action at the Ramapo Athletic Center on Wednesday afternoon

Eastern Coach Dan Mouw also looks for his 100th career win as the Eagles host conference foe DeSales on Saturday.

FIELD HOCKEY

The ECAC Division III Mid-Atlantic Offensive Player of the Week was Caitlin Vasey, Lebanon Valley College Freshman Forward from Doylestown, Pa. Vasey had a breakout week for LVC, starting for the first time and scoring six goals and two assists in three LVC wins. Vasey started the week with her first career hat trick at Albright, then scored twice at FDU-Florham and added another goal against Stevenson. In three games, Vasey averaged 4.67 points per game. LVC returns to conference play on Saturday hosting Shenandoah.

The DVC field hockey team, picked sixth out of seven in the Freedom Conference preseason coaches' poll, will look to improve to 3-0 in conference play when they travel to King's for a rare, Friday afternoon contest.