For the fourth time in the last five seasons, Johns Hopkins has secured the top seed in the Centennial Conference Women's Soccer Championship. The Blue Jays defeated Franklin & Marshall 6-3 in Saturday's regular season finale to complete an unblemished 10-0 CC record for the second year in a row.
The Centennial tournament will feature a new look this fall. For the first time ever, six teams will compete in the postseason as the conference has expanded its number of playoff participants from five to six. Also, the higher seed will host each round of the tournament and there is now a day off between the semifinals and championship.
JHU had already clinched the top seed entering Saturday's final games. Meanwhile, the remaining seeds were all up for grabs as a wide number of scenarios were possible based on Saturday's results. Swarthmore entered Saturday in second place, but fell to the No. 3 seed with a 2-1 loss to Haverford combined with Dickinson's 1-0 victory over Washington College, which propelled the Red Devils to the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye.
McDaniel lost to Ursinus 1-0 but still locked up a first-round home game as the No. 4 seed. Franklin & Marshall (No. 5) had already clinched a playoff spot entering Saturday's games while Gettysburg locked up the sixth and final bid with a tie against Muhlenberg. The Bullets and Haverford each finished the regular season with 13 points, but the Bullets have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Fords, thus securing them the final spot.
Tuesday's first round matchups will feature No. 3 Swarthmore hosting No. 6 Gettysburg and No. 4 McDaniel hosting No. 5 F&M. Hopkins and Dickinson will host Friday's semis, with the highest remaining seed set to host Sunday's championship round.
Check back to Centennial.org for game times and visit our Championship Central for more information regarding next week's tournament.
FIRST ROUND: Tuesday, Nov. 1 | at #3 & #4 seeds
#6 Gettysburg at #3 Swarthmore
#5 Franklin & Marshall at #4 McDaniel
SEMIFINALS: Friday, Nov. 4 | at #1 & #2 seeds
#3/6 winner at #2 Dickinson
#4/5 winner at #1 Johns Hopkins
CHAMPIONSHIP: Sunday, Nov. 6 | at highest remaining seed
Semifinal winners