Since March 29, the Fords have only one loss to Cabrini going into this weekend against the Shoremen for the second time this season. The Centennial Conference playoffs began with #1 seeded Gettysburg playing #4 seeded Muhlenburg on Friday afternoon. Face-off for the Shoremen begins at 4:30p.m.
Haverford is coming off of a 10-4 win over Swarthmore and their leading attackman Max Hjelm is tied in second place with Joe Brody from Gettysburg for a goals per game average of 2.88. Senior captain Chris Read leads that category with 3.5 goals per game, according to the Centennial Conference website.
Before I blind you with stats about how good Haverford is who its best guys are and how many goals we scored last week in our loss to Salisbury, you must know one thing, this is playoffs. Everyone plays harder in playoffs, at least the good teams do. There can be no way that you would expect to see Haverford come out flat with a chance to knock us out of the tournament and get another shot at Gettysburg, who they beat last year during the regular season.
The last time we played Haverford, the team could not get any sort of flow working for their offense. Hjelm was their only player with multiple points. Junior goalie Gordon Cohen made 16 saves, and we had 13 points out of our attack. The defensive play was arguably the best it has been all season for that game.
All of these things are well and good about the last time we met this team, but Fleishhacker is definitely a player to watch, but as the second leading scorer on their attack there shouldn't be any question for the defense that he could have a good showing if we don't play well. Midfielders Granoff and Kim are four and five on their points leader list and will likely be taking the majority of the offensive runs for the Fords on Friday.
Lots of clichés are tossed around when playoffs roll around, and they ring in your ear every time you think of an upcoming game. Playing tougher than a team will take you so far, but to put it the simplest way possible you have to be better in playoffs to win. All of the opponents that we have the opportunity to play this weekend we have seen before, but they could be entirely different teams. This could be like playing a series in baseball where they change their batting order and pitchers on you and feeling like you're playing an entirely different team. Offenses and defenses don't normally vary during playoffs outside of match-ups and some extra-man plays, but the focus becomes about doing all of the little things well and eliminating mistakes.
A noticeable advantage for us going into the game this Friday is that, according to lax.com, when Haverford lost to Cabrini the score was tied 3-3 in the second quarter. Once Cabrini took the lead, Haverford could not get it back and Cabrini won the game. There have been times all season when we have found ways to win and that is where we have the advantage.
Our face-off middies are playing better than they have all year, our attack as a unit is arguably the best in the country, and with Cohen pulling the strings behind the defense we should not have much to worry about except coming to play.
The Centennial Conference Championship game will be played on Sunday, May 4 for the winners of the two semi-final games played on Friday. The Shoremen haven't won the Championship since 2003 and the cup has stayed in Gettysburg since then. The Shoremen face-off against Haverford College at Mussleman stadium in Gettysburg, PA at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, and with a win will play the winner of the Muhlenberg-Gettysburg game on Sunday at 1p.m.
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