HAVERFORD, Pa. – Already set to square off against a difficult slate of Centennial Conference opponents, the 2011 Haverford College field hockey team will likely face even bigger challenges from a non-conference slate that includes several teams from the 2010 NCAA championship tournament.

The Fords set a program record for wins with 14 in 2010 and reached the championship final of the conference tournament—for the first time in program history—before falling to perennial national championship contender Ursinus College. The appearance in the league playoffs marked the second consecutive year Haverford qualified for the postseason.

Along with national semifinalist Ursinus, the 2011 schedule includes trips to national runner-up Messiah College and NCAA quarterfinalist Lebanon Valley College, as well as visits from Eastern University (NCAA quarterfinals) and the Stevens Institute of Technology (NCAA second round).  The Fords will also travel south to visit Christopher Newport University, an NCAA first round participant.

Haverford dropped only two regular season conference games in 2010, one to Centennial champion Ursinus and the other to Johns Hopkins University. The Fords avenged the loss to the Blue Jays with a 6-2 triumph in the semifinal round of the league tournament and will look to keep that edge in 2011 as well as continue to challenge the Bears who defeated Haverford by a 6-3 count in the Centennial championship game.

Of the eight remaining Centennial opponents, Haverford recorded margins of victory of three goals or more against five of those teams last fall. The Fords' quick rise from a seven-win season in 2007, though, exemplifies the speed in which any of those squads on the losing side of the ledger in 2010 could rise up and challenge Haverford for a place at the championship-level table.