HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team finished the 2016 season ranked No. 18 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Poll. The Fords repeated their Centennial Conference Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance during a highly successful fall season.
The 2016 season saw Haverford make the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in program history, earning back-to-back bids to the national tournament for the first time since the 1997-77 seasons. The Fords earned their entry into the national bracket by successfully defending the Centennial Conference Championship on Walton Field as they became the first team to both host and win the Centennial Conference Tournament in consecutive seasons.
After avenging their only conference loss of the past two seasons with a 2-1 victory over Franklin & Marshall in the conference championship, the Fords advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a host of the regional round on Walton Field. Hosting NCAA action for the second straight season, the Fords set a new program record with five goals in an NCAA Tournament game during the victory against Merchant Marine before falling to UMass Boston in penalty kicks.
Haverford finished the year with a 14-3-4 record. The Fords also graduated the winningest class in program history for the second straight season with a final record of 54-19-7 over the past four years. That mark includes a 26-4-2 record on Walton Field since the start of the 2014 season.
Haverford was rewarded for its team success with a program-record eight All-Centennial Conference recipients: Maclyn Willigan (first team), Dorian Wirz (first team), Will Corkery (second team), Ben Field (second team), Nick Jannelli (second team), Russell Nicholson (second team), Sam Miller (honorable mention), and Tejan Walcott (honorable mention). Willigan, Wirz, and Field went on to earn first, second, and third-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors, respectively. Haverford's 15 student-athletes on the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll also represented the most in the conference for that sport.