HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team has won nine straight matches heading into the postseason and has begun to catch the attention of the national pollsters. The Fords (12-4) are receiving votes in the D3Soccer.com Poll this week for the first time all season. Haverford received 10 voting points in that top 25 poll.
The Fords are currently in the midst of preparations for this weekend's Centennial Conference Tournament which will be held on Walton Field. Haverford earned the right to host the conference tournament by virtue of its first place finish in the regular season standings. That feat marked the third time in the last four years, and fourth time in the last six, that the Centennial Conference champion will be crowned on Walton Field.
Haverford will open its Centennial Conference Tournament against the winner of fourth-seeded Dickinson and fifth-seeded Gettysburg. That first round matchup between the Red Devils and Bullets will be played on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Fords will open their postseason journey on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the first semifinal. Second-seeded Johns Hopkins and third-seeded Franklin & Marshall will meet in the second semifinal with a scheduled 1:30 p.m. start time. Sunday's championship match will take place at 1 p.m.
Winners of nine straight, Haverford recently completed a perfect month of October (8-0) with three wins over the span of five days against Stevenson, Muhlenberg, and Swarthmore. Those three wins helped this year's senior class tie the program's Class of 2016 for the most wins in a four year span (54). Haverford's current nine-match winning streak is currently the seventh-longest in the country.
The Fords have won at least nine straight matches on just five other occasions in program history. The last time this feat was accomplished came during the program-record 16 straight victories as the Fords advanced to the Elite Eight in 2015. Haverford has also gone a perfect 8-0 on Walton Field this season, with the team's only true home loss coming against William Paterson on a day when that match was moved to Bryn Mawr due to unplayable field conditions.
On Wednesday, the NCAA will publish its third set of regional rankings heading into the conference tournaments around the country. That will be the final available prior to the NCAA selection show which is slated for Monday, November 5 at 1 p.m.