Women's Basketball Predicted Second in CC Preseason Poll

Posted: Nov 07, 2017

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's basketball team has been picked to finish second in the Centennial Conference in the annual conference preseason poll, the conference office announced on Tuesday afternoon. The head coaches from each school joined sports information directors and as part of the voting panel. Coaches and SIDs were not allowed to vote for their own institutions.

The Fords received a total of 180 voting points, just five shy of Muhlenberg, who took home 185 to take the top overall spot. The Fords received eight first place votes while Muhlenberg took home nine first place tallies. Gettysburg was ranked third, with 178 overall voting points and the remaining five first place votes. Johns Hopkins (142 points) and Dickinson (112 points) were ranked fourth and fifth, rounding out the teams prognosticated for the Centennial Conference tournament.

Ursinus (110 points), Franklin & Marshall (93 points), McDaniel (88 points), Washington College (61 points), Swarthmore (41 points) and Bryn Mawr (20 points), finished in the sixth through 11 spots.

Haverford had one of its best seasons in program history a year ago, finishing with the second best win total in program history (19-7), second only to the Centennial Conference Championship squad in 2014. Haverford hosted the Centennial Conference tournament for just the second time, making a sixth-straight appearance in the Centennial Conference tournament in front of a raucous Gooding '84 Arena crowd.

Haverford returns All-Centennial conference performers co-captains Sierra Berkel, Samantha Wetzel and Macy Goldbach as well as Katie Cook and Maddie Gallic to form the entire starting five from the 2016-17 campaign. Key first-year reserves Anna-Sophia Capizzi, Unique Tuberville and Megan Furch will also look for repeat performances of solid debuts on campus.

After taking the Centennial Conference's number one seed with one of the best seasons in program history, the squad is poised for a Centennial crown and an NCAA tournament run to cap standout careers from seniors Berkel and Wetzel.

The Fords open up the regular season on Wednesday, November 15 against Elizabethtown. Tip off is slated for 6 p.m. Haverford then heads to the Gwynedd Mercy Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday, November 18 and Sunday, November 19, facing off with The Sage Colleges before a matchup with either Penn State Harrisburg and the host Griffins.

The conference opener comes on Tuesday, November 21 at Ursinus (5 p.m.) before the Centennial breaks for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.