Full Centennial Conference Release
HAVERFORD, Pa. - After winning the Centennial Conference championship a season ago, the Haverford College women's basketball team has been tabbed second in the 2019-20 Centennial Conference preseason poll, the conference office announced in a release today. The head coaches from each school joined athletic communications contacts from throughout the conference as part of the voting panel. Coaches and SIDs were not allowed to vote for their own institutions.
Haverford received six of the 22 total first-place votes for a total of 165 points. Gettysburg, the squad Haverford defeated in last season's championship game, was projected as the conference's champion, taking eight first-place votes and 184 total voting points.
Last year's other two semifinalists, Johns Hopkins and Ursinus, both received first-place votes, with the Blue Jays garnering five to go with 162 total voting points for third place while Ursinus received 151 and one first-place vote for a fourth-place prognostication. Muhlenberg was predicted fifth, receiving two first-place votes and 136 total points.
Dickinson (130 points), Franklin & Marshall (89 points), McDaniel (67 points), Washington College (64 points), Swarthmore (42 points), and Bryn Mawr (20 points) made up sixth through 11th place, respectively, in the ranking.
Haverford reached the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season in 2018-19, the first time in program history the squad has advanced to the tournament in back-to-back years. The Fords finished their season with a 22-7 overall record, the second-most wins in program history. The team embarked on a spirited run through the Centennial Conference Championship, dispatching Johns Hopkins and Gettysburg on consecutive days to hoist the conference's trophy and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Fords were later receiving votes in both national polls heading into the NCAA Tournament and gave voters a reason to believe with a resounding 43-point victory over Main Line neighbor Rosemont, jetting into a second round matchup with then-No. 4 Tufts. Haverford gave the regional host Jumbos all they could handle in a 52-46 defeat. Women's basketball returns three starters from last season's team, seniors Maddie Gallic, Megan Furch, and Anna-Sophia Capizzi. In total, seven players who averaged 10 or more minutes a season ago are back in the fold for the 2019-20 campaign. The Fords return 1,270 of their 1,734 points from the 2018-19 championship team.
Haverford opens up the 2019-20 season on Tuesday, November 12 at Immaculata. Tip-off time is slated for 6 p.m. Haverford's first home game will also be the first Centennial Conference game of the season as the Fords welcome Ursinus to Gooding '84 Arena for a 1 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, November 23. The contest is part of a doubleheader that will also see the men's squad taking on Sarah Lawrence at 3 p.m.