Soccer Notebook 10.24

It's the final week of regular season play in the Conference and only two of the five playoff berths are secured on both the men's and women's sides. Five teams are alive for three spots in both races with critical matchups on the docket for the week.

Men's Soccer
IN: Johns Hopkins and Franklin & Marshall. Diplomats host Blue Jays on Saturday with top seed and homefield advantage most likely riding on the outcome.
3 LOSSES: Swarthmore and Gettysburg. Garnet has favorable schedule against Ursinus (0-6-1) and Haverford (1-5-1), while Bullets face two teams still in the chase in Dickinson (3-4) and McDaniel (3-4).
3 LOSSES and a TIE: Muhlenberg. Mules have favorable schedule against Fords and Bears.
4 LOSSES: Dickinson and McDaniel. Red Devils need wins over F&M (6-0-1) and Gettysburg (4-3), while Terror needs wins over Hopkins (7-0) and Washington (2-5).

Women's Soccer
IN: Johns Hopkins and Gettysburg. Blue Jays will host "final four" next weekend with game days and times TBA. Bullets are in the tourney but need a win over Dickinson (5-3) to guarantee a first-round bye.
3 LOSSES: Swarthmore, Muhlenberg, Ursinus and Dickinson. Garnet and Mules control destiny, as wins over Haverford (4-4) and Ursinus (5-3), respectively, lock up tourney berths. The Bears meet Haverford (4-4) on Wednesday in what could be an elimination match. The Red Devils face the toughest road with matches against the two teams in the field - Hopkins and Gettysburg.
4 LOSSES: Haverford. The Fords need two wins and some help.

Regional Rankings (courtesy of D3kicks.com)
Using the NCAA Quality of Wins index ... Johns Hopkins (10.8) and Franklin & Marshall (10.462) are second and third, respectively, in the region, behind defending national champion Messiah (11.154). Swarthmore is eighth (9.6), while Muhlenberg is No. 11 (9.385) ... on the women's side, Johns Hopkins is #2 in the Mid-Atlantic region (11.75), trailing only top-ranked Messiah (11.917). Gettysburg is 9th (10.0), while Swarthmore (9.75) and Muhlenberg (9.4) are 12th and 14th, respectively.

Notes
Johns Hopkins GK Danny Coble broke the Centennial record for consecutive minutes played without a goal last week with shutouts against Arcadia and Ursinus. He has not surrendered a goal in 954:20 - the third-longest streak in Division III history, trailing only Drew's Peter Boyer (1,428:00, 2003) and Saint John's Terry Leiendecker (1,110:00, 1982) ... Muhlenberg's 1-0 overtime victory against Gettysburg was the 500th in the history of the men's program, which began in 1943. The Mules have an all-time record of 500-351-71 ... the Mule women have won six straight and reached double digits in wins for the ninth time in 10 seasons ... Swarthmore's women (12-3-1, 6-3) broke the school record for Conference wins in a season and is 3-0-1 in overtime this fall.