Mid-Atlantic Region

[Hopkins92]

38 sec goal and 4-0 in the first half by Dickinson. Dickinson definitely flexing and should go a long way in NCAAs, imo. Undefeated most likely after that half. 3 very nice goals and a PK. Doubt Hop has had such a bad half in a long, long time. However, Dickinson played really well, imo. Sorry Hop92, hope you opt to stay home.

Cent. Conf. a well deserved one team conf going into the NCAAs.

I was parking the damn car when that roar went up. Wife and I stuck around until half-time and we'd seen enough. There really wasn't a time in that first half where Hopkins looked like they were threatening to score.

And, man, seeing Dickinson in person? Those dudes are either big and fast, or SUPER fast, small and super technical. And they are tough as nails on 50-50s.

I know they have a slightly tough pod, but I really wouldn't want to be dealing with that right now. Haven't lost a game and their attitude shows it.

Wife, about half way through the first half: "You know, these guys are having a lot of... fun."

Props and good luck to the Red Devils... Deserved win (obviously and hoping the represent the CC well.

[Hopkins92]

Saw the two semis and like how Hop moved the ball against the bullets, thought they would have had the better of Dickenson in the conference finals.

Dickinson might be peaking at the right time offensive wise.

I was along the fence on the JHU end of the field and... Those Dickinson guys were getting after it. Lots of great overlapping runs that seemed to frazzle the backline at times.

Despite the lousy result, you could see this team has begun figuring out Appleby's system. They had a great end of the season getting the finals in the first place. Sucks for the seniors to go out like that, but I hope everyone can garner the positive lesson from this season.

(CC won't be a one bid conf next year.)

[Hopkins92]

Also:

Had a great lunch in Carlisle at the Pitt Street Station. Great food and decent beer list. I never really got to see Carlisle, other than a recruiting visit so many years ago... Charming town.

Headed over to Lancaster and had a great beer Our Town Brewery.

On the way home today, we hit our old haunts in Little Italy in Baltimore. Amici's for lunch, Vacarro's for cannolis, then Ovenbird for some focaccia and other baked goods.

So, you know, tough loss... Great weekend. (I have tomorrow off, so this turned into a 4 day weekend.

[Freddyfud]

Amici's for lunch, Vacarro's for cannolis,

Two of my all time favorites!  Having flashbacks now. And drooling.

[Hopkins92]

Amici's for lunch, Vacarro's for cannolis,

Two of my all time favorites!  Having flashbacks now. And drooling.

Our other, actually more frequented place was Sabatino's (with our respective parents footing the bill), but we found Amici's during our senior year and it's now our go-to.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Let's hope CC is not a one team qualifier next year. FYI, the next highest NPI is 10-0-10 Haverford ranked 56th then Muhls at 87th, Gettysburg at 92 and Hop at 102.

That is not a great trend. CC teams need to play and beat better out of conf. teams. IMO, Hop and F&M were the only teams committed to this. In many ways the CC was piggybacking on these two teams when they competed against these teams and they're success of playing good out of conf. teams.

While Dickinson was undefeated, it was still only 22nd in the NPI which is most likely because CC teams were not good and it out of conf. games were not particular challenging.

So to get in more teams in the NCAAs, other teams will need to compete and succeed against tougher teams. It's going to a long time till F&M will be able to help the CC. Cupboard is bare.

[kansas hokie]

Don't stress too much about it, The UAA this year has 3 of the top 10, but last year only had their one auto-bid (#54 Emory). Centennial will be back and some other conference will drop down to one-bid that we're not used to.

[Ejay]

NPI dials are changing next year, no? That'll throw a wrench into things.

[Freddyfud]

Amici's for lunch, Vacarro's for cannolis,

Two of my all time favorites!  Having flashbacks now. And drooling.

Our other, actually more frequented place was Sabatino's (with our respective parents footing the bill), but we found Amici's during our senior year and it's now our go-to.

Now I am really jealous. I can see the Sabatino's chicken parm now.  Little Italy was a Prom/Homecoming favorite for us Columbia high school kids.  Chiparellis was another one.  I think I had my first cannoli at Vacarro's. 

One of my other favorite places to visit in that neck of the woods was the Walters art museum. I need to plan a pilgrimage.

[kansas hokie]

NPI dials are changing next year, no? That'll throw a wrench into things.

Yep, believe they are. What do you think they need to change?  Here's my first thoughts...

1) Allow for a benefit for Away results, right now home/away is no difference in NPI but it certainly seems to make a difference in results. Honor that.

2) DON'T change the number of wins needed to remove worse results (currently 10). Just look over at women's NPI (8 win threshold) and see how UAA teams float way up there. 10 feels like a better line to draw, keep it there.

[paclassic89]

Change win%/SOS to 25/75
Reduce QWB multiplier to .5
Home/Away multiplier 1.15/0.85

[Freddyfud]

Change win%/SOS to 25/75
Reduce QWB multiplier to .5
Home/Away multiplier 1.15/0.85

I like these.  I might also add bumping up the QWB floor from 54 to 55.  54 is around top 80 this year and last.  55 would be top 57 this year and top 46 last year.