With a 4-2 record in the Centennial Conference, McDaniel has moved into a favorable position to earn a berth in the league tournament. But coach Matt Hatton isn't sitting back and enjoying the view just yet.
Between 2007 and 2013, a team with five conference wins played in the Centennial tournament. But last season, Ursinus (5-3) was left out of the playoff picture courtesy of losing a head-to-head tiebreaker with Gettysburg (5-3).
This spring, the Green Terror (7-5 overall) are tied with Washington (5-7 overall and 4-2 league) for fourth place in the standings, and Franklin & Marshall (6-7, 3-2) is just a half-game behind. That's why Hatton is cautious about the team's prospects.
"Years ago, four wins would do it because everybody was beating everybody," he said Thursday morning. "I don't know if five wins gets somebody definitively in, but I certainly feel a lot better about five than I do about four. I think five wins –- given the circumstances of where we are -– would put us in a pretty good situation, but two of the teams we're jockeying with for one of those spots are Washington and Franklin & Marshall, who have both beaten us.
"So if it came down to a tiebreaker, we would lose to both of those teams because they have the head-to-head on us. There's obviously nothing we can do to control what they do. So we just want to try to get better and play our best lacrosse at this point."
The challenge for McDaniel is the regular season ends with contests against No. 2 Gettysburg (12-0, 5-0) on Saturday and No. 13 Ursinus (9-2, 4-1) on April 25. The Green Terror owned a 15-10 advantage over the Bullets in the fourth quarter before Gettysburg staged a furious comeback to escape with a 16-15 win on April 26, 2014.
Hatton, who described himself as a history buff, said he isn't afraid to discuss that devastating loss.
"I think the whole thing we would talk about from last year at this point -– because we've had a whole year to chew on that pill –- is more about, 'Hey, if you play well, this team that we're playing against is comprised almost exclusively of the same guys we had an opportunity to beat last year,'" he said. "I'm not saying that's how the game is going to go this year, but if nothing else, that's a confidence builder. If we play well, we can play with these guys. How that translates into Saturday, nobody really knows yet."