New for the 2011-2012 seasons, the America East Daily Word, a collaboration between AmericaEast.com and AExtra will recap the previous day's games and on goings on our nine campuses and provide links to recaps, previews, features and exclusive coverage.
We
have reached the final weekend of the regular season in men’s and women’s
lacrosse and playoff bids and seeds are still at stake.
On
the men’s side, three teams have already locked down postseason berths with
Stony Brook, Albany and UMBC all qualifying. Those three teams are tied atop
the league standings and all could collect the top seed and earn home field
advantage throughout the conference tourney. The Seawolves and Great Danes square
off Saturday night under the lights in Albany while UMBC travels to Binghamton
to take on the Bearcats.
Stony
Brook is the only team to control its own destiny. A Seawolf would win at
Albany would give them the No. 1 seed for the third straight year. Albany would
grab the top seed with a win over Stony Brook and a UMBC loss at Binghamton,
while the Retrievers pick up No. 1 if it beats Binghamton and Albany beats
Stony Brook.
Vermont
and Hartford get together on Saturday night as well and the final playoff spot
belongs to the winner. The Hawks could move up to the No. 3 seed with a win and
a Stony Brook loss since they have the tiebreaker over the Seawolves.
On
the women’s side, two seeds have already been decided as Boston University will
be No. 1 and Stony Brook No. 2. UMBC has clinched a playoff spot and will learn
its seed after the weekend’s action. Vermont, New Hampshire and Albany sit in a
three-way tie for the last postseason bid.
Vermont
hosts Albany in a huge game for both teams while New Hampshire travels to Stony
Brook to take on the Seawolves. UMBC closed out its regular season with a 7-6
win over No. 19 John’s Hopkins on Wednesday while Boston University looks to
clinch the regular season title outright with a win at Binghamton.
The
Albany-Vermont winner will keep its postseason hopes alive while the loser will
be eliminated. The winner will also need UNH to lose to Stony Brook in order to
earn the four seed, while UMBC would be the three seed in that scenario. Should
the Wildcats defeat the Seawolves, UNH would own the three-way tiebreaker
between UMBC and the Albany/Vermont winner to capture the three seed, and UMBC
would fall to the four seed.
For
all the live coverage links for a huge weekend of lacrosse action, check out
AmericaEast.com.
For more of the Daily Word, check out the AExtra Blog.