ATLANTIC 10
Format and site: Four teams, April 30/May 2, Richmond, Va.
Top seed: The winner of Friday’s game between Richmond (11-1, 5-0) and High Point (6-6, 5-0) — a rematch of last year’s conference title game — will determine the outright regular season champion.
Also clinched: The Richmond-High Point loser will be the No. 2 seed.
Still to sort out: Two of Delaware (5-7, 3-2), UMass (10-4, 3-3) and Saint Joseph’s (5-5, 2-3) will complete the field. Delaware winning at Saint Joseph’s on Friday would avoid the need for tiebreakers; the Blue Hens would be the No. 3 seed, UMass would finish in fourth by itself and the Hawks would miss the field.
If Saint Joseph’s wins, it would create a three-way deadlock. UMass beat Saint Joseph’s 14-12 and lost 8-7 to Delaware. The logjam would likely be settled by goals allowed in head-to-head competition. That currently sits at Delaware 7, Saint Joseph’s 14, UMass 20, and a two-way tie in this would revert to head-to-head result. So long as Saint Joseph’s doesn’t win by the exact margin of 13-6, there won’t be a need to go to another tiebreak.
This week’s race to polish off regular-season titles and simply extend seasons by a handful of days should be frenetic.
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