ATTLEBORO, Mass. – The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) announced on Saturday its seeding for the league’s 2018 championship tournament with Southern Vermont College taking the No. 3 seed for the third-straight year.
SVC finished the season with a 5-2 mark in NECC action (6-8 overall) and will host sixth-seeded Mitchell College (3-4 NECC, 4-8 overall) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. The Mountaineers defeated MC 20-8 on Saturday in both teams’ regular season finale.
“What a great situation for our program,” said SVC fourth-year head coach Thomas L. Otero. “We have played through adversity—going without starting players at various times these last five or six games, which gave a lot of our backup, second-level players an opportunity to get better with game experience. We are looking forward to hosting a playoff game; it would be great to get a win in front of the Southern Vermont College fans.”
With a victory, Southern Vermont will advance to play at No. 2 Wheelock College on Thursday in the semifinals. The other semi sees top-seeded Elms College (7-0 NECC, 8-8 overall) hosting the winner of No. 5 Newbury College (3-4 NECC, 3-10 overall) at No. 4 Bay Path University (3-4 NECC, 3-8 overall). BPU took the three-way tiebreaker with the best in-division strength of schedule for the fourth seed, and NC’s win over Mitchell then gave the Nighthawks the fifth spot.
Thursday’s two winners will move on to play at the highest remaining seed on Saturday for the title and a shot to play in the NCAA Division III tournament.
“For us to make a run at the Conference championship, we’ll have to continue to play the way we did today against Mitchell with great passing and team play,” Otero added. “Getting our players who have been out back into the starting lineup will be a big plus for us, and if the team goes hard like they’ve been doing, we should have a good shot at it.”
2018 NECC Women’s Lacrosse Tournament
First Round - Tuesday, May 1
Game 1: #6 Mitchell @ #3 Southern Vermont – 4:30 p.m.
Game 2: #5 Newbury @ #4 Bay Path – TBA
Semifinals - Thursday, May 3
Game 3: Game 1 Winner @ #2 Wheelock – TBA
Game 4: Game 2 Winner @ #1 Elms – TBA
Championship - Saturday, May 5
Game 5: Semifinal Winners @ Highest Remaining Seed – TBA
– #LetsGoSVC –