NEWPORT NEWS, Va.— Massachusetts finished the regular season with a perfect 9-0 conference record and will be the top seed for the 2016 Atlantic 10 Conference Lacrosse Championship, which begins Thursday at Duquesne’s Rooney Field in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The championship was expanded to six teams this year, giving UMass and second-seeded George Mason a bye into Friday’s semifinals. The winner of Sunday’s championship final will receive the A-10’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
UMass has not lost an Atlantic 10 game since 2010 and has been the top seed for seven of the last eight A-10 Championships. Led offensively by Erika Eipp and Nicole Troost, the Minutewomen are 16-1 overall and ranked 16th in the country. They will face the quarterfinal winner between No. 4 Saint Joseph’s and No. 5 Davidson at 3:30 pm Friday.
A three-way tie for second place between Mason, Duquesne and Saint Joseph’s, all with conference records of 7-2, was broken by goal differential among the three tied teams. Based on the tiebreaker Duquesne is seeded third and SJU is fourth. Following the bye, the Patriots, who finished the regular season with a 12-4 overall record, will face the winner of No. 3 Duquesne and No. 6 Richmond Friday at 1:00 pm.
Duquesne, as the host, opted to play its quarterfinal game against Richmond at 1:00 pm Thursday. The Dukes closed out the regular season with a 9-7 record. Richmond, which finished 3-6 in league play and 7-9 overall, earned the sixth seed by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker with La Salle.
The fourth-seeded Hawks, with an overall record of 8-9, will play Davidson in the quarterfinals at 3:30 pm Thursday. The Wildcats are seeded fifth after finishing the regular season at 5-4 in the A-10 and 8-8 overall.
All five games of the Lacrosse Championship will be streamed through the A-10 Network, which can be accessed from Atlantic10.com.
Adult tickets for the championship begin at $6, while youth and senior citizen tickets are $4. Students at Atlantic 10 member institutions are admitted free with valid student ID. Ticket information, directions and live links will all be available at Atlantic10.com/championships.