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Sunday May 9th, 2021 10:00am
(Photo by Fred Maurer Photography)
Twenty-seven of the 28 automatic qualifiers to the NCAA Tournament have been decided after a huge slate of conference championship action Saturday. While the end results mostly went to script, how some of the games were decided was a bit shocking.
The Empire 8 championship kicks off noon Sunday to decide the final ticket. After that, we will have to wait until the Selection Show for the field to be officially announced and for those ever so evasive Pool C bids. There are only two Pool C bids his year and the looming storyline that might be more interesting is how the NCAA Selection Committee will balance the bracket, with a potentially more treacherous road in the East and a cleaner path in the Midwest.
Centre : Nolan Irey, Wills McCutcheon, Jack Shannon, Will Hubbs (MVP)
No. 1 Tufts 15, Dartmouth 9
Tufts dominated in a day trip to Dartmouth for a DI vs. DIII
crossover game born out of COVID scheduling circumstances. It’s rare that these
types of DI vs DIII games occur and man did the Jumbos represent DIII nation.
The transition was clicking and that impeccable Tufts ball
movement that nobody seems to be able to keep up with was on display. Countless
goals and opportunities were created by simple ball movement and occupying
space wisely.
The standard killers for the Jumbos were prominent in the
Mon Apr 19 2021 | Kyle Devitte | College
PHOTO BY RICH BARNES / CORTLAND ATHLETICS
In a week riddled with predictable results, the top 10 remains stable, but the rest of the ranks have seen some sizable shifts. While Tufts has continued to establish its dominance, it hasn’t been quite enough to unseat RIT.
Had the Tigers not been able to beat their recent opponents and been forced to take a lengthy break, that narrative might be different, but in this reality, RIT is still the king in the north. Salisbury remains in the middle seat, representing the Mid-Atlantic well after taking care of business yet again this week by defeating Christopher Newport 17-5.
(Photo Courtesy of Gettysburg Athletics)
Gettysburg re-asserted itself atop the Centennial Conference in what was absolutely one of the best games of the 2021 DIII season, beating Ursinus 10-9 in overtime.
At the time of the shutdown in 2020 Ursinus was 7-0, had beaten two ranked opponents (Stevenson & CNU), and was oozing with confidence. Their next scheduled game was a home game against the Bullets. It never happened.
In 2019 Ursinus had a similar start; it was 7-0 and had beaten three ranked opponents (Stevenson, Cortland, & CNU) before falling to Gettysburg. In the 2019 Centennial playoffs, Ursinus strung together a comeback win against F&M in the semis and then a shock to Gettysburg in the championship. Understanding the history of these two teams since the arrival of Coach Mercadante is necessary to comprehend the importance of this most recent edition of the budding Gettysburg vs. Ursinus rivalry.