Seeds Still Undecided as Final Day Approaches in Patriot League

By: Akshai Wadhwani        October 25, 2017

BOSTON — This coming Saturday will mark the final match-day of the regular season for Patriot League women’s soccer. In a string of five matches ranging from noon to early evening, all ten teams in the conference will play their final fixtures.

With one game remaining in the regular season for each team, there’s still a lot left to play for. Although several teams have already clinched playoff berths, seeding remains wide open.

Here is what the Patriot League table currently looks like:

*clinched playoff berth

Now, here is a list of Saturday’s matchups:

American vs. Army West Point       Boston vs. Colgate             Navy vs. Bucknell

Loyola Maryland vs. Lafayette       Lehigh vs. Holy Cross

As the table shows, BU is right in the thick of it. The Terriers sit in a favorable fourth seed spot — but they have not yet secured it. A number of Saturday’s fixtures, as well as their own, could affect the Terriers’ seeding. The scarlet and white’s final place in the conference standings is very much undecided, and could go one of three ways:

BU takes the No. 4 seed

Criteria: BU draws Colgate OR Lehigh draws/loses to Holy Cross

A draw against Colgate would be enough to clinch fourth place for the Terriers. The result would leave BU with 17 points. Even if Lehigh beats Holy Cross, they would only draw even with the Terriers at the same points total. In that case, the fourth seed would still go to BU — in the Patriot League, deadlocks in points between two teams are decided via head-to-head competition; however, since the Terriers and Mountain Hawks tied in their only game of the year, the next tie-breaker is outcomes against Patriot League opponents starting with the highest seed. Both BU and Lehigh lost to Navy and Bucknell, but the Mountain Hawks also fell to third-place Colgate. If the Terriers beat the Raiders, BU will own the tie-breaker.

A Lehigh draw or loss against Holy Cross would also see the Terriers clinch the fourth spot. That would put the Mountain Hawks at least one point behind BU even if the Terriers were to lose.

BU takes the No. 5 seed

Criteria: BU loses to Colgate AND Lehigh beats Holy Cross

A BU loss to the Raiders, along with a Lehigh victory against Holy Cross, would result in the Terriers surrendering the fourth seed to the Mountain Hawks and dropping into a fifth place finish. Lehigh would finish with 17 points, thus catapulting them a point above BU.

BU takes the No. 3 seed

Criteria: BU beats Colgate

The Terriers also have the chance to climb up to third place. A win against the Raiders on Saturday would earn BU a final total of 19 points, boosting them two points clear of Colgate into the third seed spot.

The overall takeaway for Nancy Feldman’s BU team is that Saturday’s match against Colgate will have enormous ramifications for their situation heading into the playoffs. The Terriers will have to train hard — and play harder — in order to keep their favorable positioning in the conference tournament. The Patriot League postseason kicks off on Halloween night with Quarterfinal action.