April 24, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.--The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team has wrapped its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference slate of games at 4-4. As of now, SJU is the only team that is done with its conference games and will await its fate while the other eight teams duke it out to determine the fourth and final MAAC Tournament slot, for which the Hawks are still eligible.

Under tie-breaking scenarios, three teams have already qualified for next week's MAAC Lacrosse League Championship. Canisius (7-0), Providence (6-1), and VMI (4-3) qualified based on their play. Manhattan (4-3), Saint Joseph's (4-4), Siena (3-4) will have to wait til Saturday's games are concluded to figure out who will earn fourth place.

Currently, VMI can be caught by Manhattan, SJU and Siena, but hold tie breakers over SJU and Siena by virtue of their wins over them. The Jaspers take on the Keydets this Saturday. A win by Manhattan qualified them for third place while VMI would take fourth place. A VMI win will earn the Keydets third place and force Manhattan, Siena and Saint Joseph's into a tie-breaking scenario assuming Siena knocks off Mount St. Mary's.

Under this circumstance, the tie-breaking procedures go for head-to-head with the other teams tied. SJU, Manhattan and Siena all own 1-1 records against the other tied teams, therefore the next tie-breaker of highest opponent defeated will be used. Assuming Manhattan loses to VMI and Siena defeats MSM, all three teams will have defeated and lost to all the similar teams in the conference.

The only tie-breaker after that would be a "coin toss." Since there are three teams, draws from a hat will be used. If the scenario plays out, the MAAC Commissioner will put the three names into a hat, and whatever school is pulled from the hat will earn fourth place in the MAAC Tournament at Siena.

Stay tuned to updates at www.sjuhawks.com regarding the Hawks' men's lacrosse team and its postseason hopes. By the time Saint Joseph's takes the field Saturday night in its Senior Night vs. Penn State, the Hawks' fate should already be known concerning the draw.

If a draw takes place, it will happen no earlier than Sunday evening but no later than 9:00 a.m. Monday morning. Details will be distributed by the MAAC offices once they become necessary and the available representation of the involved schools is ensured.

As a reminder, the game against Penn State is a 7:00 p.m. face-off. SJU's game against the Nittany Lions is Qdoba Night with free tacos being served to attending fans around 6:00 p.m. Also, the Hawks will be honoring its 10 departing seniors and graduate students on Saturday night for their dedication to SJU lacrosse.

MAAC STANDINGS
*Canisius 7-0
*Providence 6-1
*VMI 4-3
Manhattan 4-3
Saint Joseph's 4-4
Siena 3-4
^Marist 2-5
^Mt. St. Mary's 2-5
^Wagner 0-7
*-Clinched spot in MAAC Men's Lacrosse Championship
^-Eliminated from MAAC Men's Lacrosse Championship

SATURDAY'S MAAC SCHEDULE
Providence at Canisius, 11 a.m.
Wagner at Marist, 1 p.m.
VMI at Manhattan, 1 p.m.
Siena at Mt. St. Mary's, 1 p.m.
Penn St. at Saint Joseph's, 7 p.m.

OFFICIAL TIE-BREAKING SCENARIOS FROM MAAC

IF SIENA LOSES ON SATURDAY
Siena will finish 3-5 and will not qualify. The winner of the VMI/Manhattan game will finish at 5-3 and will qualify for the championship. The loser of the VMI/Manhattan game will finish at 4-4, and will be tied with Saint Joseph's. Both VMI and Manhattan win the first tiebreaker against Saint Joseph's. Thus, if Siena loses on Saturday, VMI and Manhattan will both qualify for the championship and Saint Joseph's and Siena will not.

IF SIENA AND MANHATTAN WIN ON SATURDAY
Manhattan will finish at 5-3 and will qualify for the championship. VMI, Saint Joseph's and Siena will be tied at 4-4. The first tiebreaker in this scenario is to form a mini-conference with the three tied teams. In that mini-conference, VMI would be 2-0, Saint Joseph's would be 1-1, and Siena would be 0-2. Thus, VMI would qualify for the championship.

IF SIENA AND VMI WIN ON SATURDAY
VMI would finish at 5-3 and qualify for the championship. Manhattan, Saint Joseph's and Siena would be tied at 4-4. In this mini-conference scenario, all three teams would be 1-1. The next step in the tie breaker is to compare the record of the three tied teams against the other teams in the conference in the order of the final standings. All three teams have lost to Canisius; all three teams have lost to Providence; all three teams will have lost to VMI (Manhattan would have to lose to VMI this Saturday to make this scenario possible). Skipping past the mini-conference teams, all three teams have defeated Marist, all three teams will have defeated Mount Saint Mary's (Siena must defeat Mount Saint Mary's this Saturday to make this scenario possible), and all three teams have defeated Wagner. Since the three teams would remain tied through the steps of the tiebreaker, the final decision would rest with a coin flip by the commissioner, or in this case (with three teams tied), the names of the three teams would be placed in a hat and the commissioner would draw the name of one team; that team would qualify for the championship.

After reviewing the possible tiebreaking scenarios, this is known:
Canisius, Providence and VMI have all qualified for the championship (VMI by either winning on Saturday or emerging through the tiebreaking scenario). The fourth spot will be filled by either Manhattan, Saint Joseph's or Siena, with Manhattan as the only team that can qualify without having to win the coin flip/name draw scenario.