DUDLEY, Mass. (April 26) -- The Nichols College women's lacrosse team has qualified for the The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) championship tournament, which begins with quarterfinal round games on Saturday, April 30. The Bison, who were in a three-way tie for the eighth seed, earned the tournament's final berth via coin toss Monday afternoon. Nichols returns to the playoffs for the second time in program history and the first time since 2007, and will travel to top-seeded Western New England for a 4 p.m. game Saturday.

TCCC tiebreaking procedures came down to the three-way coin toss. Nichols, New England College and the University of New England each finished with identical 3-8 conference records. All three teams posted 1-1 records in conference games played among the three schools and had identical records against every other team in the league. There were no common opponents among the three teams and each team had identical records against opponents with a .500 winning percentage or higher. As a result, a three-way coin toss was employed with Nichols emerging as the winner.

The Golden Bears (13-4 overall) claimed the top seed in the conference tournament after posting a 10-1 record in TCCC play. Western New England and second-seeded Endicott finished with identical 10-1 conference records, but the Golden Bears earned the top seed by virtue of a 15-12 victory in the teams' lone matchup this season. The top-seeded Golden Bears will open the tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against #8 seed Nichols College (4-11 overall, 3-8 TCCC) in Springfield, Mass.

Three other quarterfinal games are also slated for Saturday, April 30, including #2 seed Endicott College (11-5, 10-1) hosting #7 seed Salve Regina University (7-9, 5-6) in Beverly, Mass., #3 seed Curry College (14-3, 9-2) hosting #6 seed Colby-Sawyer College (8-9, 6-5) in Milton, Mass., and #4 seed Roger Williams University (11-6, 8-3) hosting #5 seed Gordon College (10-6, 8-3) in Bristol, R.I.

Quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round on Wednesday, May 4. Tournament action culminates with the championship game on Saturday, May 7. The TCCC tournament champion will earn an automatic berth in the upcoming 2011 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship.


Courtesy The Commonwealth Coast Conference

Full TCCC Release