Trinity tops the final public NCAA regional rankings, Williams comes in at eight

RANK/REGION	SCHOOL		IN-REGION RECORD		OVERALL RECORD
EAST
1.	Trinity (Conn.)		21-3-0		21-4-0
2.	SUNY Geneseo		20-5-0		21-5-0
3.	Norwich		17-4-2		19-5-3
4.	Babson		17-4-1		21-4-2
5.	Oswego State		19-6-2		19-6-2
6.	Utica		16-6-4		16-6-4
7.	Plattsburgh State		19-5-2		19-5-2
8.	Williams		15-7-3		15-7-3
WEST
1.	St. Norbert		24-3-1		24-3-1
2.	St. Thomas (Minn.)		20-4-2		20-4-2
3.	Adrian		22-2-4		22-2-4
4.	Wisconsin-Stevens Point		20-5-2		20-5-2
5.	Wisconsin-Eau Claire		18-8-1		18-8-1
6.	Gustavus Adolphus		16-6-4		16-6-4

Source
Raw data used for rankings 

Today the NCAA released its third and final public regional rankings, used to determine seeding and at-large bids in the NCAA tournament, and Trinity once again topped the East Region. Williams, who made the initial rankings at number six but fell out of top eight last week, returns to the rankings at number eight. The Ephs make the rankings thanks in large part to the East region's best record against ranked teams (one of the primary criteria). The 15-7-3 Ephs defeated Trinity, Babson and Plattsburgh once each and lost to the Bantams for a 3-1-0 record against ranked teams.

The continued appearance of Trinity in the top spot makes it very realistic that the NESCAC could get two teams into the 11 team NCAA tournament should the Bantams make it to the NESCAC tournament finals and lose. The winner of the NESCAC tournament receives an automatic or "Pool-A" bid into the tournament.

This past weekend the NESCAC regular season champs dismantled eight seed Wesleyan, 9-1, to host the upcoming NESCAC Championship weekend. The top seed Bantams face off against fifth seed Bowdoin in one semifinal following second seed Amherst and third seed Williams in the other semi match-up.

Should Trinity defeat Bowdoin to reach the NESCAC finals, they will face either the Ephs or Lord Jeffs, whom the Bantams have a combined 1-3 record against this season. The Bantams defeated the Ephs at the Koeppel Center but blew a 2-0 lead after two periods to Williams at Frozen Fenway to lose 4-2.  Amherst did even better, sweeping the season series with Trinity to account for half of the Bantams losses on the season (21-4-0).

The most interesting scenario might be if Trinity loses in the semis. While 2013 NESCAC Coach of the Year Matt Greason's team has a good shot at grabbing one of the three at-large bids to the NCAA tournament should they lose in the finals, it's impossible to say at this point what their chances are should they lose to the Polar Bears in the semis. Greason is the grandson of A. LeRoy Greason, former president of Bowdoin.

A final regional rankings will be generated this Sunday, March 9th, but the results will not be made available to the public.  The NCAA will webcast a tournament selection show where they will reveal the bracket on  Sunday night at 10 PM. The webcast is free and available to the public.


Don't forget to vote (on the left sidebar) for which one of the four teams in the NESCAC semis you think will win the postseason conference crown.