Of the 24 conferences, 21 decide their auto bid via conference tournament. Of those 21 conferences, 4 allow all schools to participate. The remaining 17 conferences have formats in which at least one school is eliminated through conference play. ATLANTIC SUN CONFERENCE 6 of 7 advance to tournament Clinched: FGCU, Lipscomb, Jacksonville BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE 6 of 9 advance to tournament Clinched: High Point Eliminated: UNC Asheville BIG WEST CONFERENCE 6 of 8 advance to tournament Clinched: UC Irvine COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 6 of 9 advance to tournament Clinched: James Madison, UNCW SOUTHERN CONFERENCE 6 of 7 advance to tournament Clinched: Mercer, Furman, ETSU WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE 7 of 12 advance to tournament Ineligible: Cal Baptist
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE 6 of 7 advance to tournament Clinched: Loyola Chicago, Missouri State CORRECTION: SOUTHERN CONFERENCE 7 of 7 advance to tournament Clinched: Everyone
The MAC has changed this year. Either all teams automatically qualify, or 6 out of 6 qualify. Not sure which. Or why, for that matter.
Yes, the MAC went from four to six...as did the AAC. The Missouri Valley went from 7 to 6, the Southern went from 6 to 7 (due to Belmont joining) and the Sun Belt went from 6 to 5 (Coastal Carolina leaving). I thought the Southern was going to stay at 6, which is why I originally posted that three had clinched spots. In reality, they're all in...even VMI.
Which might make the season-ending game between Portland and St Mary's the "tournament", although I suspect the loser will be entered to t he NCAA tournament as an at-large selection.
UC Riverside (6-9-1, 4-2-0) is the 2nd team to qualify for the 6-team Big West Conference Tournament. Monmouth (2-11-1, 0-7-0) has been eliminated from contention to make the MAAC Tournament.
More clinchings and eliminations from the Saturday night games...here’s the entire update AMERICA EAST 6 of 8 advance to tournament Clinched: Stony Brook (new) AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE 6 of 8 advance to tournament Clinched: Connecticut (new), UCF (new), SMU (new) ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE 7 of 13 advance to tournament Clinched: VCU (new) Eliminated: La Salle (new) ATLANTIC SUN CONFERENCE 6 of 7 advance to tournament Clinched: FGCU, Lipscomb, Jacksonville, Liberty (new) BIG EAST CONFERENCE 6 of 10 advance to tournament Clinched: Creighton (new) BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE 6 of 10 advance to tournament Clinched: High Point Eliminated: UNC Asheville BIG WEST CONFERENCE 6 of 8 advance to tournament Clinched: UC Irvine, UC Riverside COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 6 of 9 advance to tournament Clinched: James Madison, UNCW, Hofstra (new) CONFERENCE USA 7 of 9 advance to tournament Clinched: FIU HORIZON LEAGUE 6 of 9 advance to tournament Clinched: Wright State (new) Eliminated: Detroit Mercy (new) METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE 6 of 11 advance to tournament Clinched: Fairfield (new) Eliminated: Monmouth MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE 6 of 7 advance to tournament Clinched: Loyola Chicago, Missouri State, Central Arkansas (new) SOUTHERN CONFERENCE 6 of 7 advance to tournament Clinched: Mercer, Furman, ETSU SUMMIT LEAGUE 4 of 6 advance to tournament Clinched: Denver (new) WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE 7 of 12 advance to tournament Ineligible: Cal Baptist
Idle Air Force is the 1st team to clinch a spot in the 7-team WAC Tournament due to UNLV's 1-0 win at Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word's 3-1 victory over CSU Bakersfield.
Bryant's 1-0 victory at Sacred Heart means LIU Brooklyn (10-4-1, 5-1-0) has made the 4-team Northeast Conference Tournament.
Old Dominion and Charlotte have qualified for the CUSA tourney. Cal is officially eliminated from the Pac-12 race.
UCI GOLAZZZOOOOOOO!!! ⚽🔥⚽🔥⚽🔥⚽🔥⚽🔥⚽🔥'EATERS WIN THE BIG WEST ON A GOAL WITH 2 SECONDS LEFT IN THE DOUBLE OVERTIMEUCI WINS 3-2 #RipEm— UCI Men's Soccer (@UCImsoc) October 22, 2018 UC Irvine clinches the #1 seed for the Big West Tournament. UCI's win also makes UC Santa Barbara the 3rd team to make the tourney.
Delaware clinched in CAA. LINK Game Recap: Men's Soccer | 10/20/2018 10:21:00 PM Clinched! Blue Hens Secure Spot in CAA Tournament After Impressive 2-2 Draw at No. 11 UNCW
Sometimes the schools themselves, and the announcers, don't know when they've clinched...or have been eliminated. I heard that Cal Poly's play-by-play guy said the Mustangs were eliminated when they lost to UC Irvine at 109:58. I had them at a tragic number of 1, and I follow the Big West anyway so I ran all the scenarios. There is a way in which CP sneaks up and grabs the 6th seed: they have to win at UCSB, Sac State-Davis must end in a draw and CSUN must lose. The Sac State-Davis game will be in the books by CP-UCSB kickoff, so there's a pretty good chance they will be toast by then.
That would result in Cal Poly, Sac State, and Northridge tied in the conference basement at 7 points (and perhaps Fullerton too if they lose to Riverside). What is the 3-way (or 4-way) tiebreaker method?
First tiebreaker is winning percentage within the tied group. All three are 1-1-0 vs. the other two. The 2nd tiebreaker is goal differential. The current differentials are CSUN (-1), Cal Poly (-2) and Sac State (-6). Since in this scenario Cal Poly will have won and CSUN will have lost, Cal Poly would earn the 6th seed with the best goal differential. If Fullerton makes it a 4-way tie, Fullerton wins the tiebreaker with the most points in the tied group and is seeded 5th. Then we are back to our 3-way tie...the way the Big West tiebreaker rules are written you start over after one team has been determined to win the previous tiebreaker. So Cal Poly would win out just like above, and be seeded 6th.
Our first conference tourney match is set: (5) UNCG will visit (4) Wofford in the Southern Conference 2nd round on Nov. 3.
Delaware will finish ahead of Drexel and Elon, and holds the tiebreaker over Charleston. (per the UD website)
BIG EAST: Georgetown is 2nd team of 6 to clinch MAAC: Quinnipiac is 2nd team of 6 to clinch, Niagara 2nd team to be eliminated PATRIOT: Loyola Maryland is 1st team of 6 to clinch