Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham, Lebanon Valley, Messiah, and Eastern had all their fall teams (volleyball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and field hockey) qualify for the conference championships this week. Ten of those sixteen teams advance and will compete for the right to be in the NCAA tournament next week.

In field hockey, Messiah and Eastern will try to defend their 2009 conference crowns. #8 Eastern advances after shutting out Delaware Valley at home. After a tough 2-1 double overtime win against FDU, King’s travels to Eastern to try to knock off the two-time Freedom Conference champs in a 1 PM game. In the regular season, the Monarchs lost 4-3 to the Eagles at home. Messiah and Lebanon Valley are regular combatants for the Commonwealth title, and this year is no different. Messiah advances after an easy win over Alvernia, but the Dutchman had a much tougher time prevailing over Elizabethtown 4-2. This game features the #1 (Falcons) and #2 (Dutchmen), so both are assured of NCAA post-season play, but the conference championship may impact their seeding. In the regular season, Messiah won in 3-2 in overtime on LVC’s grass field. This time they square off on the Falcon’s turf at 1 PM, definitely a home field advantage.

The #8 Eastern volleyball team advances to the Freedom championship match at 6 PM on Saturday with a win over DeSales on Wednesday; FDU did not have as easy a time reaching the championship as they had to dig deep to overcome a Misericordia 2-1 lead. The Devils are 30-7 but lost to the Eagles 3-0 in the regular season. FDU will also be facing a gym full of partisan Eastern fans who expect to see their team go deep into the NCAA tournament next week. Elizabethtown and Lebanon Valley have dominated the Commonwealth in recent years with LVC prevailing the last two seasons. Things may reverse this year as the Dutchman have to travel to Elizabethtown and lost to the Jays on their court 3-1 last week. In the semi-finals, Etown avenged an early season loss to Widener with a 3-0 win; LVC had to come from 2-0 down to win 15-12 in the final set to Messiah. Things should be rocking in Thompson Gym at 3 PM tomorrow.

Many feel the #1 undefeated Messiah women’s soccer team will hang another NCAA championship banner in Grantham, but visiting Arcadia hopes to help their case in getting a shot at the NCAA’s as they meet the Falcons on Saturday at 5 PM. Messiah has allowed two goals all year, one on them in the 3-1 win over the Knights. Arcadia, ranked #6 in the region, battled Lebanon Valley (#7 in region) to a 1-0 victory on Wednesday as the Falcons cruised past Alvernia. This is a repeat of last year’s Commonwealth championship game. The Freedom Conference will have a new champion this year, as Eastern, the 2008 and 2009 champs, fell to Manhattanville at home on penalty kicks. The Valiants head to FDU for the title game at 1 PM where the Devils defeated them 1-0 in the regular season. This past week FDU was ranked #8 in the region, but had to overcome a 1-0 Misericordia lead to win 2-1 and advance to Saturday’s championship.

The Freedom Conference will have a new champion this year, as Misericordia, the 2008 and 2009 champ, lost 2-1 to DeSales on Tuesday. The Bulldogs host Eastern who won 2-1 on a penalty kick in overtime against FDU, the team that beat them the previous week. The Eagles lost to DeSales in Center Valley 2-0, and will again have to contend with an unfamiliar grass field. Commonwealth power #3 Messiah has won 17 straight after an opening season overtime loss to Hobart. They host their cross-river rival Elizabethtown at 8 PM on Saturday. The Blue Jays are ranked #8 in the region and hope a strong performance pushes them into the NCAA tournament if they don’t win. The Falcons won the regular season match up 3-1 last weekend in the infamous marshmallow game with about 3,000 in attendance.

Delaware Valley (5-0, 7-1), ranked #8 in the nation, hopes to clinch the MAC football title and NCAA bid as they head to Albright (3-2, 5-3) for a 1 PM game. Albright’s powerful offense will face the top defense in the league as the Aggies have relinquished two touchdowns in their last three games, and only about eight points a game overall. Wilkes (4-1, 5-3) heads down the Turnpike to Chester for a tough game against Widener (2-3, 3-5). On paper in looks as though the Colonels are the favorite, but the Pride’s last two losses were by a total of 11 points to Albright and Lebanon Valley. The Dutchmen (3-2, 4-4) play at Lycoming (3-2, 5-3) for a shot at moving into second place in the MAC standings. LVC has won two straight with close wins over King’s and Widener; the Warriors have suffered two straight setbacks against the top MAC teams, DVC and Wilkes. FDU (0-5, 3-5) travel to King’s (0-5, 0-8) for a battle for seventh place.