On Friday, the MAC had nine teams involved in NCAA championships and today they have six plus three individuals. Over the weekend, fall championship teams compiled a 9-6 record with Messiah’s soccer teams and field hockey team advancing.

In volleyball, Lebanon Valley defeated Ithaca 3-1 before falling to perennial national power Juniata, and Eastern had an easy time with Richard Stockton (3-0) before succumbing to Christopher Newport (3-2), a team the Eagles had beaten earlier in the year. Both Juniata and CNU won again on Sunday and head to St. Louis with six other teams to compete for the national crown. Fairleigh Dickinson Florham, seeded third in the ECAC Metro/Upstate volleyball tournament, upended #2 seed Ramapo and then finished the job against #1 seed Elmira to bring home the hardware.

In field hockey, Eastern defeated Stevens 1-0 and then fell to host Skidmore 4-3 while Lebanon Valley used their scoring prowess to knock off Cortland 5-4 and then lose to host Bowdoin 4-3 in overtime. Messiah had an easy time advancing by beating Lynchburg 7-0 and Salisbury 4-1. The Lynchburg victory avenged a 2-1 defeat in Virginia earlier in the season, and the Falcons, loser of the 2009 championship game to Salisbury 1-0, have now topped the Seagulls twice this year (3-0 in Grantham earlier is season). They now face Ursinus in the semi-finals at 11 AM at Christopher Newport University, a team they defeated earlier at Collegeville 4-2 and in last year’s semi-finals 4-3.

In men’s soccer, DeSales lost a tough one to Swarthmore on their field 2-1. Messiah had to go to overtime to top Montclair 2-1 at home and now play Medaille, penalty kick winner over Swarthmore.

In women’s soccer, #1 Messiah easily handled MAC foe Manhattanville and NJAC representative Rowan by identical scores, 4-0. They now face Dickinson.

With cross country regionals behind them, two MAC teams and three individuals prepare to travel to Wartburg, Iowa next weekend for the NCAA championship meet. Elizabethtown, winners of the men’s and women’s races at the MAC meet two weeks ago, ran third (women) and fourth (men) at Slippery Rock this past Saturday and earned at-large bids for their performance. Caitlin Dorgan, Delaware Valley runner who had won seven straight races, took second at regionals by a nose – the film had to be reviewed to verify the finish. She, Jenn Cronin, Lebanon Valley, and Tyler Newhook, Messiah join the two Blue Jay teams in Iowa.

It was not mystery heading into the last week on conference play that Delaware Valley (6-1, 8-2) was conference champion and would by the MAC AQ in the NCAA championships. What was a surprise, was their loss to rival Widener 28-27 as the clock ran out. The Pride (4-3, 5-5) ended the season by defeating the two top MAC teams – DVC and Wilkes. Despite the loss, the Aggies host Salisbury at Noon this Saturday and if they win, are likely to head to Alliance, Ohio to face perennial national champion Mount Union who plays a 5-5 St. Lawrence team in the first round. Lebanon Valley (5-2, 6-4) was picked to finish second in the conference, but after opening the season 1-4, a winning record looked like a challenge. They responded with five straight wins, the last this weekend against Albright (3-4, 5-5), to earn an ECAC Bowl bid for the second year in a row. They go to Baltimore to challenge Centennial foe Johns Hopkins (7-3). Based on records, it didn’t look as though King’s (1-6, 1-9) would have much of a chance against in-town rival Wilkes (5-2, 6-4), but the Colonels needed everything to prevail 21-17 and earn an ECAC bid at home against Moravian, loser to Lebanon Valley in the third week of the season. After three straight conference losses, Lycoming (4-3, 6-4) had to pull all the stops to beat FDU (0-7, 3-7) 17-10 in Madison.