IWLCA Poll for Women's Division II - April 30

[DakotaDan]

The Le Moyne Dolphins retook the No. 1 ranking this week, but four teams were tabbed for the slot as the rae for No. 1 tightened last week. Adelphi moved to No. 2 despite four first-place votes while both C. W. Post and Limestone picked up two No. 1 nominations. The same 15 schools remained in the rankings from last week.

The NE-10 continues to lead all conferences with seven ranked teams, including a 1-2 start with Le Moyne and Adelphi. New Haven (No. 7), Stonehill (No. , and Bentley (No. 9) form a block in the top-10, giving the league half of the top-10 in the poll. Merrimack moved to No. 13 and St. Anselm remained in the poll at No. 15.

The PSAC claimed three schools in the poll, starting with West Chester at No. 6. Lock Haven rounded out the top-10 at No. 10, and Gannon moved up two slots to land at No. 12.

The ECC has two teams in the rankings, starting with C. W. Post remains at No. 3 while Dowling just misses the top 10 at No. 11. Limestone from the Conference Carolinas picked up two first-place votes but moved to No. 5. The two Florida schools remain in the poll, with Rollins dropping to No. 4 and Florida Southern holding at No. 14.

On Wednesday, the NE-10 tournament starts off as No. 8 Stonehill hosts No. 13 Merrimack and No. 9 Bentley hosts No. 7 New Haven. On Saturday, No. 1 Le Moyne hosts the semifinals and the Dolphins play the winner of New Haven/Bentley while No. 2 Adelphi plays the winner of Stonehill/Merrimack. The same day No. 3 C. W. Post plays No. 11 Dowling.

This is the tenth weekly poll for the IWLCA for the 2012 season; the next regular-season poll will be released May 8.

The rankings are available at IWLCA Division II Poll. This link as well as those to other polls can be found on the Polls page.

[lp2011]

I would say to the people that do the poll enjoy your vacation cause clearly you are already on it.

[DallasLaxDad]

Let's see if I understand this. 15-1 LeMoyne loses to West Chester. 13-2 C.W. Post loses to West Chester. West Chester is 14-2, with the losses coming to South Region teams. Yet, LeMoyne is no. 1, C.W. Post is no. 3, and West Chester is no better than no. 6?

You're kidding, right?

And, the poll still has two teams from the North Region, one below .500 and one at .500, while teams in the South Region with significantly better resumes and records are not included???

[doubleteam]

Limestone with one loss, and receives 2 first place votes, yet they still drop down to # 5.

[redfrommi]

What a shuffle! I can fully understand the "vacation" part - Limestone plays one game (23-1 victory over first-year program Catawba, and as doubleteam points out: gains 2 first place votes and drops to 5th.

Certainly a North vs. South view reinforced by the loss to Regis by Rollins which pushed them down and by the transitive effect seemed to have pushed the rest of the Southern teams down as well.

When it comes down to it, it really won't matter - all eyes will be on tomorrow's regional rankings. Those should be more illuminating, especially in the South region as it will hint on what the selection committee will be doing on Sunday (given that Rollins and Limestone are both done with the regular season). Of course the North is still unsettled with games remaining, including the all important NE10 tourney where it is expected that Adelphi and Le Moyne will go at it again...

[SecIIILax]

Let's see if I understand this. 15-1 LeMoyne loses to West Chester. 13-2 C.W. Post loses to West Chester. West Chester is 14-2, with the losses coming to South Region teams. Yet, LeMoyne is no. 1, C.W. Post is no. 3, and West Chester is no better than no. 6?

You're kidding, right?

And, the poll still has two teams from the North Region, one below .500 and one at .500, while teams in the South Region with significantly better resumes and records are not included???

As no team is undefeated, you can go round and round with this kind of logic all day. You pick any team and I'll give you a reason why they are not more highly ranked. LeMoyne's only loss was by 3 away at West Chester. Do I think it was the best opponent LC has faced this year? No, but they played well that day and LC didn't and they pulled away at the end. They obviously played well against CW Post also, but losing to teams with 7 and 5 losses apparently did them no favors with the pollsters.

Which southern teams that have "significantly better resumes" deserve to be in the top 15? I'm not sure its that cut and dried.

[DallasLaxDad]

Which southern teams that have "significantly better resumes" deserve to be in the top 15? I'm not sure its that cut and dried.

Well, you might start with 11-6 Mercyhurst. Only losses are to ranked teams. And, unlike Merrimack, 'Hurst has wins over teams with a winning record. In fact, Mercyhurst has four wins over teams with winning records; Merrimack has none.

Bloomsburg may be only 9-7, but that's better than either of the two North Division teams mentioned; and, the Huskies have a win over a ranked team and over two other teams with winning records.

Slippery Rock, 12-5 - only losses are to ranked teams and the aforementioned 'Hurst and Bloom. Wins over Belmont Abbey, IUP, Shepherd, and Seton Hill - Abbey has nine wins, the other three are all double digit winners.

That's just for starters.

[SecIIILax]

I think your argument depends on whether you think the PSAC is as strong top to bottom as the NE10. I happen to think it's not this year, but that's my personal opinion. Wins over "winning" teams like Georgian Court don't mean that much to me. I'll take a close loss to a Stonehill any day when comparing records.

I like Mercyhurst. But I think they are still being judged by their slow start rather than being victims of northern bias or conspiracy and I don't think they are stronger than Merrimack this year.

[lacrosse49]

It looks like Bloomsburg is going to be the winner against gannon today..... looks like they really came to play

andddd looking good for Mercyhurst against IUP!!!!

[SecIIILax]

Bottom line on all of this debate? DII is definitely more interesting this year than last year!

[DallasLaxDad]

I think your argument depends on whether you think the PSAC is as strong top to bottom as the NE10. I happen to think it's not this year, but that's my personal opinion.

And, you're entitled to that opinion. However, there have been five games this season between members of the PSAC and the NE10; and, the PSAC team has won 3 of the 5. (And, less there be any suggestion that it was the PSAC picking on lesser members of the NE10, LeMoyne, Adelphi, and Merrimack were the NE10 entry in four of the 5 games - whereas Bloomsburg, Edinboro, and East Stroudsburg were the PSAC team in three of those games.)

I like Mercyhurst. But I think they are still being judged by their slow start rather than being victims of northern bias or conspiracy and I don't think they are stronger than Merrimack this year.

'Hurst certainly may be being judged by their slow start. But, that begs the question why Merrimack and St. Anselm aren't getting the same treatment for their "slow" season. Mercyhurst was two games below .500 only at the start of the season; Merrimack was two games below .500 as recently as 10 days ago.

[DallasLaxDad]

Which southern teams that have "significantly better resumes" deserve to be in the top 15? I'm not sure its that cut and dried.

Well, you might start with 11-6 Mercyhurst. Only losses are to ranked teams. And, unlike Merrimack, 'Hurst has wins over teams with a winning record. In fact, Mercyhurst has four wins over teams with winning records; Merrimack has none.

Bloomsburg may be only 9-7, but that's better than either of the two North Division teams mentioned; and, the Huskies have a win over a ranked team and over two other teams with winning records.

Slippery Rock, 12-5 - only losses are to ranked teams and the aforementioned 'Hurst and Bloom. Wins over Belmont Abbey, IUP, Shepherd, and Seton Hill - Abbey has nine wins, the other three are all double digit winners.

That's just for starters.

And, Bloomsburg just added to their resume and record, winning 20-13 over the 12th ranked, 12-6, PSAC co-champs Gannon.

[CanLaxFan45]

I was soooo disappointed with the Coaches poll this week. How can the Coaches drop Limestone two spots other than they are making decisions based on bias and protecting their own ranking?

[doubleteam]

Final Regional ranking. Lets see what the NCAA selection committee thinks.


Division II
North Region Overall Record In-Region Record
1. Le Moyne 15-1 15-1
2. C.W. Post 13-2 13-2
3. Adelphi 14-2 14-2
4. Stonehill 13-4 12-3
5. Bentley 12-5 12-4

South Region Overall Record In-Region Record
1. Rollins 15-1 13-1
2. Limestone 17-1 15-1
3. West Chester 14-2 14-2
4. Lock Haven 11-5 11-5
5. Gannon 12-4 12-4

[DallasLaxDad]

South Region Overall Record In-Region Record
1. Rollins 15-1 13-1
2. Limestone 17-1 15-1
3. West Chester 14-2 14-2
4. Lock Haven 11-5 11-5
5. Gannon 12-4 12-4

Rollins and Limestone have no more games before the selection. Ditto Gannon.

If West Chester wins the PSAC tourney, they'd improve to 16-2 - with wins over LeMoyne and C.W. Post, I wonder if that's enough to climb past Limestone to host a quarterfinal. My guess is, it won't be enough.

If Lock Haven wins the PSAC tourney, could they climb over West Chester? I doubt it, because the Rams would still have a much better record, and West Chester beat the Eagles in their regular season tilt - so, head to head is either 1-0 WCU or 1-1.

So, if I had to bet, I'd bet the order we see there will be the final order of the selection committee.

[redfrommi]

West Chester cannot easily jump past Limestone - they lose on overall record, region record, there is no head-to-head, probably lose on common opponents as Limestone beat Lock Haven, and West Chester lost to them. They do win on SOS (possibly regional SOS) and wins against teams over .750. They likely travel to Gaffney on the 12th.

Interesting footnote on the regional rankings - the ncaa.com site says Conference Carolinas did not vote this week...not sure what that means...

[DallasLaxDad]

Limestone beat Lock Haven, and West Chester lost to them.

Of course. I had it backwards when I wrote:

West Chester beat the Eagles in their regular season tilt - so, head to head is either 1-0 WCU or 1-1.

So, if both WCU and Lock Haven make the PSAC final and Lock Haven wins, the Eagles would have a 2-0 edge head to head. West Chester wins on the other criteria. I wonder if a 2-0 head-to-head would be enough for Lock Haven to jump the Rams and grab the third spot.

[doubleteam]

West Chester cannot easily jump past Limestone - they lose on overall record, region record, there is no head-to-head, probably lose on common opponents as Limestone beat Lock Haven, and West Chester lost to them. They do win on SOS (possibly regional SOS) and wins against teams over .750. They likely travel to Gaffney on the 12th.

Interesting footnote on the regional rankings - the ncaa.com site says Conference Carolinas did not vote this week...not sure what that means...

This is my opinion, but I would think that they were not happy about Limestone moving down in the polls from 3rd to 5th despite receiving two first place votes and winning there last game.