Soccer Standings to be Based on Points Beginning in 2010

Three Points Awarded for Win, One for Draw

HADLEY, Mass. – The NESCAC has changed how conference standings will be computed for both men's and women's soccer. Beginning in the fall of 2010, NESCAC standings will be sorted based on points, with three points awarded for each victory and one point awarded for a draw in conference play. Prior to this fall, conference standings had been based on conference winning percentage.

The change, recommended to the NESCAC athletics administrators by both the men's and women's soccer coaches this past spring, was approved by the athletics directors of the league during their May meeting in Clinton, N.Y. The rationale for the change is to structure the NESCAC soccer standings in a similar fashion to the scoring standard used by other collegiate and international leagues.

The conference standings are used as the basis for seeding the NESCAC Men's and Women's Soccer Championships. Eight of the 10 conference teams qualify for the annual postseason tournament, with the top four teams earning home field advantage in the quarterfinal round. The highest remaining seed following the quarterfinals hosts the semifinals and the final. The winner of the tournament is declared the NESCAC champion and receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

If two or more teams tie in the NESCAC standings following the completion of the regular season, then conference tie-breaking rules will be applied to tied teams in order to seed the NESCAC championship. Head-to-head performance among tied teams will be compared first, followed by best conference winning percentage. If teams are still tied after the first two criteria, conference victories will be compared next with the team or teams owning the most wins earning the advantage. The process continues with a comparison of tied teams in their performance against the top four teams in the conference, followed by the top eight teams, and then all teams in the conference in rank order until a winner has been determined. If all tie-breakers have been exhausted, a random action (e.g. coin flip) will be used to break the tie. Once a team or teams gain an advantage over other tied teams using tie-breaker criteria, the process begins anew comparing the remaining tied teams.

The 2010 NESCAC schedule kicks off on Saturday, Sept. 11, with all men's and women's teams in conference action. The schedule runs over an eight week period and concludes with the season finale on the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 29. The NESCAC Men's and Women's Soccer Championships begin shortly after with quarterfinal matches on Sunday, Oct. 31. Winners of Sunday's quarterfinals advance to the semifinals, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 6, before wrapping up with the final on Sunday, Nov. 7.

During the 2009 season, Williams College managed to win both the NESCAC men's and women's soccer crowns for the second time in tournament history. The Ephs downed the Panthers of Middlebury in both finals by a single goal.