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April 18, 2003

By Dave Rahme
Staff writer

�Ա���Ƶ coach Jim Nagle provided the appropriate response to a question about the Patriot League race this season.

‘It’s nuts, isn’t it” he said.

Nuts indeed. Four of the Patriot’s seven teams enter Saturday’s action with one league loss, a shot at a piece of the league title and an automatic NCAA tournament berth.

‘It seems surreal,’ Nagle said. ‘I thought Bucknell was the clear front-runner, the way the season started. Apparently, we now have a four-way dogfight.’

Here’s how it happened: Bucknell defeated Hobart, Hobart defeated �Ա���Ƶ, �Ա���Ƶ defeated Army, and Army defeated Bucknell.

Confusing’ PL members are used to it by now. Hobart, Bucknell and Army shared the league title last season, with Hobart getting the NCAA bid on its strength of schedule. This season, it shouldn’t come down to that. Two of the four teams will be eliminated Saturday when Bucknell (7-4, 3-1) plays �Ա���Ƶ (5-5, 3-1) at 1 p.m. in Hamilton and Army (6-5, 3-1) plays Hobart (5-5, 4-1) at 1 p.m. in Geneva.

If �Ա���Ƶ and Army win, and the Raiders then defeat Holy Cross (3-8, 1-4) in a makeup game, they will go to the NCAAs courtesy of their 15-8 victory over the Cadets. If �Ա���Ƶ and Hobart win, the Statesmen will return to the tournament courtesy of their 10-8 victory over the Raiders. If Bucknell and Army win, the local teams will stay home.

‘We’re just approaching it as we want to win the Patriot League title,’ Hobart coach Matt Kerwick said. ‘I don’t think the focus needs to be on anything else but that and ourselves.’

Kerwick has been concerned by his team’s performance since a 15-12 defeat to 2002 national champion Syracuse on March 25. Instead of using that encouraging effort as a springboard, the Statesmen have lost three of their four games since then, and nearly lost to �Ա���Ƶ.

‘It’s been different things,’ Kerwick said. ‘We haven’t played well at either end of the field at times. The biggest thing is we don’t seem to be reacting quickly to loose-ball situations.’

�Ա���Ƶ has gone in the other direction, defeating Army and Lehigh since the loss to Hobart. The victory over Army came after the Cadets had upset Rutgers, which in turn upset Syracuse last week.

Dolphins in driver’s seat

Undefeated LeMoyne, the top-ranked team in Division II, will put its 37-game Northeast-10 Conference victory streak on the line at 3 p.m. Saturday at home vs. Bentley.

The Dolphins (9-0, 7-0) survived strong road challenges from Bryant and Pace and appear headed to another NE-10 regular-season title, the right to hold the conference tournament semifinals and finals and a return trip to the D-II final four.

Bentley, which entered a Thursday night game against Franklin Pierce at 5-2 overall and 5-0 in the league, appears to be the Dolphins’ last serious challenge. /baMen’s schedule

Saturday
Shenendoah at Cazenovia, noon Bucknell at �Ա���Ƶ, 1 p.m. Princeton at Cornell, 1 p.m. Cortland State at Plattsburgh State, 1 p.m. Herkimer CC at Nassau CC, 1 p.m. Army at Hobart, 1 p.m. Hartwick at Ithaca, 1 p.m. Morrisville at Finger Lakes CC, 1 p.m. Oswego State at SUNYIT, 1 p.m. Alfred at Utica College, 1 p.m. Bentley at LeMoyne, 3 p.m.

Monday
Delhi State at Herkimer CC, 4 p.m. Broome CC at Morrisville, 4 p.m.

Tuesday
LeMoyne at AMI, 3: 30 p.m. Herkimer CC at Cobleskill State, 4 p.m. Oneonta State at Ithaca, 4 p.m. Oswego State at Nazareth, 4 p.m. RIT at Utica College, 4 p.m. �Ա���Ƶ at Canisius, 7 p.m.

Wednesday
SUNYIT at Geneseo State, noon Cortland State at Potsdam, 4 p.m. Hamilton at Union, 5 p.m. Cazenovia at St. John Fisher, 7 p.m.

Thursday
Keuka at SUNYIT, noon Monroe CC at Morrisville, 4 p.m.