NYU Seeks to Grab No. 1 Seed for New York Division Championship

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. - New York University will seek to lock up the No. 1 seed for the New York Division Championship this weekend as the Bobcats travel to Cornell University for the second of two division tournaments.

NYU, which enters the weekend with a record of 4-0, will need to knock off Columbia University (1-3), Syracuse University (2-2), Cornell (3-1) and Colgate University (0-4) to clinch the top seed for the division championship tournament scheduled for April 4-5 at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

In the history of the New York Division, the team that wins the regular season title consistently goes on to take the championship as NYU (2008, 2004, 2002), Columbia (2007, 2003), Cornell (2006, 2005) have captured both titles since 2002, the Bobcats first year as a women's collegiate club program.

NYU's race to the regular season title will be one game easier as Colgate will not field a full-team this weekend, giving the Bobcats a 5-0 victory and moving them one game closer to the No. 1 seed.

Looking to spoil NYU's big city dreams will be Cornell which enters the weekend with a 3-1 mark in division play.  The only blight on the Big Red record came via an 11-6 loss by Cornell to NYU at Syracuse University in the first division tournament on the season. 

If Cornell can knock off NYU by more than 5 goals and stave off challenges from Syracuse and Columbia, with a forfeit win over Colgate, the team can clinch the third top seed in five years for the Big Red. 

Cornell previously won the regular season title, the No. 1 seed and the division championship tournament in 2006 and 2007 to become the only team to date to repeat as either regular season or division champion.

Although not mathematically eliminated from earning the No. 1 seed, Syracuse (2-2) will need help as the Orange will need to knock off both NYU and Cornell, and hope that Columbia can do the same, to have a chance at the No. 1 seed. 

Columbia (1-3) and Colgate (0-4) round out the teams in the division as the Lions are eliminated from contention from the No. 1 seed due to Colgate's forfeits, while Colgate is assured of being the No. 5 seed for the championship and entering the "A" bracket in the championship tournament with the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds.

The complete 2009 New York Division schedule is available here.