Dartmouth & Boston University Set to Settle New England Division Regular Season Title this Weekend

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. – Boston University and Dartmouth College will look to stake their claim as the preeminent club power in the Northeast as the New England Division regular season championship and the seedings for the division tournament will be decided this weekend at Yale University in the second and final New England Division Tournament.

In the wake of division’s February 14-15 tournament at Williams College, the New England Division title race is no clearer as BU exited the weekend as the frontrunner with a 4-0 record, including a 5-4 win in the division opener against Dartmouth.

In its first year in the division after transferring over from the North Atlantic Division in the fall, the Terriers stormed past defending division champion Middlebury College (15-8 W), Yale (9-6 W) and Williams College (15-4 W) to appear as the leader in the regular season title race.

However, the Big Green of Dartmouth enters the second weekend of the year at 3-1 with wins over Yale (9-4 W), Williams (14-5 W) and Middlebury (7-1 W) looking to take the regular season title, earn the division tournament No. 1 seed and make its second straight title game appearance after capturing the 2007 division title over Middlebury before the Panthers returned the favor in 2008.

Overall, Dartmouth has appeared in six of the division’s eight title games, including a string of four years in which the Big Green took the division title (2002-05).

Although the Terriers hold a one game advantage over the Big Green in both the division race and the head-to-head match-ups this year, Dartmouth can gain a measure of vengeance this weekend as the teams will meet for the second time at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 28.

A win by BU virtually clinches the regular season title and No. 1 seed for the division tournament on April 18-19 at Middlebury College, while Dartmouth can force the regular season championship into tie-breakers, including goal-differential in games played.

The potential for a regular season title is notable as Boston University has never finished higher than second in either a regular season or division title race.

In 2005, the first year of the North Atlantic Division, BU finished second in the regular season and at the tournament, falling 12-4 to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the title game.

A complete schedule of the division is available here.