Those who listened to my Morning Coffees know how much I focused on what was going on with the Sunshine State Conference games, and their impact on who would make the SSC bracket of four teams.

Going into the weekend, we knew which four teams would make up the Men’s bracket, but did not know in what order, outside of the obvious #1 seed for the nation’s #1 team, Tampa.

On Friday, the three schools competing for position were FSC, FIT and Rollins. FIT was 5-1, Rollins was 4-2 and FSC was 4-2. FIT and Rollins played yesterday, with Rollins pulling out the 17-15 win, while FSC handled PBA. Thus, all three teams finished at 5-2. I believe the tie-breakers came down to Goals Against Average, so Rollins gets the #2 seed and hosts FSC, despite FSC winning the head-to-head matchup in the regular season.

Tampa will host FIT and if victorious, will host the final too. Right now, it seems like the SSC would possibly get an at-large bid, but that would only be a lock if Tampa is upset. The three other schools are ranked 12/13/14 in the last USILA D2 Poll. There were 10 teams in the bracket last year, but I have not been able to see if the bracket is larger this year. If not, it would be hard to see our runner-up getting a bid unless it is Tampa.

Here’s the bracket (LINK):

It’s on the Women’s side that it really turned out to be an incredible weekend. Coming into the weekend, here was the standings (LINK):

1) Tampa (#13 in IWLCA Poll) – 5-1 and 10-5 overall

2) Lynn (#17) in IWLCA Poll) – 4-1 and 11-4 overall

3) Rollins (#10 in IWLCA) – 4-2 and 13-2 overall

4) FSC (#11 in IWLCA Poll) – 3-2 and 11-3 overall

5) ERAU (#12 in IWLCA Poll) – 3-3 and 12-4 overall

6) Saint Leo (not ranked) – 3-3 and 6-10 overall

7) FIT (not ranked) – 1-5 and 8-5 overall

8) PBA (not ranked) – 0-6 and 2-11 overall

Ony 4 teams can make the playoff bracket in the SSC, so the final weekend was paramount. Tampa was to play Lynn (Lynn had a doubleheader scheduled, with FSC on Sunday). Rollins was to play FIT. Saint Leo was to play ERAU. And FSC was also doubling up, with a game against PBA.

Tampa won their game with Lynn, and that clinched the #1 seed.

FSC swept their two games to get to 5-2, dropping Lynn to 4-3.

Florida Tech upset Rollins, dropping the Tars to 4-3. With that loss, FSC was able to cinch the #2 seed above Rollins.

Saint Leo upset Embry-Riddle, dropping the #12 team in the nation below .500 in SSC play, eliminating them while Saint Leo rose into a tie with Rollins and Lynn at 4-3, as the teams vied for the two slots.

Not sure which tie-breaker was used (same as the Men? No explanation in the article) but in the end, it was Rollins grabbing the #3 slot and Saint Leo, with an overall losing record, nabbing the fourth slot over ranked Lynn.

Wow.

Here is the bracket and when we have a further explanation, we’ll bring it to you!