With one regular season game remaining, the top spot in the Eastern College Athletic Conference is still to be determined.

First-place Loyola (Md.) finished its conference schedule with a 6-1 record (9-4 overall) and will conclude its season against No. 6 Johns Hopkins on Saturday. Second-place Massachusetts ‘- one game behind the Greyhounds ‘- finish with conference foe Rutgers on Saturday and currently hold a 5-1 conference record (8-5 overall).

UMass is in control of its own destiny this weekend. A win against Rutgers will give the Minutemen the ECAC title. A victory would give both the Minutemen and the Greyhounds a 6-1 conference record, but UMass has the advantage because they beat the Greyhounds, 8-6, on March 21.

Best of the rest

Fairfield has shown a big improvement from last year, ranking third in the conference standings this season. The Stags went 4-3 in the conference in 2009 after a 2-5 finish in 2008 left them in last place in the ECAC.

Georgetown, last year’s second-place finisher, had a record of 5-2 in the conference and were picked to win the ECAC in pre-season rankings. Instead, the Hoyas could find themselves in fifth place with a loss against Penn State on Saturday. That game at Georgetown will determine fourth and fifth place in the conference as both teams are tied with 3-3 conference records. Penn State was 2-5 in the conference last season.

Rutgers finished in third place in ’08 with a 4-3 conference record, but sits in sixth place with a 2-4 mark heading into the game against UMass. They could play the spoiler role and tarnish the hopes of the Minutemen attaining the ECAC championship.

Hobart has taken a step back this season. Last year the Statesmen were 4-3 in the conference, finishing in fourth place ‘- but this season they finished up the conference schedule with a 2-5 mark and a tie for second-to-last place.

St. John’s (N.Y.) has endured another tough season. The Red Storm won two conference games last season for a sixth-place finish, but this year they won just one to finish in last place.

ECAC changing

If UMass is going to win an ECAC title, it’s literally now or never. Last July, ECAC Commissioner Rudy Keeling announced the addition of five members to the conference.

Air Force, Bellarmine, Denver, Ohio State and Quinnipiac will join existing members Fairfield, Hobart, and Loyola to form the new ECAC for the 2009-10 season. St. John’s, Rutgers and Georgetown have been moved to the Big East Conference, while UMass and Penn State will go to the Colonial Athletic Association.

The move is a result of a national realignment of lacrosse leagues, driven by the new sponsorship of men’s lacrosse by both the Big East Conference and the Northeast Conference.

‘The lacrosse world is going through a metamorphosis and the ECAC Lacrosse League has emerged stronger than ever,’ Keeling said in an interview posted on the ECAC website. ‘The combination of the teams from the ECAC and the Great Western Lacrosse League will make us one of the power lacrosse conferences in the country.’

Three of the eight teams in the newly-formed conference qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season: Denver, Loyola and Ohio State. Six of the eight teams in the new ECAC were .500 or better last season.

‘Overall, we feel it is going to continue to be a highly competitive league and we are excited for 2010,’ Keeling added. ‘The game of lacrosse is growing rapidly across the nation, and we are excited to bring some of the western teams int
o the East and for those eastern teams to have a chance to play out West. It will only accelerate the growth of the sport across the country.’

Gary Tarantino can be reached at gtaranti@student.umass.edu.