The entire regular season came down to the final game to determine which team would land the top spot in the Eastern College Athletic Conference and walk away with an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

No. 15 Massachusetts, controlling its own destiny, came through in a big way with its season on the line to defeat Rutgers in an overtime thriller on Saturday afternoon. Tied at 10 goals each after 60 minutes of regulation, the Minutemen (9-5, 6-1 ECAC) got the fifth and most important goal of the day from senior attackman Tim Balise to wrap up the conference title with an 11-10 win over the Scarlet Knights.

Entering the game, UMass was in second place and a half game behind Loyola for the top spot. The Minutemen defeated the Greyhounds, 8-6, earlier in the year, and the win, placed them above Loyola in the overall standings.

With the victory, the Minutemen will travel to New Jersey Sunday to face fourth-ranked Princeton (12-2, 5-1 Ivy League) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 5 p.m.

Falling short

Thirteenth-ranked Loyola concluded its season on Sunday in heartbreaking fashion with a loss in double-overtime to No. 7 Johns Hopkins (9-4) while subsequently having its ECAC title hopes crushed with UMass’ win.

Despite posting a 9-5 overall record against the third-toughest schedule in the country, the Greyhounds did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament during Sunday’s selection, ending their streak of two consecutive tournament berths.

Back of the pack

Hobart made a valiant comeback in their final game of the season before falling, 8-7, against No. 6 Cornell on Saturday.

The Statesmen battled back from an 8-1 deficit late in the second quarter, rallying with six unanswered goals while holding the Big Red scoreless in the second half. Cornell’s (10-3, 5-1 Ivy League) offense, which ranks first in the nation, had not been held scoreless in a quarter previously this season.

Hobart finishes the year in sixth place with a 7-7 overall record and a 2-5 conference record.

With a 17-5 victory against St. John’s on April 25, Fairfield ended the season tied for third in the conference, the team’s best finish in its four years in the ECAC. The Stags (7-6, 4-3 ECAC) recorded their most wins in a season since they tied a school-record 11 victories in 2005.

Penn State defeated Georgetown in a 12-11 double-overtime victory on Saturday for its sixth-straight win to close out the season. In its final season in the ECAC, the Nittany Lions went 9-5 overall and 4-3 in the conference, good enough for third place.

With the loss on Senior Day at the Hilltop, the Hoyas (7-7, 3-4 ECAC) closed out the season in fifth place. Before this year, Georgetown had never lost more than two ECAC games in a season.

The Hoyas were also not selected to compete in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

The 11-10 overtime loss to UMass dropped Rutgers to 4-11 overall and 2-5 in ECAC play. Though the Scarlet Knights just missed finishing in last place in the conference, they recorded the most losses overall by any team in the ECAC this season.

St. John’s took a step back this season after finishing in sixth place with two conference victories in 2008. The Red Storm managed only one win in seven games in the ECAC, putting them in last place with a 5-9 overall record.

Stagnitta honored

Jim Stagnitta, the head coach for the Scarlet Knights, was named the coach of the Division I/II South team at the annual USILA North/South Senior All-Star Game. The game will be played at Harvard Stadium on Friday, May 22 and will be part of a triple-header that includes a Major League Lacrosse game to close out the night.

Jay Asser can be reached at [email protected].