STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's (35-8, 21-3 GNAC) is tied with Tufts University for eighth in the final New England Intercollegiate Softball Coaches Association (NEISCA) Weekly Poll of the 2011 season.
The 2011 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Champion Monks will appear in the NCAA DIII Softball Tournament for the first time in program history later this week. St. Joe's, the #6 seed in the Providence Regional, will face #3 Endicott College - the fourth-ranked team in the final NEISCA Poll - at the Dayna A. Bazar Softball Facility on the campus of Rhode Island College on Thursday at 2:00 PM.
The NCAA tourney is double-elimination and the winners of the eight regional tournaments will advance to the national championship, which is hosted by the City of Salem and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and held May 20-24 at the Moyer Complex in Salem, VA.
Saint Joseph's defeated Rivier College, 5-4, in the conference championship on Sunday, May 1st to claim the team's first GNAC crown in four years as a member of the league. The title-clinching win gave the Monks the NCAA automatic qualifier awarded to the GNAC victor.
With 35 wins - the third-highest total in team annals - so far this season, the Monks have reached the 30-win plateau for the sixth time in program history and second consecutive campaign.
Final NEISCA Weekly Poll:
