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That Kent win was closer than it should have been, but it was a win, and with it the UB Women moved to 8-5 in the MAC. They sit a spot better than the men, in fifth and just a game behind the teams tied at 9-4.
Even better, they still have a great schedule, with three games left against Bowling Green, Kent, and Miami to add some wins, and a pair of chances against Akron and Ohio to move up quickly against teams ahead of them. Believe it or not, it's not really out of possibility for the Bulls to climb into the top two, especially after EMU knocked off the Bobcats Wednesday night.
Here's tomorrow's games and how we hope them to break:
Ohio (11-2) at Akron (9-4): DEPENDS
This really depends on your goal here. If UB is going to get to #1, it's Akron all the way. A run to #2 would benefit from either result, but probably a bit more from an Akron win.
But with an Ohio win and a Buffalo win over Miami, UB and Akron would be tied, and the Bulls would be in great shape to solidly claim a top-four seed over the last four games. Of course, they could also do that will some help from Ball State's opponents down the stretch.
Either way you go here, it's not a bad deal for the Bulls, who will have chances against each team closing out. I would probably be slightly more pleased with an Ohio win, since UB must travel to Athens but gets the Zips at home, but it's good either way.
Ball State (10-3) at Northern Illinois (6-7): NORTHERN ILLINOIS
For comparison's sake, I think either result in Ohio-Akron is more helpful than NIU here, but it's still simple. UB owns the straight up tiebreaker against the Cardinals, so they're a solid option to bring down into the pack.
Western Michigan (9-4) at Central Michigan (6-7): CENTRAL MICHIGAN
I'm not sure what's happened to CMU this year. If I could go back in time and follow them a little more, I'd have an answer. But they can come up *big* for the Bulls with this one. Even tied, WMU would hold the tiebreaker over Buffalo thanks to their 1.000 winning percentage over Ohio, but they're also the easier of the two West teams to bring down and eventually pass.
After UB's own game, this one stands to help or hurt UB more than any other.
Toledo (7-6) at Eastern Michigan (7-6): EASTERN MICHIGAN
This doesn't mean much, but we'd like EMU above the Rockets should a "best win" tiebreaker get that far.
Kent State (2-11) at Bowling Green (2-11): NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. Nope? Nope.
***
The possible results tomorrow, from most helpful to most damaging:
1. UB over Miami
2. CMU over WMU
3. Ohio over Akron
4. Akron over Ohio
5. NIU over Ball State
6. EMU over Toledo
7 and 8. Kent - BG result
9. Toledo over EMU
10. Ball State over NIU
11. WMU over CMU