Three Co-Champions, One Trophy: CAA Semifinals Go Down in Philadelphia Today
You don’t often get a conference race this tight. Fairfield, Monmouth and Drexel all finished 5-1 in the CAA, all three shared the regular-season title, and now they have to sort it out in Philadelphia. The CAA semifinals go down today at Drexel’s Buckley Field, and the winner on Friday takes the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament berth.
Top seeds Fairfield open the day against No. 4 Northeastern at 12 p.m. ET (10 p.m. PKT). The Stags earned the top seed the hard way, with a 3-2 overtime win at nationally ranked Monmouth on 23 October that sealed their share of the title. It’s their first season in the CAA after back-to-back NEC championships and NCAA appearances in 2024 and 2025, so this is a team that knows what tournament week feels like. Northeastern got here at 6-10 overall and 3-3 in the league, and nobody will be picking them, which is exactly when these games get dangerous.
The second semifinal is the one to watch. Hosts Drexel, 15-3 overall and the best record in the field, face No. 2 Monmouth at 3 p.m. ET (1 a.m. PKT Thursday). Monmouth arrive with momentum and a grudge: they rallied from behind to beat Northeastern 3-2 in overtime last Saturday to claim their share of the title, only to finish behind Fairfield on the tiebreaker. Now their route to the final runs straight through the hosts, on the hosts’ turf, in front of a home crowd. Drexel, for their part, have the record and the building. Something has to give.
The final is Friday at 3 p.m. ET, and the NCAA field gets announced Sunday night at 10 p.m. ET. For the two losers today, that’s the wait that matters: a conference title is the only guaranteed ticket, and everything else is up to the selection committee.
