That presented an interesting quandary for the Big Green, slated to take on the Bears on Saturday. Brown prevailed at home by a final of 3-1, though Dartmouth might not have minded the defeat too much.

In that loss, Big Green coach Mark Hudak rested Olympian Cherie Piper after she gritted out an appearance against Harvard the night before.

The victory earned the Bears—a dangerous squad and traditional ECAC power experiencing a down year—the sixth seed. That leaves Dartmouth with the gritty, but less dynamic Raiders in the opening round instead.

Furthermore, Brown might be able to repeat its Feb. 18 upset of St. Lawrence and clear the Big Green’s path to a final-round rematch with the Crimson.

RANK AND FILE

The combination of Harvard sweeping its weekend series and the Saints’ uninspiring set against Colgate and Cornell propelled the Crimson past St. Lawrence in the Div. I polls and firmly into the fifth position. The Crimson is even within striking distance of the top-four, as slumping Dartmouth traded spots with Wisconsin and slid down to No. 4.

The status quo prevailed at the top of the heap when No. 1 Minnesota earned a split against local rival No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth, courtesy of a 1-0 triumph on Sunday.

The Bulldogs handed the Golden Gophers just their second loss of the season, besting them 4-2 on Saturday evening.

This arrangement was nearly replicated in the Pairwise Rankings—which aim to predict the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee—except for a swap of the Big Green and Badgers.

Harvard now appears in line to host its opening-round NCAA tilt, unless the Crimson falters before then.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.