Wacky WIAC: Eau Claire opens the door

UW-Whitewater beat UW-Eau Claire in four today to drop the Blugolds from atop the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings. Eau Claire falls into a first-place WIAC tie with UW-Oshkosh at 6-1 with one conference match remaining.

Whitewater and UW-La Crosse, which both completed their WIAC schedules, are 1/2 game back at 6-2, leaving a chance – if Eau Claire and Oshkosh both lose on Wednesday – for a four-way tie.

The regular-season crown comes down to two matches: 10/22 Eau Claire @ UW-Superior 10/22 Oshkosh @ UW-Platteville

In today’s other WIAC matches, Platteville defeated UW-River Falls in four, Superior beat UW-Stevens Point in four, and La Crosse outlasted UW-Stout in five.

Along with La Crosse’s win comes a home WIAC Tournament quarterfinal match for the Eagles. Eau Claire, Oshkosh and Whitewater will host the other three quarterfinal matches on Nov. 4. Superior clinched a WIAC Tournament berth with its win today.

WIAC Standings* (through 10/18) Eau Claire 6-1 Oshkosh 6-1 Whitewater 6-2 La Crosse 6-2 Platteville 4-3 Superior 2-5 River Falls 1-6 Stout 1-6 Stevens Point 1-7 *Each team plays eight conference matches

-Ricky Nelson