WASHINGTON – After claiming its first Atlantic 10 regular season title since 2023, the Saint Joseph's field hockey team will have the top seed as the 2026 Atlantic 10 Tournament gets underway at VCU's Cary Street Field in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday, November 5.
 
Saint Joseph's (9-9 overall, 6-0 Atlantic 10) will meet fourth-seeded Davidson (10-9 overall, 2-4 Atlantic 10) at 11:00 a.m.  The Wildcats earned a spot in the postseason with a 7-1 win over Lock Haven on Friday night; Davidson won a three-way tiebreaker with La Salle and Saint Louis for the final tournament berth.
 
The Hawks topped the Wildcats, 5-1, at Davidson's Belk Turf Field on October 2.  Cat Arentz opened the scoring two minutes into the game to give the Hawks the lead before Erika Culp went on to score two goals to lead the Hawks to a win.
 
In the second semifinal, second-seeded Richmond (11-6 overall, 5-1 Atlantic 10) takes on third-seeded tournament host VCU (8-9 overall, 4-2 Atlantic 10) after the Spiders earned a 4-1 win over the Rams on Friday to lock up second place in the standings.
 
Saint Joseph's topped Richmond, 3-1, at Ellen Ryan Field on September 25.  After Kiki Bruning got the Hawks on the board midway through the second and the Spiders equalized early in the third, a pair of goals by Adèle Jardemar pushed the Hawks to victory on their home turf.
 
The Hawks clinched a share of the regular season championship and the top seed in the tournament on October 23 via a 1-0 shootout win over VCU at Cary Street Field.  The Hawks held the Rams without a shot over the final 31 minutes of regulation, but it wasn't until Culp, Lily DeWan, and Alison Buffington put away their shootout attempts while Avianna Wagner stopped the hosts on all three of theirs that the Hawks could celebrate a win.
 
Saint Joseph's has won each of the last five Atlantic 10 tournament titles and has appeared in a league-record 10 consecutive title games.  The Hawks last met Richmond and VCU in the postseason in 2025, as the Hawks topped VCU in double overtime in the semifinals before knocking off the Spiders in the title game; Thursday's game will be the Hawks' first-ever postseason meeting with Davidson.
 
The two semifinal winners will meet at noon on Saturday, November 7, to crown a champion and award the Atlantic 10's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Tickets for the championship tournament are available through the Atlantic 10 website and at the gate on game day.  All three games will be streamed on ESPN+.