AMHERST - With several players' off-campus apartments still lacking power Tuesday afternoon, University of Massachusetts women's soccer coach Ed Matz said his team was looking forward to hitting the road for the Atlantic 10 tournament, which begins today in Dayton, Ohio.

"Multiple players don't have heat, hot water. They're living with each other or with friends on campus," said Matz, who didn't have power at home yet either after Saturday's damaging storm. "I think players are relieved that we're leaving to get on the road to be able to have heat and a nice hot shower and stuff like that."

Hotel amenities aside, the Minutewomen were eager to play in the tournament because they felt they have a chance to win it.

"I like where we're at," Matz said. "We're a very talented team in an exceptionally talented A-10 this year."

UMass (12-4-2, 6-2-1 A-10) is the No. 4 seed in the six-team tournament. The Minutewomen were on track to be No. 2 before dropping their final regular season game to Richmond, 1-0.

"In the Richmond game we were disappointed in ourselves. We feel like we made a lot of mistakes that are correctable," Matz said. "It was a tough lesson to learn because now we don't get that bye."

UMass will face No. 5 St. Bonaventure Thursday at 5 p.m. If the Minutewomen win they'll face either No. 1 La Salle or No. 2 Richmond. No. 3 Dayton faces No. 6 Charlotte in the other quarterfinal today.

The way the tournament is set up, the No. 1 seed plays the lowest remaining seed from the quarterfinal games, Friday at 5 p.m., while Richmond plays the highest remaining seed at 7:30 p.m.

The Minutewomen, who did not play Dayton, are 2-2-0 against the field with all four games decided by one goal. They beat St. Bonaventure 1-0 at Rudd Field on Oct. 23.

It's UMass' second trip to the Atlantic 10 tournament under Matz. He felt more confident this time around.

"We're a lot stronger this year than last year," he said. "We're a lot more prepared. Making it last year gave some of our players who are left an idea of what it's like in the playoffs and what it takes."

Playing at Dayton marks the return to Ohio for Minutewoman forward Julie Morrissey. The senior played her first three seasons at Cincinnati before transferring to UMass. She's made the most of her one season in Amherst as she leads the Minutewomen with seven goals and one assist.

FIELD HOCKEY AT SAINT JOSEPH'S - The UMass field hockey team will attempt to defend its Atlantic 10 title Friday at Saint Joseph's.

UMass is the regular season cochampion, but after losing to Richmond, the Minutewomen are the No. 2 seed and will face No. 3 Temple Friday at 2 p.m. The top-seeded Spiders will play No. 4 La Salle at 11 a.m. The winners will play each other Saturday at 2 p.m.

UMass coach Carla Tagliente said her team was focused on Temple but confident if a rematch with Richmond should materialize.

"The Richmond game was a bit of a heartbreaker, but they know they can play with any team and they have the potential to beat Richmond by two or three goals," Tagliente said. "We're pretty confident with where we're at."

UMass is 7-10 overall after a difficult 2-9 nonconference slate. The Minutewomen won five of six conference games to make them one of the favorites.

"I think we've had a lot of positive momentum through A-10 play," said Tagliente, who was proud of how her team grew despite the difficulties of the nonconference schedule.

"It made us a lot more resilient," she said. "You can't quantify what it does as far as playing at that level and playing against top players. They're pretty confident from that. ... (Staying together through the early losses) says a lot about the character of the team. It could go south if the group doesn't pull together. It takes a strong of group of leaders to say 'This is what we want. We know we can get there,' and stay on that course."

The Atlantic 10 champs will travel west to face the winner of the Northern Pacific conference, Tuesday in an NCAA play-in game.

UMass goalkeeper Alesha Widdall has been selected to play at the 2011 NFHCA Division I Senior Game, the National Field Hockey Coaches Association announced on Tuesday. The two-time All-American is one of 38 players selected nationally that will compete against each other and against the USA National Team on Final Four weekend in Louisville on Nov. 19.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.