The Saint Francis University bowling team is set to compete at the first Northeast Conference regular season tournament this weekend at the Bowlero Bowling Lanes in North Brunswick, N.J.

LAST TIME OUT
The Red Flash (10-16) are coming off of a trip to Orlando for the Destination tournament to end their first month of competition. Saint Francis defeated No. 22 Tulane on Saturday and closed the tournament with a convincing 4-0 sweep of Florida A&M on Sunday. Sophomore Mackenzie Keane and senior Emma Meade picked up NEC Prime Performer honors after their strong outings in Central Florida.

NOT AS EASY AS YOU MAY THINK
The Northeast Conference features one of the nation's toughest conference slates, as four programs are ranked in the preseason National Tenpin Coaches Association Poll, while another two teams earned votes before the season began. That leaves only two unrecognized opponents this weekend: Long Island and Wagner.

The Frankies are winless in two attempts vs NEC opponents, falling to Niagara (880-938) and No. 11 Duquesne (811-979) on the first day of the Penguin Classic. Niagara, the conference's newest affiliate member, was placed one spot ahead of the Red Flash in the season-opening polls despite the program entering its inaugural season.

THIS ONE MEANS MORE
The three NEC regular season tournaments are the only three competitions to count towards qualifying for the conference postseason tournament. Last season, the Red Flash qualified as a fifth seed but ran into a red-hot Sacred Heart squad that ran the table through the play-in and took the conference crown. Two programs, FDU and Duquesne, finished with 17-4 conference records to earn the top two seeds in the tournament.

Along with Sacred Heart claiming the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Bowling Championships, NEC regular season co-champion Duquesne earned an at-large bid to give the conference their third straight year of multiple NCAA Championship bids.

NEC POLLS
The Red Flash come in at No. 7 in Thursday's NEC coaches polls. Duquesne and Sacred Heart lead the conference with four first-place votes apiece heading into the first conference regular season tournament.

FOLLOW ALONG
The first NEC Regular season tournament, as well as most other tournaments, will be streamed live on the team's Facebook page, and the latest updates will be posted to the team's X page.

For more information on the Red Flash, visit sfuathletics.com and follow RedFlashBowling on Facebook, Instagram, and X.