Much more than school pride is at stake as Alfred University's Saxon squares off against Sweet Briar College's Vixen in the championship of Sports Illustrated's Campus Rush Division III Best Mascot Tournament.
 
The respective presidents of the two schools – Alfred's Mark Zupan and Sweet Briar's Phil Stone – have agreed to a friendly wager on the outcome of the tournament: the loser will wear the winning school's mascot costume.
 
The 32-team best mascot tournament began May 17, with four eight-team seeded brackets. Over the next six weeks, team's advanced based on on-line voting until the final two teams – Alfred and Sweet Briar – remained.  Voting in the Best Mascot Tournament championship round began Wednesday and will conclude next Wednesday (July 6) at 10:30 a.m.
 

Click Here for Voting on Campus Rush | Click Here for Voting on JustRivals
 
To get to the finals, Alfred (the sixth seed in its bracket) pulled off four straight upsets: defeating third-seeded Coe College Kohawks in Round One; the second-seeded Webster University Gorlocks in Round Two; the fifth-seeded Concordia College Cobbers in the regional finals; and the number one seed Oglethorpe University Stormy Petrels in the tournament semifinals.
 
Sweet Briar, the second seed in its bracket, advanced to the finals by beating the Brandeis University Judges and Mary Baldwin College Fighting Squirrels in the first two rounds; the Sarah Lawrence College Gryphons in the regionals; and the University of California-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs in the tournament semifinals.
 
No date has been set for when the losing president will have to make good on his bet. If Alfred wins, Sweet Briar President Stone will don Alfred University's L'il Alf mascot costume; if Sweet Briar wins, AU President Zupan will put on Sweet Briar's Vixen outfit.