Seahawks Earn First-Ever NCAA Tournament Berth
Indianapolis, Ind. - The NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Committee released Monday afternoon the bracket for the 2008 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament and the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's soccer team was one of 61 squads to receive a berth in this year's championship tournament field. This is St. Mary's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The Seahawks (12-2-3) received one of 39 Pool A berths, which are awarded to the league tournament champions of conferences receiving automatic qualifications. St. Mary's captured the program's first-ever Capital Athletic Conference title by edging York (Pa.) College, 1-0, on a Kaitlin Boswell (Baltimore, Md./Friends School) goal in the second half. The ‘Hawks will travel to Lynchburg, Virginia where No. 3 Lynchburg College (19-0-3) will hosting a four-team regional on Saturday-Sunday, November 15-16. Joining St. Mary's and Lynchburg will be Emory (Ga.) University and Maryville (Tenn.) College.
St. Mary's will take on Emory in Saturday's first round match-up at 1:30 p.m., while Lynchburg will face Maryville in the first contest of the day at 11:00 a.m. Saturday's match-up will be the first-ever meeting between the Seahawks and Emory. The two winners from Saturday will advance to Sunday's second round match-up at 1:00.
Tickets for this weekend will be as follows: $6 for adults, $3 for students/senior citizens, and $2 for children 3-12.
The Lynchburg College sports information office will be providing live stats for all three contests at the following link: http://www.lynchburg.edu/x15096.xml
As the rookie of the four-team field, the Seahawks, who are flying high after their first-ever CAC title win, will bring a three-game win streak into their match-up with Emory. Junior midfielder Sophia Esparza (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair) controls the SMCM midfield and boasts 27 points (11g, 5a), while freshman Bridget McGovern (Wrentham, Mass./King Philip Regional) has had a stellar rookie campaign with 18 points on seven goals and four assists. Senior Marie Oben (Glenn Dale, Md./St. Mary's, Annapolis) is 10-2-2 on the season with a 0.83 GAA and six shutouts.
Emory (15-3-1) earned a Pool C berth after sharing the University Athletic Association crown with Washington University in St. Louis as both finished with identical conference records of 6-1. The Eagles are making their 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and second straight after advancing to the round of 16 a year ago. Emory currently owns a 5-9-2 mark in NCAA Tournament action as the Eagles are the veterans of the group. Shayna Brown leads the Eagle offense with 19 points (8g, 3a), while Sarah Wilkerson owns a 0.55 GAA with eight shutouts.
Maryville (17-3-1) picked up a Pool A berth after garnering the Great South Conference title with a 6-1 victory over Spelman College in the championship game on November 8. The Scots are making their fifth straight tournament appearance and sixth overall, sporting a 1-5 mark. Last season, Maryville fell 1-0 to Lynchburg in the first round. Jessica Petersen is the Scots' top offensive player with 79 points on 34 goals and 11 assists, ranking her second in the nation in points per game and third in goals per game. Desiree Simmons has been in net for Maryville, boasting a 0.66 GAA with seven shutouts.
Host Lynchburg (19-0-3) is competing in its ninth NCAA Tournament and second straight after notching the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship with a come-from-behind 3-2 win at Virginia Wesleyan College on November 8 as Ashley Hoath scored all three goals. Lynchburg is 9-8-1 in tournament play. Betsy Kwiatkowski (16g, 17a) and Katie Santos (23g, 1a) are the Hornets to watch as the duo has combined for 49 goals and 18 assists. In goal, Anna Wright (8-0-2) owns a 0.34 GAA in 10 games started, while Jackie Bader (9-0-1) has a 0.72 GAA in 10 games started as well.
The 61-team field consists of 39 automatic qualifiers, three from Pool B (which consists of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification), and 19 from Pool C (which consists of institutions from automatic qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and the remaining Pool B teams).
Two winners from Saturday will square off on Sunday and that winner advances to the NCAA Sectionals on November 21-22 or 22-23.
NCAA First Round
Saturday, November 15 (Lynchburg, Va.)
Game 1: Maryville (Tenn.) at Lynchburg - 11:00 am
Game 2: Emory vs. St. Mary's (Md.) - 1:30
pm
NCAA Second Round
Sunday, November 16 (Lynchburg, Va.)
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 - 1:00 pm
