INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division III Field Hockey Committee announced today the field of 24 teams that will compete in the 2017 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship.
Saint Joseph's College (15-5, 6-1 GNAC) will play at University of New England (17-4, 11-1 CCC) in an opening-round contest on Wednesday at 5:00 PM. Both teams earned an automatic qualifier with conference championships on Saturday, when the Monks upset top-seeded Lasell College, 3-0, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title game and the Nor'easters rallied to top Endicott College, 2-1, at home in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship.
Wednesday's winner will travel to Vermont to face #2 Middlebury College on Saturday.
Sixteen teams will compete in eight first-round games on campus sites Wednesday, November 8. The eight first-round winners, along with the eight teams that received a first-round bye, will compete at four campus sites during second/third-round play, Saturday and Sunday, November 11 and 12. INTERACTIVE BRACKET
The winners of the four sites will advance to the semifinals Friday, November 17, which will be hosted by Bellarmine University at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. The winners of the semifinals will advance to the final on Sunday, November 19, at Trager Stadium on the campus of the University of Louisville. Semifinals will be played at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern time, Friday, November 17, with the championship game being played at 5 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, November 19. Championship information, including information about tickets, is available here.
Eighteen conferences have been awarded automatic qualification for their champions into the 2017 championship. One team was selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. Finally, five berths were reserved for Pool C, which consists of institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champions and the remaining teams from Pool B.
The 18 conferences and schools receiving automatic qualification are:
The one Pool B team is:
Centre College
The five Pool C teams are:
Babson College
Kean University
Montclair State University
Salisbury University
Trinity College (Connecticut)
In 2016, Messiah College defeated Tufts University 1-0 at McCooey Field at William Smith College. It was Messiah's first national title.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
