Monks to play at Wesleyan in First Round
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The NCAA Men's Soccer Committee has announced the 2009 DIII Tournament bracket. Fifty-nine teams advance to national tournament play, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday, November 12th. Saint Joseph's College (14-7-1, 7-2 GNAC) will play at Wesleyan University (11-1-4, 6-0-3 NESCAC) in Middletown, CT on Saturday, time TBA.
The Monks punched their ticket into the NCAA Tournament by defeating Emerson College, 2-1, in the GNAC Championship at Westerlea Way Field on Saturday. With the victory, St. Joe's, the top seed in the conference tourney, obtained an automatic qualifier, which is awarded to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference winner, into the 2009 NCAA DIII Tournament.
Wesleyan gained entry to the NCAA playoffs as an at-large team along with NESCAC rivals Bowdoin and Amherst. Wesleyan, as one of the top seeds in the New England regional, will serve as a host site for first- and second-round action. NEWMAC champion Babson University and TCCC winner Western New England College will take the field following the Monks-Cardinals matchup on Saturday. The first-round winners meet on Sunday, with the winner of the matchup heading to the sectionals in the round of 16.
Wesleyan, ranked first in New England and fourth in NCAA DIII as of November 2nd, fell to Middlebury College in the NESCAC semifinals, 2-0, on Saturday.
For the Saint Joseph's Men's Soccer program, the GNAC title and subsequent trip to the NCAA's are both first-time occurrences. The Monks have advanced to the conference tournament following each of the three seasons the program has been a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference. St. Joe's earned the #7 seed in 2007, the #3 seed, and fell to Norwich in the title bout, in 2008 and the top seed this fall.
Thirty-nine conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the 2009 championship. Three teams were 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. The final 17 berths were reserved for Pool C, which are institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and any remaining Pool B teams.
Five two-team, first-round games will be conducted November 12 with the winners advancing to play five teams which received first-round byes Saturday, November 15. Eleven sites will host four teams for first- and second-round competition Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday, November 13-14 or 14-15. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites November 20-21 or 21-22. Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the finals December 4-5. All games, except the finals, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. Blossom Sports Stadium, in San Antonio, Texas, will be the site of this year's semifinals/final.
