Lasell Women's Soccer Heading to NCAA DIII Tournament

NEWTON, MA-  The Lasell College women's soccer team will face Williams College (12-3-2) in the 2010 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament, hosted at Brandeis University on Saturday.  Announcements and full bracket for the tournament was announced Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. The Lasers and the Ephs will meet on Saturday, November 13th, time is yet to be determined.

The Lasers earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after capturing the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship Title on Saturday, November 6^th after a 1-0 win over Norwich University. Lasell, currently 14-3-3 on the season, is on an eight-game winning streak, and went forward on a four-game shutout stretch through the conference post-season tournament.  The women's soccer team at Lasell has never made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history. In fact, the women's soccer team is the first women's program out of Lasell's eight sports to make it to the "Big Dance."

Lasell will take on the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Champions Williams College in the first round of the post-season tournament. The Ephs secured their fourth straight NESCAC Title with nine seniors on their roster whom have won the NESCAC Championship all four years at Williams.  During that time they have accumulated an all-time record of 67-6-3, a league slate of 31-2-3, and an 11-0 record in the conference tournament. 

The Ephs gathered a 1-0 victory over Amherst College to earn their spot in the NCAA Tournament.  Senior Sara Wild (Portland, OR) tallied the game-winner, avenging a previous 1-0 loss to the Jeffs during the regular season. 

Williams is on a seven-game unbeaten streak, dating back to October 9th when Bates defeated the Ephs, 2-1, in conference play. Four of their last seven wins have been shutouts, including in the semi-finals and the finals of the NESCAC Tournament.

The NCAA DIII Women's Soccer Tournament is comprised of a field of 63 teams.  Fourty-two conferences were awarded automatic qualifiers for the 2010 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. The final 20 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.

One team will receive a first-round bye.  One two-team first-round match will be played to determine the team that advances to the second round to play the team that received a first-round bye.  Fifteen four-team sites will conduct first- and second-round play on the first weekend of the championship, November 13-14 or 14-15.  Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites November 20-21 or 21-22.  All games, except the semifinals and final, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions.  Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the semifinals December 4-5, at Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio, Texas.

Complete NCAA DIII Women's Soccer Tournament Brackett

Conferences and Teams Receiving Automatic Qualification (42):

Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference    Penn State-Altoona
American Southwest Conference    Hardin-Simmons
Capital Athletic Conference    Stevenson
Centennial Conference    Johns Hopkins
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin    Illinois Wesleyan
Colonial States Athletic Conference    Centenary (New Jersey)
Commonwealth Conference    Messiah
The Commonwealth Coast Conference    Roger Williams
Empire 8    Stevens Institute of Technology
Freedom Conference    Manhattanville
Great Northeast Athletic Conference    Lasell
Great South Athletic Conference    Maryville (Tennessee)
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference    Transylvania
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference    Loras
Landmark Conference    Scranton
Liberty League    William Smith
Little East Conference    Western Connecticut State
Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference    Worcester State
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association    Calvin
Midwest Conference    Lawrence
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference    Concordia-Moorhead
New England Collegiate Conference    Mitchell
New England Small College Athletic Conference    Williams
New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference    Springfield
New Jersey Athletic Conference    The College of New Jersey
North Atlantic Conference    Castleton
North Coast Athletic Conference    Denison
North Eastern Athletic Conference    Keuka
Northern Athletics Conference    Aurora
Northwest Conference    Puget Sound
Ohio Athletic Conference    Otterbein
Old Dominion Athletic Conference    Lynchburg
Presidents'Athletic Conference    Washington and Jefferson
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference    Principia
Skyline Conference    Farmingdale State
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference    Redlands
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference    Trinity (Texas)
State University of New York Athletic Conference    Oneonta State
University Athletic Association    Chicago
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference    Northwestern (Minnesota)
USA South Athletic Conference    Christopher Newport
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Association    Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Pool B Berth (1):
Chapman

Pool C Berths (20):
Allegheny
Augustana (Illinois)
Brandeis
Cal Lutheran
Carleton
Dickinson
Eastern Connecticut State
Emory
Hamilton
Ithaca
Macalaster
Plattsburgh State
Rochester (New York)
Rowan
Virginia Wesleyan
Wartburg
Washington U. in St. Louis
Wheaton (Illinois)
Wheaton (Massachusetts)
William Paterson

In last year's finals, Messiah College defeated Washington University (Missouri) by a score of 1-0, to win the championship.  It was Messiah's second consecutive national championship.