2010 NCAA Division II Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS – The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team earned a berth in the 2010 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer National Championships Monday night when the field of 48 teams was announced in a live videocast at www.ncaa.com.
The Rock earned the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Region and will face No. 6 seed West Virginia Wesleyan Friday, Nov. 12, in a first round match at No. 2 seed California (Pa.).
West Chester earned the No. 1 seed and with it earn a bye into the second round, where they will face the winner of Friday's No. 4-5 matchup between Kutztown and Bloomsburg.
California (Pa.) earned the No. 2 seed and will play the winner of the SRU-West Virginia Wesleyan match in the second round. Second round matches are set for Sunday, Nov. 14.
Slippery Rock earned its berth in the national tournament on the strength of a 13-3-4 record thus far, including a school record 13 consecutive games without a loss. The Rock has posted a 9-0-4 record over its last 13 games and has not found itself in the loss column since suffering a 3-0 defeat to California (Pa.) Sept. 24.
Included in that run is a 2-2 tie with top seed West Chester, which happened last weekend in the semifinals of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships. That tie was the first of the season for West Chester and
Shelby Ward's first half goal was the first goal given up by the Golden Rams in the previous 441 minutes.
Slippery Rock has faced all five of the qualifiers in the Atlantic Region and owns a record of 2-3-2 against those opponents, including a split with Bloomsburg, a loss and a tie with West Chester, a win over West Virginia Wesleyan, a tie with Kutztown and a loss to California.
The Rock and West Virginia Wesleyan met way back on Sept. 2 in what was the first game of the season for SRU. Slippery Rock came away from Buckhannon, W. Va. with a 2-0 win over the Bobcats.
Monday's announcement means Slippery Rock will make its sixth overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and will be returning to the National Championships for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Head coach
Noreen Herlihy has guided the program to 15 consecutive winning seasons, eight trips to the PSAC playoffs, two conference championships and two regional finals.
Check back to www.RockAthletics.com Wednesday, Nov. 10, for a complete preview of The Rock's opening round match, including official kickoff time, ticket information and live coverage options.