NCAA DIII Women's Soccer Tournament Release | NCAA DIII Women's Soccer Bracket | NCAA DIII Women's Soccer Selection Show
WORCESTER, Mass. – On Monday (Nov. 7) afternoon, the National Collegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA) announced the field of 64 teams for the 2016 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship.
The Worcester State women's soccer team received an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament after capturing the 2016 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) tournament championship on Sunday (Nov. 6) as they edged the No. 3 seeded Bridgewater State 2-1. The Lancers have won three back-to-back conference championships and return to the tournament after last appearing in 2014. This will be the Lancers' seventh overall appearance in NCAA tournament.
Worcester State (9-6-2) is scheduled to play the Liberty League Tournament Champions, William Smith (18-0-0). The Herons are undefeated and mark their 27th NCAA tournament appearance in Geneva, New York on Saturday (Nov. 12) at 11:00 a.m.
The William Smith Herons and the Lancers have met once before back in 2007 when the Lancers defeated the Herons 2-0 in an NCAA tournament first round game.
The two other teams traveling to Geneva, New York include the NESCAC Champions, Trinity (11-4-3) and the Engineers of WPI (16-2-2) who just won their first-ever NEWMAC Championship this past weekend after topping MIT 3-1.
Forty-three conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the 2016 championship. One team was selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions, as well as members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final 20 berths were reserved for Pool C, which includes institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that did not win their conference championship and any remaining Pool B teams.
A tournament central webpage that will house the details for this weekend's games will be released tomorrow.