The 2014 America East women's soccer champion, New Hampshire Wildcats, will travel to face the University of Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA women's soccer tournament on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m. in Storrs, Conn. The field of 64 teams, which will compete for the 33rd NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, was announced Monday by the Division I Women’s Soccer Committee.
The Wildcats (8-8-4), who are making their first trip to the NCAA tournament, earned the conference's automatic bid after defeating Hartford, 2-1, on Saturday evening at in the America East championship game. The Wildcats became the first No. 3 seed to win the conference title and fourth different team to hold the America East trophy in the last four seasons.
New Hampshire jumped out quickly on the top-seeded Hawks in the title game, scoring in the second and 12th minutes of the contest to take a 2-0 lead. The Wildcat defense would hold off the Hartford attack until surrendering a goal in the 89 minute of action. Sophomore goalkeeper Mimi Borkan, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, made seven stops in the contest. The Wildcats are unbeaten in their last six matches (4-0-2).
The America East has 11 all-time NCAA wins and is 11-24 all-time in NCAA tournament play. In 2011, Boston University became the first America East team to host an NCAA contest since 2000. The league has received multiple bids five times, most recently in 2006. Hartford has twice went deep into the tournament, winning three games before falling in the quarterfinals in 1999 and reaching the Final Four in 1992. The last tournament win came in 2011 when Boston University defeated Harvard, 3-0.
UConn (13-4-5) won the American Athletic Conference tournament to receive the conference's automatic bid. The Huskies survived PKs against South Florida to win the conference title and make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2010. The program has four appearances in the title match.
Thirty-one conferences were granted automatic bids for the 2014 championship, while the remaining 33 teams were selected at-large. The top 16 teams are seeded and conference teams cannot play each other in the first- or second-rounds. When pairing teams, the committee follows geographic proximity parameters. The top 16 teams will host and all other sites were selected for the first-round to create the least number of flights.
First-round games will be played at campus sites November 14, 15 and 16. Second-round games will be played Friday, November 21, at campus sites, and third-round games will be played Sunday, November 23, at the same campus sites. Quarterfinal games will be played November 28 or 29 also on campus sites.
The 33rd annual NCAA Women’s College Cup will be played December 5 and December 7 at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, with Florida Atlantic University and the Palm Beach County Sports Commission serving as co-hosts. The first national semifinal will be played and shown live on ESPNU at 5 p.m. Eastern time Friday, December 5. The second semifinal will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. Eastern time live on ESPNU. The national championship match will take place at 1 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, December 7 and will also broadcast live on ESPNU.