Five Big Ten Schools Earn Bids To NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament
Big Ten will send at least five programs to tournament for 22nd time in 23 years
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference will have five schools participating in the 2017 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, it was announced Monday afternoon. Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers and Wisconsin earned berths to this year’s NCAA Tournament and all five Big Ten programs will play host to first-round matches this weekend.
The Big Ten has now had at least five of its current women’s soccer programs selected for the NCAA Tournament in 22 of the past 23 seasons.
Northwestern (12-7-2) will make its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and fifth overall, looking to build upon a trip to the third round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats, who reached the Big Ten Tournament championship match for the first time since 1997 last weekend, will entertain Butler in a first-round contest at 2 p.m. (ET) Saturday at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium in Evanston.
Big Ten Champion Ohio State (15-4-1) earned the No. 4 seed in the Columbia (S.C.) Regional and will make its 12th trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes kick off their postseason against Vanderbilt at 6 p.m. (ET) Friday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.
Newly-crowned Big Ten Tournament champion Penn State (12-4-4) is the conference’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament and will make its 23rd consecutive appearance in the event. The Nittany Lions, who won the 2015 national championship, are the No. 3 seed in the Palo Alto Regional and will play host to Stony Brook at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Friday at Jeffrey Field in University Park, Pa.
Rutgers (12-2-5) received its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and the 12th in program history. The Scarlet Knights, who reached the NCAA College Cup for the first time in 2015, will begin their postseason journey this weekend when they welcome La Salle to Yurcak Field in Piscataway, N.J. (date and time to be announced).
For the 20th time in school history and third time in four years, Wisconsin (13-5-2) earned an NCAA Tournament bid. The Badgers will be at home in Madison for a first-round match against Toledo at the McClimon Soccer Complex (date and time to be announced).
Following this weekend’s first-round matches, the NCAA Tournament continues with second-round play on Nov. 17 and third-round contests on Nov. 19, also at campus sites. The quarterfinals then will take place Nov. 24 or 25 on the campus of one of the participating institutions. The 2017 NCAA Women’s College Cup will take place at Orlando City Stadium in Orlando, Fla., with the semifinals slated for Dec. 1 and the championship match on Dec. 3, and all three College Cup contests being televised live on ESPNU.
The remaining kickoff times and all television coverage for NCAA Tournament matches prior to the semifinals will be announced by the participating schools.
