Wittenberg Women's Soccer To Host First- and Second-Round Games Of NCAA Div. III Tournament

From left: Tiger team captains Meghan O'Rourke, Lindsey Rusch and Suzanne Medwid accept the NCAC Tournament championship trophy.

Springfield, Ohio — The Wittenberg University women's soccer team has earned the opportunity to play in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second time in school history.

The Tigers, fresh off a 2-1 overtime win at home over Denison University in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament championship game on Saturday, were selected to host three first- and second-round games of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Wittenberg, which has a 17-2-2 overall record, will take on Penn State-Behrend, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, or 30 minutes following the conclusion of a game scheduled for 5 p.m. between Calvin College and Capital University. The winners of Friday's games will return to Wittenberg's Edwards-Maurer Field for a second-round game at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10. Complete Tournament Web Site

The team that advances will play in the Round of 16 at a site to be determined the weekend of Nov. 16-18 against the team that emerges from a four-team bracket hosted by Wheaton College (Mass.).

After starting the season with a loss to currently undefeated William Smith College, the Tigers have been nearly unstoppable and are now ranked No. 12 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. A 1-0 road loss to Transylvania and 0-0 ties against North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rivals Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan are the lone blemishes on the rest of the Tigers' schedule.

The Tigers won both the NCAC regular season and tournament titles for the first time in school history in 2007. For the season, Wittenberg is 5-1 against teams that qualified for the 2007 NCAA Division III Tournament, including a 1-0 home win over Capital on Sept. 5.

The Tigers, who are unbeaten in nine starts at home this year (7-0-2), are led offensively by Suzanne Medwid, class of 2009 from Columbus, Ohio, with 14 total points, including a team-best five goals (four game-winners), and Amanda Farrell, class of 2008 from Loveland, Ohio, with 12 total points, including three game-winning goals. Defense is the team's trademark, however, with just seven goals allowed all season. Leading the charge is the school and NCAC record-holder for career shutouts, Meghan O'Rourke, class of 2008 from Columbus, Ohio, who ranks among the NCAA Division III leaders with a 0.26 goals against average and .887 saves percentage.

This four-team portion of the 60-team NCAA Division III Tournament bracket figures to be extremely challenging. Capital, which won the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament championship after finishing second in the OAC regular season title chase, brings a 14-5-1 overall record into the competition. Calvin won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular season and tournament titles and has a 15-3-2 overall record. Penn State-Behrend is champion of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference and brings an 11-6-3 overall record into postseason play.

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