INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season champion Trinity University (16-1-1) has earned its 24th appearance into the 64-field NCAA Div. III Men’s Soccer Tournament as the league’s automatic qualifier. Interactive Bracket
Trinity will travel to Tacoma, Wash., for its NCAA opening round contest against host Pacific Lutheran (14-5), the automatic qualifier out of the Northwest Conference (NWC) on Saturday. While this will be the first meeting between the two programs in the NCAA Tournament, the SCAC holds a 4-1 record all-time against Northwest Conference foes. The winner of Trinity/Pacific Lutheran match will take on the winner of Redlands (15-2-1) and Concordia (11-4-3).
The Tigers got strong performances this season from Michael Meese and Hunter Cain as the duo combined for 23 of Trinity's 59 goals and dished out 11 assists for 57 total points. On the defensive side Jacob Galan and Brady Johnston lead a Tiger defense that allowed just 17 goals on the year and posted a 0.92 goals against average. Trinity, led by head coach Paul McGinaly in his 31st season, won the 2003 national title and finished as the runners-up in 2007, is 44-22-3 all-time in NCAA postseason play.
Forty-three conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the championship. The other 21 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.
All tournament games leading up to the national semifinals will be played on the campuses of the competing institutions. Sixteen sites will host four teams for first-and second-round competition Nov. 12 and 13 or 13 and 14.
Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites Nov. 19 and 20 or 20 and 21. Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the national semifinals, which take place Dec. 3 at UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina, with UNC Greensboro and Greensboro Sports Commission serving as hosts. The national championship game will be played Dec. 4. The Division III women’s soccer national semifinals and championship games will also be held at UNCG Soccer Stadium Nov. 3 and Dec. 4.
