INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The 2017 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer regular season and tournament champion Trinity University Tigers, earned the program's eighth straight NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship bid on Monday afternoon. Interactive bracket | Printable bracket
The Tigers earned the SCAC automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs by virtue of their 1-0 win over Texas Lutheran University yesterday afternoon. The SCAC championship was the ninth consecutive league crown for Trinity and assured the Tigers of their 23rd appearance in NCAA postseason play since 1992.
Trinity (18-1), which is ranked 11th in the nation, opens first round play in Abilene, Texas against #22 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (16-3-1). The Crusaders earned their trip as an at-large selection from the American Southwest Conference.
On the other side of the bracket, Hardin Simmons University - the first and second round host - will play Methodist University (9-10). Methodist won the USA South crown after defeating Meredith in the championship game. Hardin-Simmons captured the ASC title in a win over UMHB.
Forty-three conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the 2017 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.
Sixteen four-team sites will conduct first- and second-round play on the first weekend of the championship, November 10 and 11 or 11 and 12. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites November 17 and 18 or 18 and 19. All games, except the semifinals and final, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the semifinals December 1 and 2, at UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Greensboro Sports Commission serving as hosts.
In last year’s final, Washington University in St. Louis defeated Messiah College in penalty kicks to win the championship after a 1-1 tie following regulation and both overtime periods.
