The Northern Kentucky University women’s soccer team is set to take on the No. 1 regional seed West Virginia in the first round of the Division I NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 3 p.m. ET in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The Norse earned the University’s first NCAA Division I Tournament berth with a victory over Milwaukee in the Horizon League Championship on Saturday. They are advancing to the NCAA Tournament in the first season they are eligible to do so since being granted active Division I status in August.
The conference title is the first for any team at NKU in the Division I era.
Northern Kentucky enters the tournament at 13-6-1 overall, a Division-I era program record for victories. The Norse have set a new Division-I mark for wins in each of their five season at the DI level under 20th-year head coach Bob Sheehan.
West Virginia is currently ranked No. 1 nationally in the NSCAA Coaches Poll. The Mountaineers clinched the No. 1 seed after winning the Big 12 Conference Championship with a 3-2 overtime victory over TCU on Sunday. WVU owns a 19-1-1 overall record after going undefeated in the Big 12.
The Norse earned the Horizon League Championship title starting with a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Wright State on Monday, Oct. 31. NKU then erased a 2-0 deficit in both its semifinal and final match to win the title.
The Norse defeated Detroit Mercy on Thursday, 3-2, followed by a 3-2 win over regular-season champion Milwaukee on Saturday.
The last time the team advanced to the NCAA Tournament was in 2011 when NKU earned its eighth Great Lakes Valley Conference title and made its 11th NCAA Division II Tournament appearance. It fell to Grand Valley in the second round.
The first round begins Friday, Nov. 11 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 13. The second and third rounds are set for Nov. 18-20 with the quarterfinals being played Nov. 25-26.
The national champion will be crowned at the 2016 College Cup in San Jose, California on Dec. 2 and 4.
From NKU Athletics