ITHACA’S INVITATION: The Ithaca College women’s soccer team (11-3-3) has been selected for the NCAA playoffs. The Bombers received an at-large bid to the NCAA championship tournament and will compete in a four-team regional this weekend at Ohio Northern in Ada, Ohio. Ithaca takes on Illinois Wesleyan (14-3-2) at 12:30 p.m. in the second of Saturday's second semifinal, with the host Polar Bears (18-2-2) facing Scranton (13-3-3) at 11 a.m. in the first. The regional final is scheduled for Sunday at noon.
SERIES RESULTS: The Bombers have never faced Illinois Wesleyan or Ohio Northern. Ithaca has played Scranton 16 times, posting an 11-3-2 record, with two meetings in the NCAA playoffs (the Royals posted wins in 1987 and 2000).
ITHACA VS. 2011 NCAA PLAYOFF FIELD: The Bombers faced four NCAA playoff teams this fall, going 2-2-0. Ithaca beat Cortland (4-1) and New Jersey (2-1) and lost to Misericordia (4-3) and Stevens (2-1 in overtime). A scheduled match at William Smith was canceled.
ITHACA IN THE NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Bombers are making their 22nd appearance in the NCAA playoffs; no school has made more (William Smith has also made 22). The last 15 playoff bids have come under
Mindy Quigg. Ithaca is 27-16-8 in NCAA playoff competition (five of the eight ties resulted in the Bombers advancing on penalty kicks; in the other three, Ithaca was eliminated in penalty kicks). The program’s four straight trips to the NCAA semifinals from 1988 through 1991 (a streak matched by two other teams) was highlighted by consecutive national titles in 1990 and 1991. Last year Ithaca reached the regional final, beating Springfield 1-0 before losing 3-0 to New Jersey.
THE 2011 NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Division III championship provides for a 64-team, single-elimination tournament that includes 42 winners of conferences whose champions earn automatic qualification (including Landmark Conference titlist Scranton), 21 teams from those conferences who did not win their conference title (including Ithaca, who lost in the Empire 8 semifinals, and Illinois Wesleyan, who lost the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin’s automatic bid in penalty kicks) and one team that is either an independent or a member of a conference whose champion do not receive automatic bids. Following this weekend’s regional round, four schools will host four-team sectionals, to be held Nov. 18-20. The four sectional winners advance to the semifinals and final, Dec. 2 and 3. All games will be played on the campuses of participating institutions until the “final four”, which will be held at Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio, Texas.
ITHACA LEADERS: The Bombers are making their 22nd appearance in the NCAA playoffs – no school has made more – and ninth in a row. They’ve outscored their opponents 47-19 this fall. Junior Rachael Palladino
(Lansing/Lansing), a repeat pick as Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Year leads the team with 31 points (12 goals and seven assists) this season; a third-team all-American last fall, she’s scored 107 points (44 goals, 19 assists) in 59 career matches. Sophomore back
Anna Gray (Delmar/Bethlehem) was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year and after has anchored a Bomber defense that's allowed a goals-against average of 1.06 (with a 0.67 mark against conference opponents). She's also scored three goals, giving her nine points in her two-year career. Junior midfielder
Julie Winn (Sutton/Sutton, Mass.) and sophomore midfielder
Amanda Callanan (Ballston Spa/Ballston Spa) have both scored eight goals; Winn has a team-high eight assists and
Callanan has a pair. Sophomore forward
Ellyn Grant-Keane (Lansing/Lansing) has scored 14 points this fall (six goals, two assists). Senior back
Marla Schilling (Canton/Canton, Conn.) and sophomore back
Meredith Jones (Gwynned-Mercy Academy/Lower Gwynned, Pa.) both earned Empire 8 all-star recognition. Junior
Becca Salant (Holliston/Holliston, Mass.) has started every game in goal, making 101 saves while recording four solo shutouts.