Ithaca Women's Soccer Team Picked To Host NCAA "Sweet 16" Weekend Action
The Ithaca College women’s soccer team (13-3-3) has advanced to the sectional round of the NCAA playoffs. The Bombers will host this weekend's "Sweet 16" round of the tournament, with two sectional semifinal matches on Saturday and the sectional final scheduled for Sunday. Ithaca will face Trinity (Texas), who is 22-0-0 on the season, in one of Saturday's semifinal matches with Cortland (13-5-3) meeting Concordia-Moorhead (12-3-6) in the other semifinal (game times will be 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m; the NCAA will announce game assignments later Monday. The two winners advance to Sunday's 1 p.m. final with a berth in the "final four" in San Antonio at stake.
NCAA program (note: the NCAA has discontinued printing programs for Division III women's soccer; only digital versions are being made available)
TICKET INFORMATION: Ticket prices for each game, as set by the NCAA, will be $6 for adults; $3 for students with ID, senior citizens and children under 12.
SERIES RESULTS: The Bombers have never faced Trinity or Concordia Moorhead. Ithaca has met Cortland 34 times, posting a 15-9-10 series record, including a 4-1 win at Cortland this fall. The Bombers and Red Dragons have played three times in the NCAA playoffs with all three meetings being decided by penalty kicks. Ithaca won the 1990 NCAA title by besting Cortland 5-3 in a shootout and advanced past the Red Dragons 4-3 in penalty kicks after playing to a 1-1 tie in the first round of the 1998 playoffs; Cortland eliminated the Bombers in 1992 with a 3-2 advantage in penalty kicks after a scoreless tie in a first-round match-up.
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 29-16-8 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
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference titlist Trinity), 21 teams from those conferences who did not win their conference title (including Ithaca, who lost in the Empire 8 semifinals, State University of New York Athletic Conference runner-up Cortland and Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference runner-up Concordia-Moorhead) and one team that is either an independent or a member of a conference whose champion do not receive automatic bids. Following last weekend's regional round, four-team sectionals will be held at four sites 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 23rd appearance in the NCAA playoffs – no school has made more – and ninth in a row. They've outscored their opponents 50-20 this fall. Junior Rachael Palladino (Lansing/Lansing), a repeat pick as Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Year leads the team with 35 points (14 goals and seven assists) this season; a third-team all-American last fall, she's scored 111 points (46 goals, 19 assists) in 61 career matches. She scored the game-tying goal in Saturday's win over #14 Illinois Wesleyan (the overtime game-winner was an own goal that a titan defender knocked into her own net) and notched the game-winner in Sunday's victory against #22 Ohio Northern. Both of Palladino's goals were assisted by sophomore forward Ellyn Grant-Keane (Lansing/Lansing) h, who now has 16 points this fall (six goals, four assists). 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. 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 114 saves while recording five solo shutouts.