Bombers Set To Host Penn State-Behrend And NCAA First and Second Rounds
2013 DIII Women's Soccer Bracket
ITHACA'S INVITATION: The Ithaca College women's soccer team (16-2-0) has been selected for the NCAA playoffs. The Bombers received the Empire 8's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will play host to a four-team regional on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 16-17. Ithaca takes on Penn State-Behrend (15-5-1) in a regional semifinal match Saturday at 11 a.m., while Skidmore (12-3-2) will face Rowan (16-3-0) at 1:30 p.m. The regional final will be played Sunday at 1:30 p.m. between the winners of the two first-round matches.
SERIES RESULTS: The Bombers have never faced Penn State-Behrend. Ithaca played Rowan in the third round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament and posted a 2-1 overtime victory against the Profs at Williams. The Bombers have taken on Skidmore 22 times, posting a 15-2-5 record, in a series dating back to 1988. Ithaca, who is 6-0-3 against the Thoroughbreds at Carp Wood Field, played Skidmore annually from 1988-2001 and again from 2006-09.
ITHACA VS. 2013 NCAA PLAYOFF FIELD: The Bombers faced five NCAA playoff teams this fall, going 4-1-0. Ithaca blanked Emory 2-0, edged Farmingdale 2-1, shut out Misericordia 1-0 and posted a 1-0 victory over Oneonta. The Bombers fell to the host Herons, 1-0, in the William Smith Tournament on Sept. 15.
ITHACA IN THE NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Bombers are making their 24th appearance, and 11th straight, in the NCAA playoffs. No school has made more; William Smith is also making its 24th appearance, while TCNJ is the only other program to have made the tournament 20 or more times. The last 17 playoff bids have come under the direction of head coach
Mindy Quigg. Ithaca is 33-17-9 in NCAA playoff competition. The program's four straight trips to the NCAA semifinals from 1988 through 1991 were highlighted by consecutive national titles in 1990 and 1991. In 2012, Ithaca fell to Misericorida in PKs, 6-5, in the Sweet 16.
THE 2013 NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Division III championship provides for a 64-team, single-elimination tournament that includes 43 winners of conferences whose champions earn automatic qualification (including Empire 8 titlist Ithaca and Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference winner Penn State-Behrend) and 21 teams from those conferences who did not win their conference title (including Rowan and Skidmore who lost in their respective conference tournaments, 1-0). Following this weekend's regional round, four schools will host four-team sectionals, to be held Nov. 22-24. The four sectional winners advance to the semifinals and final, Dec. 6-7. All games will be played on the campuses of participating institutions until the "final four", which will be held at Toyota Field in San Antonio, Texas.
ITHACA LEADERS: The Bombers enter the NCAA Playoffs with a record of 16-2-0. They are led offensively by sophomore
Kelsey King (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh), who paces Ithaca with 12 goals and 25 points. Senior
Ellyn Grant-Keane (Lansing, N.Y./Lansing) ranks second on the team with 15 points, coming on five goals and five assists. Grant-Keane recorded her 30th career assist in a 6-2 victory over St. John Fisher in the Empire 8 Tournament, to make her Ithaca's all-time assist leader. Sophomore
Beth Coppolecchia (Katonah, N.Y./Somers) has started every game in goal this season for the Bombers, earning a record of 16-2-0 on the year. Coppolecchia carries an impressive .46 goals-against average, and ranks as one of the best in the country with a .901 save percentage. She has recorded seven solo shutouts this season, and helped the Bombers 12 total shutouts this season. As a team, Ithaca has scored 39 goals this season, and has allowed just eight against in 18 games. Ithaca ranks fifth in the nation with a .905 team save percentage. Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year
Anna Gray (Bethlehem, N.Y./Delmar) anchors the Bomber defense.