A 7th Trip To The NCAA Tournament
MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/10/14)—For the seventh time in program history Concordia has been selected to participate in the NCAA Division III women's soccer tournament. The Cobbers were one of the 20 at-large team chosen for this year's national playoffs.
Concordia will play Aurora (Ill.) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a game to be played at Lake Forest, (Ill.). The date and time of the game has yet to be announced.
The Cobbers will be making their seventh overall appearance in the national tournament and fifth in the past six seasons.
Complete Division III NCAA Tournament Interactive Bracket
The Cobbers earned their at-large berth by posting a 13-4-3 overall record. Concordia was 8-1-2 in the MIAC regular season and finished second in the final conference standings. The Cobbers' big non-conference wins came against Wis.-Oshkosh and St. Scholastica. Both of those teams won their conference tournament championships and received automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament.
Aurora has won eight straight games entering the national playoffs. They earned their spot in the NCAA Tournament by winning the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) conference tournament championship. The Spartans are 17-3-1 heading into the national playoffs. Aurora also won the league's regular-season title with a perfect 10-0-0 mark. Aurora will be making its 11th appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Aurora is led by junior forward Nicci Bermudes who has 34 goals and 12 assists for a remarkable 81 points this year. She is second in all of NCAA Division III in goals and points. Bermudes has 11 game-winning goals this season which is tied for the most of any player in NCAA Division I, II or III. She has scored at least one goal in all but for games for the Spartans this year and has scored two or more goals on 11 occasions. Her top performance of the year came against Concordia-Chicago when she had four goals and one assist in a 7-0 win.
Concordia and Aurora have played only one time before. The Cobbers lost 3-0 at Aurora last season. The teams have one common opponent this year. Both Concordia and the Spartans played Wheaton (Ill.). The Cobbers lost 4-0 at home while Aurora beat the Thunder 3-0 on a hat trick from Bermudes.
The winner of the Concordia/Aurora first-round game will play the winner of the Lake Forest St. Scholastica contest. Lake Forest finished the season with a 20-0-0 overall record and went 10-0-0 in Midwest Conference play.
Lake Forest is unbeaten and untied on the season with a 20-0-0 mark. They won the MWC regular season and tournament titles. The defeated Grinnell College 7-2 in the conference semifinals and then downed Ripon College 5-2 in the championship game.
St. Scholastica is 15-6-1 overall and went 13-0-1 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC). Like Aurora and Lake Forest, they also won the regular season and postseason championships.
The Saints are the only team that Concordia has faced in the group of four during the regular season. The Cobbers beat St. Scholastica 2-0 in the fourth game of the season.
Lake Forest Regional - Schedule
Saturday, Nov. 15 - First Round
St. Scholastica (15-6-1) at Lake Forest (20-0-0) vs. - 11 a.m.
Aurora (Ill.) (17-3-1) vs. Concordia-Moorhead (13-4-3) - TBA
Sunday, Nov. 16 - Second Round
First Round Winners - 1 p.m.
Complete Printable NCAA DIII Women's Soccer Bracket
Lake Forest Regional - Team Links
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Aurora
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Lake Forest
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