Championship Preview
NCAA REGIONAL GETS UNDERWAY THIS WEEKEND
EAU CLAIRE - The 16th ranked UW-Eau Claire soccer team will host its four-team NCAA Division III Regional this Saturday and Sunday.
Out of the 60 teams in the national tourney, the four participating in Eau Claire's opening regional all are in the top 10 for Central Regional rankings. Eau Claire, ranked third in the region, will face 10th ranked Concordia-Moorhead (MN) at 11:00 a.m. Saturday. Fourth-ranked Augustana College (IL) plays Grinnell College (IA), ranked sixth in the Central. That match starts at 2:00 p.m. The winners advance to the second round and face each other at 1:00 p.m. Sunday to move to round three.
The Blugolds, 21-2-0, are making their second trip ever to the NCAA Tourney and their second in as many years. These will be the first home games Eau Claire has ever had in NCAA Tourney play. Last year Eau Claire advanced to the second round where it lost 2-1 to Wheaton College (IL) in overtime. The Blugolds got to the second round after a thrilling 4-3 shootout win over Augustana after 110 scoreless minutes. The Blugolds defended both their Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) regular season and tournament crowns. Both titles were the second in team history.
The team had seven players selected to the All-WIAC team, the most in Eau Claire history. They include Player of the Year forward Maria Iaizzo, Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete midfielder Emily Meisinger, midfielder Liz Kooistra, goalie Allie Rivard, defender Allison Smith, forward Amy Smith and defender Becky Westbrock. Head Coach Sean Yengo also claimed his second consecutive WIAC Coach of the Year honor. Iaizzo, the first Blugold ever selected as Player of the Year, sits in the top four in the conference in many categories.
She is first in game-winning goals (8), second in assists (10), fourth in points (40), and tied for fourth in goals (15). She led Eau Claire in each category. Rivard's 0.08 goals against average is set to break the previous WIAC record of 0.23, set in 2000 by UW-Steven Point's Abby Rabinovitz. The defense as a whole posts a 0.34 goals against average, lowest in the conference. The team allowed eight goals on 117 shots. The eight goals allowed are least in the WIAC. It also notched 16 shutouts and 16 shutout wins, both school records. One of those was a 1-0 win over Concordia-Moorhead in double overtime. Eau Claire has not faced either of the other two teams in its regional.
The Cobbers went 12-5-3 in a year when they won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular season and tourney championships. Both are Cobber firsts. Their first automatic NCAA berth ever came in a seven-round shootout win over Carleton College (MN) in the MIAC Championship. The team had 12 shutouts on the year, a program record. It ranks second in the MIAC while the defense sits third in goals allowed (10), and goals against average (0.48). The team also defeated Grinnell 2-0 this season and lost 1-0 to Eau Claire.
Senior Morgan Bain leads the team in points (20), goals (9), and game-winning goals (6). She is tied for first in the MIAC in goals, first in game-winning goals, tied for second in goals per game (0.47), and third in points. She joins five other seniors who have led the team to its first NCAA appearance in school history.
This is the third NCAA tourney appearance in a row for the Grinnell Pioneers. The team won the Midwest Conference regular season title on its second to last game of the season off a 4-0 win over St. Norbert, who was one game back at the time. It won the MWC tourney 3-0 over Carroll College in one of the team's 14 shutouts, a conference record. The 13-2-1 Pioneers only allowed five goals all season on 166 shots for a 0.28 goals against average. The team is in the top two for most defensive categories in the conference. Grinnell lost in the second round in last year's championship 3-0 to Macalester College (MN). This year it has faced only Concordia-Moorhead out of team's in this region.
Goalie Liz Carrier now holds the career shutout conference record with 41. She also collected 81 saves over the course of the season. The offense is led by Miki Nakamura, who leads in points (22), tied for first in goals (7), and tied for first in assists (8). Katharine Ni also has seven goals and seven assists while Sofia Skraba tallied eight assists with two goals.
The Augustana Vikings head to their second consecutive NCAA tourney. The team went 14-2-3 this season. A College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin team, it took second to Wheaton in both the regular season and conference tournament and was selected as an at-large school. The team allowed 11 goals all season for a 0.56 goals against average. It also is third in the CCIW for points (128), goals (47), goals per game (2.47), assists (34), and assists per game (1.79). It has not faced any of the regional teams.
Tessa Roberts leads the team in goals (13) and points (30). Lauren Polock leads with eight assists. In the CCIW, Roberts is third in points, points per game (1.58), goals, and goals per game (0.68). Polock is third in the CCIW in assists and assists per game (0.42). Goalie Keri Hess has a 0.52 goals against average and a .907 save percentage, tops in the conference. Her seven shutouts are second in the CCIW.
The action starts at 11:00 a.m. for Eau Claire when it faces Concordia-Moorhead. At 2:00 p.m. the Vikings take on the Pioneers. The winners play each other at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday to advance. All games will be at Ramer Field in River Falls (Read Announcement).
