Three NESCAC Teams Selected to NCAA Field Hockey Tournament
HADLEY, Mass. - Three NESCAC teams have been selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA Field Hockey Tournament. Match times, ticket information and live coverage for all games will be announced on institutional websites on Monday.
Bowdoin College, which won the NESCAC Field Hockey Championship on Sunday afternoon, its sixth conference crown in the last seven years, has earned the top seed in this year's national tournament and will host one of four regionals on Nov. 12-13. The Polar Bears will face the winner of Wednesday's Keene St. (19-4)/Endicott (12-8) match.
Middlebury is also in this year's NCAA championshp. The Panthers have secured a first round bye and will face the winner of Wednesday's Franklin & Marshall (16-3)/Cortland St. (12-6) match on Saturday, Nov. 12 at Skidmore.
Amherst is the third team from the NESCAC in this year's national tournament. The Jeffs will host Gwynedd-Mercy (16-4) on Wednesday, Nov. 9. The Griffins won the 2011 Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) title to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Bowdoin has claimed three of the last four NCAA titles, winning the school's first national crown in any sport in 2007 before repeating in 2008. The Polar Bears won the 2010 NCAA championship via penalty strokes over Messiah, 2-1, at Christopher Newport. This will be Bowdoin's ninth NCAA tournament showing.
The Panthers, who finished as the runner-up to the Polar Bears in this year's NESCAC championship, are among the NCAA field for the ninth year in a row and 12th time overall. Middlebury won the national championship in 1998, going 17-1 that fall, and has finished as the runner-up in 2003, 2004, and in 2007 when it lost to Bowdoin.
Amherst is making its fifth overall appearance. The Jeffs posted a 3-0 victory over Husson in the first round of the 2009 tournament, their last appearance, before falling in the second round to Skidmore by a 4-3 score. Amherst has reached the national title game once, finishing as the runner up to TCNJ in 1999.
Teams that advance out of this weekend's regional action will meet on Nov. 19-20 at Vendetti field on the campus of Nichols College in Dudley, Mass. for the 2011 NCAA title. More information, including tickets, can be found on the NCAA.com website.
