INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament champion University of St. Thomas (13-3-2) earned its second-straight berth into the 64-team NCAA Div. III Men's Soccer Tournament, while Colorado College (13-3-1) and Trinity University (12-2-3) earned berths into the tournament field with two of the 22 at-large bids. 2023 marks the second time in the last four years that the SCAC will be represented by three teams in the national field. NCAA Release | NCAA Bracket
St. Thomas won its third-straight SCAC Men's Soccer Tournament championship on Sunday evening, advancing past Trinity 3-2 in penalty kicks.
In its NCAA opening round contest, the Celts will face Occidental College (13-3-3), the automatic qualifier out of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), in San Antonio, Texas. On the other side of the bracket, opening round site host Trinity, takes on the American Southwest Conference champion University of Texas-Dallas (10-6-4).
Colorado College will travel to Atlanta, Ga., for its NCAA opening round contest against former SCAC member Oglethorpe University (14-2-2), the automatic qualifier out of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) at Emory University. The winner of Colorado College/Oglethorpe match will take on the winner of the match between Brevard College (7-8-4) and host Emory University (13-3-1).
Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites on Nov. 17 and 18 or 18 and 19. Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the national semifinals, which take place on Dec. 1 at Kerr Soccer Stadium in Salem, Va., with Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the City of Salem serving as hosts. The national championship game will be played on Dec. 3. The Division III women’s soccer national semifinals and championship games will also be held at Kerr Soccer Stadium with games on Nov. 30 and Dec. 2.
St. Thomas is making its second-straight national tournament appearance after advancing to the Third Round in 2022. The First Team All-SCAC duo of Taty Aleman and Daniel Castro lead the Celts offensively heading into the NCAA Tournament. Aleman currently leads the team with 37 points on 17 goals and three assists, while SCAC Most Outstanding Offensive-Player-of-the-Tournament, Castro is second with 23 points courtesy of nine goals and five assists. On the defensive side of the ball, SCAC Most Outstanding Defensive-Player-of-the-Tournament, Angel Ramirez anchors a defense that allowed just one goal in the conference tournament and allowed just 0.82 goals per game throughout the course of the season.
Colorado College earned the program’s 21st NCAA Tournament berth and first since 2019. CC owns an 8-20 NCAA playoff record in its previous 20 trips. The CC Tigers are led by ninth-year head coach Scott Palguta, who collected his second SCAC Coaching-Staff-of-the-Year honor this year. Offensively CC was paced by Second Team All-SCAC selection in Oliver Ramirez. Ramirez heads into this weekend’s NCAA Tournament with a team best 16 points on seven goals and two assists. Defensively, back-to-back SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year Curtis Hale spearheads a defensive united that sports a 0.88 goals-against-average and posted seven shutouts.
32nd-year head coach Paul McGinlay leads Trinity, which is making its 25th national tournament appearance. The Tigers got strong performances this season from SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year Chen Adjei and Second Team All-SCAC honoree Michael Meese. The duo combined for 16 of Trinity’s 51 goals and dished out eight total assists for 40 total points. On the defensive side of the ball, First Team All-SCAC defender Pieter Blank leads a Tiger defense that allowed just 18 goals on the year and posted a 1.05 goals-against-average. Trinity, which won the 2003 national title and finished as the runners-up in 2007 is 45-22-4 all-time in NCAA postseason play.
Forty-one conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the championship. One team was selected from Pool B and the other 22 berths were reserved for Pool C, which included institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that did not win their conference championship and any remaining Pool B teams.
All tournament games leading up to the national semifinals will be played on the campuses of the competing institutions. Sixteen sites will host four teams for first-and second-round competition on Nov. 10 and 11 or 11 and 12.
