INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The 2016 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer regular season and tournament champion Trinity University Tigers, earned the program's seventh straight NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship bid on Monday afternoon. Interactive Bracket | Printable Bracket
The Tigers earned the SCAC automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs by virtue of their 2-1 win over Southwestern University yesterday afternoon. The SCAC championship was the eighth consecutive league crown for Trinity and assured the Tigers of their 22nd appearance in NCAA postseason play since 1992.
Trinity (20-0), which is ranked third in the nation, opens first round play in Bloomington, Ill., against unranked Mount Union (12-6-3). The Raiders earned their trip to the tournament by virtue of winning the Ohio Athletic Conference's automatic bid.
On the other side of the bracket, Illinois Wesleyan (12-5-0) - the first and second round host - will play Hanover College (13-5-0). Illinois Wesleyan won the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while Hanover took the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference title.
Forty-three conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the 2016 championship. One team was selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions, as well as members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final 20 berths were reserved for Pool C, which includes institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that did not win their conference championship and any remaining Pool B teams.
Sixteen four-team sites will conduct first- and second-round play on the first weekend of the championship, November 11 and 12 or 12 and 13. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites November 18 and 19 or 19 and 20. All games, except the semifinals and final, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the semifinals December 2 and 3, at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Virginia, with Roanoke College, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the City of Salem serving as hosts.
