NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University women's soccer team is back on the road again after taking the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship last weekend, this time to take part in the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament starting on Friday.
The Wildcats earned the CACC's automatic berth into the NCAA Regional and earned the sixth seed in the East. They will play the third seeded and defending NCAA Division II National Champion College of Saint Rose in the first round, hosted by American International, starting at 1 p.m.
Multimedia Links:
Free Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/aic/wsoc
Free Live Video: http://www.aicyellowjackets.tv/wsoccer/wsoccer121109/index.html
NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Interactive Bracket: http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-women/d2
Admission:
Ticket Prices for both games are as follows: Adults - $7, Students with ID/Senior Citizens - $3, Children 12 and under - $1.
History in the NCAA's:
The Wildcats do not have any history in the NCAA tournament, as this is the first appearance into the regional round. The Wildcats earned their first CACC Tournament Championship and automatic berth into the NCAA's last weekend, never having earned an at-large into the regional.
All-Time Series vs. East Regional Opponents:
No. 1 LIU Post: 0-3 all-time; @ L 0-4 (2010); vs. L 1-4 (2011); @ #7 L 1-2 (2012)
No. 2 American International: 1-1 all-time; vs. W 2-1 (2007); @ L 0-4 (2008)
No. 3 Saint Rose: First time meeting on Friday
No. 4 Dowling: 1-4 all-time; vs. W 5-4 (2006); @ L 0-2 (2009); vs. L 0-3 (2010); @ L 1-2 (2011); vs. L 0-2 (2012)
No. 5 Southern New Hampshire: No previous meetings
Wildcat Tournament Accolades:
With the CACC Tournament Championship, the Wildcats put five student-athletes on the All-Tournament Team, led by the Tournament Most Valuable Player Victoria Vasapolli. The sophomore scored two goals and added the assist on the game-winning goal in the Championship against Philadelphia.
Junior Chelsea Grace scored the goal from Vasapolli in the Championship and added another game winning goal with the first goal in the semifinal match against Georgian Court. Jenna Quaranta also made the All-Tournament team by scoring a goal in each of the first two rounds of the tournament, including the game-winner against Felician in the quarterfinal. Morgan Fraczkowski was the final offensive player to make it to the All-Tournament team, scoring the game's first goal against Felician.
Defensively, the Wildcats allowed one goal in the three matches, outscoring their opponents 7-1 for the tournament. Goalkeeper Amanda Walters was the final member of the All-Tournament Team, recording two shutouts and stopping 26 shots to finish with a 0.33 goals against average.
All-CACC Teams:
Prior to the CACC Semifinal round, seven Wildcats were honored at the annual CACC Banquet for their efforts during the regular season.
In a vote of the league's head coaches, Alli Williams and Morgan Fraczkowski were named to the All-CACC First Team while Vikki Zipf, Amanda Walters, Chelsea Grace and Penelope Fantis were named to the All-CACC Second Team.
The team was the CACC Regular Season Champions with a 10-1-1 record, jumping over Philadelphia on the final day of the regular season. Head coach Josh Ruggiero took home one of the major awards, being named CACC Coach of the Year for the second time in his five year career.
