Columbus State, Armstrong Atlantic Receive NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament Bids

INDIANAPOLIS, IND -- The NCAA released the 48-team field for the women’s soccer tournament and both Armstrong Atlantic State and Columbus State will participate and host games for the championship. Columbus State earned the conference’s automatic bid after beating Armstrong Atlantic State 2-1 in overtime in yesterday’s PBC Tournament final and will be the #3 seed, while AASU earns an at-large bid and will be the fourth seed.

In Columbus, the Cougars will play on Friday against sixth-seeded Queens. The winner of that game will face #2 Carson-Newman on Sunday. In Savannah, the Pirates will meet fifth-seeded Lincoln Memorial on Friday with the winner taking on top-seeded Tusculum on Sunday. Neither Carson-Newman or Tusculum submitted bids to host the first two rounds of games.

Columbus State makes their second straight trip to the NCAAs after starting the program in 2004. The Lady Cougars will host games for the first time ever after hosting the last three PBC Tournament semifinals and finals. CSU won their third-straight PBC regular season championship in 2007 with a perfect 8-0 conference record and won their second straight tournament title. Currently ranked sixth in the nation, CSU enters NCAA play with a 17-3-1 overall record and have won nine straight games.

In just its third season of competition, the Pirates have now made back-to-back NCAA Championships appearances. AASU faces Lincoln Memorial for the first time in school history on Friday, but the Pirates have had good success with teams from the SAC this season, going 3-1 in matches against that league. LMU is 1-1 in matches against the PBC this season. Currently ranked 24th in the nation, AASU has a 14-4-1 overall record heading to the NCAAs.

The two finalists in each region will advance to the third- and quarterfinal-round competition to be played Friday, November 16 and Sunday, November 18. The semifinals and championship games will be played November 29 and December 1 at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Alabama.

Game times have been announced by Armstrong Atlantic State. Game time will be announced for the Columbus games on Tuesday.