Nov. 10, 2011

Interactive 2011 NCAA Tournament Bracket

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - 2011 Patriot League Women's Soccer Champion Army (12-3-5) found out its NCAA Tournament fate Monday afternoon, and the Black Knights will head to University Park, Pa., to visit Penn State Friday at 7 p.m. The match is set for Jeffrey Field. The announcement was made during the Women's Soccer Selection Show on NCAA.com

Patriot League Women's Soccer NCAA Tournament Preview

The Nittany Lions received one of the two national No. 4 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and are seeded for the first time since 2009. Penn State was ranked No. 13 in Tuesday's NSCAA National Top 25.

Army, which captured the Patriot League crown with a 2-0 win Sunday over rival Navy, became just the second No. 4 seed in League history to capture the title. The Black Knights advanced to Sunday's final after defeating top seed and host Colgate, 2-0, in one of the League's semifinals Friday in Hamilton, N.Y.

The Black Knights are making their second trip to the NCAA Tournament in four years and captured the League title for the third time overall. Other League championships came in 1993 and 2008.

Army fell 2-0 to Virginia in its only other NCAA trip, which came in 2008.

Penn State (19-4-0) won its 14th consecutive Big Ten title in 2011 and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 17th straight year.

The last time a Patriot League team faced Penn State in the NCAA Tournament was 2009, when Colgate fell 5-0 at University Park, Pa.

Army will look to be the first League team to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament since Navy in 2006. That year, the Mids played William & Mary to a 0-0 draw and moved on 5-4 in penalty kicks. The League's last victory in the first round was in 2004, when Colgate blanked Arizona 1-0.

The winner of the Army-Penn State contest will face the winner between Marquette and Toledo Friday, Nov. 18 in the second round.

2011 Patriot League NCAA Tournament Notebook

First Round – Friday – Jeffrey Field, University Park, Pa.
Army Black Knights (12-3-5, 3-1-3 Patriot League) at No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions (19-4-0, 10-1-0 Big Ten), 7 p.m.

LAST MEETING First Meeting ARMY NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY 0-1-0 LAST APPEARANCE 2008 LAST RESULT Virginia 2, Army 0 (Charlottesville, Va.)

ARMY The Black Knights advanced to the NCAA Tournament with a pair of 2-0 victories in the Patriot League Tournament last weekend ... Army, as the No. 1 seed, defeated top-seeded and host Colgate in the semifinals before prevailing against third seed Navy in Sunday’s championship battle ... Sophomore Joey Molacek, who scored both tallies against Colgate, was named Tournament Most Valuable Player ... Army’s two clean sheets in the tournament were the team’s 14th and 15th of the season, placing this year’s tally one behind last season’s program record of 16 ... Senior keeper Monica Lee, a Second-Team All-Patriot League selection and an All-Tournament Team member over the weekend, now owns the League’s and Army’s single-season shutout record with 15 ... Lee’s 0.43 goals-against average is the best in the League and ranks ninth in the country, while her .913 save percentage is fourth in the nation and the League’s top number ... Army’s team save percentage of .913 is the third-best stat in the country, while the club’s 0.75 shutout percentage and team GAA of 0.426 rank second and eighth in the NCAA, respectively ... Sophomore Kim An, last season’s Patriot League Rookie of the Year and a First-Team All-Leaguer in 2011, scored her League-leading 10th goal of the season in Army’s Patriot League title victory ... Sophomore Molly McGuigan was named the League’s Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and was the League’s only representative on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List released before the year ... While known largely for its stingy defense, the Black Knights rank second in the League with 336 shots and and rank third averaging 1.40 goals per game ... Molacek ranks second on the team with five goals and two assists for 12 points, ranking her behind An in both goals and points ... Five of Army’s nine goal scorers have tallied at least two markers ... The Black Knights like to employ a quick-striking offense, as 15 different players have logged at least one assist, with five collecting at least a pair ... An and Ruthie Rosenberger share the team lead with four game-winning goals apiece ... Army has outscored its opponents 28-9 in 2011, including by an 11-4 count in the first half and 17-5 after halftime ... The Black Knights have had two long undefeated streaks this season, going unbeaten in seven (5-0-2) early in the season before putting together a 4-0-2 stretch in the middle and latter stages ... Army is 3-0-1 in its last four ... Army and Penn State are meeting for the first time.

POTENTIAL MATCHUPS The Army-Penn State winner will take on the winner of the Toledo-Marquette matchup that is set for Friday night in Milwaukee, Wis. ... Wake Forest owns the No. 1 seed on this side of the bracket, and should the Deamon Decons advance Friday night past Oakland, they would host the second and third rounds.

SECOND TRIP IN FOUR YEARS 
Army is making its second venture to the NCAA Tournament in the last four years and last advanced to the 64-team NCAA field in 2008. Five of Army’s current seniors were on the roster as freshmen in 2008, and head coach Stefanie Golan, now in her third year at the helm, was associate head coach of that squad. Army traveled to Charlottesville, Va., in 2008 and fell 2-0 at Virginia in the first round of that year’s NCAA playoff.

JUST THE SECOND No. 4 
Army became the second No. 4 seed in the 21-year history of the Patriot League Tournament to survive both the semifinals and the finals to claim the League title. The first was Bucknell in 2005, which coincidentally defeated Army to claim the trophy that year. The Bison also ventured to Penn State that year in the NCAA Tournament and fell 6-0 to the Nittany Lions.

COMMON OPPONENTS
Army and Penn State share just one common opponent so far in 2011. The Nittany Lions posted a 4-0 victory over Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., Sept. 20 in their annual contest with the Bison. Army logged a 1-0 win against Bucknell at West Point Oct. 9 during Patriot League play.

SEEKING FIRSTS
Army is seeking several firsts when the Black Knights take the field Friday at Penn State. They will be seeking their first ever victory in the NCAA Tournament. They’ll be looking for the League’s first-ever win over a Big Ten team in the NCAA field. Army is also clamoring for the League’s first NCAA victory since the first round of the 2004 tournament, when Colgate shut out Arizona, 1-0.