University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Make 2015 NCAA Tournament
11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Nov. 9, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's soccer team has qualified for the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship and will host South Dakota State in the first round this Friday at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. Game time is set for 6:00 p.m.
"I was literally shaking all day I was so nervous, but I'm so excited at the same time to be able to play one more game at ELR, " said senior co-captain Haley Helverson when asked about the tournament announcement. "This is the most exciting news you could ever think of. Being a senior, you never want your season to end."
"Seeing our name announced on the selection show, we were all extremely thrilled and when we realized that we're actually hosting, I was shocked to be honest," said head coach Stefanie Golan. "I felt pretty good that we were going to be in the tournament, but I did not expect to host the first round game, so we couldn't be more excited to have that opportunity."
The Gophers, making their ninth tournament appearance, finished the regular-season with a record of 11-6-3 overall. Minnesota joins Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers as representatives from the Big Ten conference.
Leading the conference field, the ACC will send eight teams to the tournament followed by the Pac-12 and the SEC who will each send six representatives.
In the field of 64, defending national champion Florida State earned the top seed, along with fellow ACC member and the 2014 runner-up, Virginia. Also earning No. 1 seeds are Penn State and Stanford after automatically qualifying from the Big Ten and the Pac-12.
No. 2 seeds include Rutgers, Clemson, Florida and West Virginia. The tournament's No. 3 seeds are California, North Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame. Santa Clara, Auburn, Southern California and Virginia Tech earned No. 4 seeds, rounding out the top 16 field.
The first round matches will be played Nov. 13-15, with second round matches set for Nov. 20 and third round action on Nov. 22, all on campus sites. Quarterfinals will be played Nov. 27 or Nov. 28 on campus sites. The 2015 NCAA College Cup will be held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., with semifinal games on Dec. 4 and the championship match on Dec. 6.
"We kind of had a slip towards the end of the season," said Helverson. "Being able to play one more game at home to show our home crowd that we are here and we can do this is huge. We had a meeting recently where we really got back to reminding each other why we play the game - it's fun, we love it and we're all here for a reason. Bringing those principals back together will show for a good game on Friday."
"This past week has been great in training," said Golan. "We've been able to get back to being competitive and now, our focus transitions to winning a game this weekend, a very important game at that. Friday will be a really big test for us. As a staff, we believe in our team and what we can do and we're excited to make a run."
Ticket, TV and radio information to come.
