The Loyola women?s soccer team traded in a grass field and pair of cleats for a sofa and sandals on Monday night. Crowded around a big-screen television on campus in the Reading Room at the Andrew White Student Center, the Greyhounds eagerly awaited the announcement on ESPNews of the field and pairings for the 64-team NCAA Division I Women?s Soccer Championship tournament.
Amidst a buffet of cookies, soda and pizza, Loyola ? the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament champions for the fifth time in eight years, and one of 30 teams to earn an automatic bid ? had to wait until the last four teams were announced to learn its fate: a trip to Charlottesville, Va. against the No. 7 Virginia Cavaliers on Friday.
“We are just happy not to be going to Penn State or West Virginia,” Loyola coach John Byford, who?s team qualified for the NCAA Tournament with a 2-0 win over Marist in the conference tournament final last weekend, said. “The weather will be warmer. But there are no easy games.”
Loyola (10-5-5) will have a huge challenge in scoring against Virginia (11-3-6). The Cavaliers, led by defender Becky Sauerbrunn who is the Atlantic Coast Conference?s Defensive Player of the Year, have 13 shutouts this season and allowed only six goals. The winner of the Loyola-Virginia game will play the winner of Georgetown (14-7) and William & Mary (14-4-2) for a chance to advance to the round of 16.
Opening-round game times will be announced today.
“We work really hard so we deserve this,” Loyola freshman midfielder Lina Staropoli said. “You never know what can happen. People have been underestimating us all season.”
Meantime 35 miles South in Annapolis, Navy (14-4-4), the two-time defending Patriot League champion, learned it will play Big East Champion and 12th-ranked West Virginia (16-4-2) on Friday in its opening-round game in Morgantown, W.Va. The Midshipmen advanced to the second round of the tournament last year by upsetting William & Mary, 5-4, on penalty kicks after 110 minutes of scoreless play before losing 4-0 to North Carolina in the next round. North Carolina went on to win the national championship, 2-1, over Notre Dame.
“It took me many years to teach this team they can win in the NCAA Tournament,” Navy coach Carin Gabarra, whose team qualified automatically for the tournament with a 1-0 win over Bucknell in the Patriot League final, said. “We have the confidence we can beat any team on any day.”
Examiner Staff Writer Ron Snyder contributed to this story.
