Nov. 10, 2008

Complete NCAA Women's Soccer Release in PDF Format

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA champion Memphis and UCF earned berths to the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship for the second year in a row. Memphis earned the automatic bid with its C-USA tournament title, while the Knights earned an at-large bid for the second straight season.

The NCAA Championship begins this weekend with first-round matches on Friday, followed by second-round action on Sunday at various host sites throughout the country.

Memphis (15-4-2) rides a 10-match unbeaten streak into the NCAA Championship and will face Illinois in opening-round action on Friday in Columbia, Mo. With a victory, Memphis would play the winner of host and No. 4 seed Missouri and Evansville. The Tigers won their second-straight C-USA Championship title Sunday with a 4-1 victory against East Carolina. The Tigers also tied ECU for the conference's regular season title.

UCF is making its 13th NCAA Championship appearance, which includes a 1982 trip to the national championship match.

The Knights (13-5-2) will square off with intrastate rival Miami in the first round on Friday in Gainesville, Fla. The winner will meet the winner of No. 2 seed Florida and California. UCF and Florida met during last year's NCAA second round, with the Gators advancing on penalty kicks, then again during the 2008 regular season when the Knights won, 1-0. Both of those matches were also in Gainesville. Conference USA has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Championship six times in the last eight seasons.

The 27th annual NCAA Division I Women's College Cup will be played Dec. 5 and 7 at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., and is hosted by North Carolina State, the Town of Cary and the Capital Area Soccer League.

Match times for the first and second rounds will be announced later this week.