UMD NCAA II Central Regional Page
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The University of Minnesota Duluth learned Monday night that it is in the NCAA II National Tournament field, but the Bulldogs will have to wait until Friday afternoon to learn who will advance to face them in the second round this Sunday.
Second-seed UMD (15-4-1) awaits the winner of a (3) No. 22 Winona State University (15-3-2) vs. (6) Southwest Baptist University (14-5-1) match set to take place at Malosky Stadium on Friday afternoon. Head coach
Greg Cane's Bulldogs make their third NCAA tournament appearance in 20 seasons of soccer at UMD (2000, 2009), earning a first-round bye for the first time. Junior forward
Maureen Stormont has served as the catalyst of the Bulldog offense, ranking in the top 10 in the nation in both goals per game (0.65) and points per game (1.57) for a career. Stormont's 89 career points puts her fifth in UMD's all-time ranks while her 37 career goals puts her third among Bulldogs. Senior forward
Dani Potter, UMD's captain, finished second among Bulldogs with career-highs of 11 goals and 30 points. Sophomore goalkeeper
Marissa Rosa improved upon her first year with a 1.03 GAA and five shutouts for UMD. The Bulldogs come off a 2-2 tie against top-seed Minnesota State University in the NSIC Championship game, which saw the Mavericks capture the title in penalty kicks.
Third-seed Winona State's Warriors are no strangers to the Bulldogs, also entering the tournament out of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. UMD knocked off Winona State twice in 2013 for the first time in ten seasons, including a 2-1 win on the Malosky Stadium turf on Sept. 22. Head coach Ali Omar has four NCAA tournaments in his 18 seasons at the helm of WSU, advancing as far as the NCAA Super Regional in 2010. Junior midfielder Alaina Kne led Winona State's offense with 18 poitns on the season, including five goals and eight assists. The Warriors won on defense, though, allowing just 12 goals on the season, while out-shooting opponents 177-86 in on-target attempts. Senior goalkeeper Alexandra Vial started all but one game for WSU, earning shutouts in over half of her games (10). She posted a 0.60 GAA with an .852 save percentage. WSU enters the tournament off a loss to UMD in the semifinals of the NSIC tournament, with Stormont scoring a pair of goals against them for the second time to lead UMD to the win.
Sixth-seed Southwest Baptist comes to Duluth on the other side of the familiarity spectrum, with the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) champions making their first trip to Duluth this weekend. SBU played four NSIC teams to open the season, going 2-1-1 against the Northern Sun. Head coach Rob Podeyn's Bearcats are making their first NCAA II tournament appearance in his fifth season at SBU. Senior midfielder Ashley Creason leads the Bearcats with 24 points on the year. She tied with sophomore Karla Jamison for the team lead with 10 goals on the year. Southwest Baptist relied on offense to win games this season, out-scoring opponents 38-31 on the year. Goalkeeper Paige Hemphill led the way with a 1.44 GAA and three shutouts. The Bearcats enter the tournament on a seven-game winning streak after downing Central Oklahoma in the MIAA championship game.
On the other side of the Central Region bracket, top-seed No. 7 Minnesota State University awaits the winner of (4) No. 14 Central Missouri University and (5) Southwest Minnesota State University. Live stats of the Mankato region matches will be available by
clicking here with live video available
here.
Friday's Winona State-Southwest Baptist match is set to kick off at 1:00 p.m. with the winner advancing to face UMD on Sunday afternoon, also with a 1:00 p.m. opening kick.
