Women's Soccer: WVU Tabbed Host Site
November 10, 2003 05:19 PM | General
November 10, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University women’s soccer has once again been selected as a first and second round host team for the 2003 NCAA Women’s College Cup.
The Mountaineers will face Loyola, Md., in one first-round match at 7 pm Friday night at the Mountaineer Soccer Complex while Ohio State will take on Dayton in the other first-round game at 4 pm.
The pairings were announced on ESPN News at 4 pm today.
“We are excited about our seed and hosting the first and second rounds,” said WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “We hope to get a lot of people out to support us and help us in our quest to win a national championship.”
This will be the third straight year West Virginia is playing host to NCAA tournament first-and-second-round matches. Last year, the Mountaineers got past Loyola, Md., in the first round before falling to Virginia, 1-0 in the second round.
WVU is making its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. The Mountaineers were upset in the Big East tournament semifinals by Villanova on a sudden death shoot-out. West Virginia enters NCAA tournament play with a sparkling 15-3-2 record, having lost to just Virginia, Notre Dame and Penn State.
No. 17-ranked Ohio State lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament to Michigan, 2-1 in double overtime. The Buckeyes enter NCAA play with a 12-4-3 overall record.
Dayton is making its third trip to Morgantown after blanking Richmond, 3-0 in the finals of the Atlantic 10 tournament on Sunday. The Flyers have a 14-5-2 record.
Loyola, Md., matches up against West Virginia in NCAA play for the second consecutive season. Last year WVU claimed a 3-0 triumph.
The Greyhounds defeated Niagara, 2-0 to capture its fourth-straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Association title. Loyola comes into post-season play with a 13-8-1 mark.
Tickets for this year’s event are priced at $7 for adults and $5 for youths and students with a valid ID. The Mountaineer Ticket Office will accept advance ticket orders on a walk-up-only basis beginning Thursday morning at 9 am.
MSNsportsNET.com will provide LiveStats coverage of all three games beginning with the Ohio State-Dayton contest at 4 pm Friday. Yahoo! Sports will have live Internet radio coverage of West Virginia’s match Friday night against Loyola and listeners can access that broadcast by subscribing to Yahoo’s college sports package.
