Women's Soccer: First Round Bye, Banks Honored
October 23, 2007 12:49 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
October 23, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University women’s soccer team moved up in all three national Top 25 polls and senior Ashley Banks was named to TopDrawer Soccer’s Women’s College Team of the Week.
West Virginia, 11-4-1 overall and 7-1-1 in BIG EAST play, checks in at No. 19 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas poll and the Soccer Buzz poll, and No. 23 in the Soccer America poll.
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| Senior captain Ashley Banks |
The Mountaineers have recorded their eighth straight 10-win season and have made the NCAA tournament in each of the last seven. WVU closes out the regular season with a pair of conference home matches this weekend. West Virginia welcomes USF on Friday, Oct. 26, and Marquette on Sunday, Oct. 28. Sunday’s contest is also Senior Day for five student-athletes: Ashley Banks, Kim Bonilla, Natalie Cocchi, Kiley Harris and Ashley Neal.
With an eight-point lead heading into the final week of regular season play, Notre Dame has secured a National Division crown for the 11th time in 13 BIG EAST seasons. In the American Division, Connecticut and WVU will battle it out for the regular season crown with the Huskies staring at a pair of road games, while the Mountaineers have two home contests.
West Virginia, Connecticut and Marquette have clinched berths to postseason play in the American Division and WVU and UConn have clinched first-round byes. Every other team is still in the hunt for the remaining postseason spots.
The top five teams, seeded by conference point total, qualify for the Championship, which is scheduled to begin Nov. 1 on campus sites. In addition, the top three teams in each division earn a first round bye to the quarterfinals scheduled for Nov. 4. This year’s championship will be held in Morgantown, W.Va., on Nov. 9 and 11.
