MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 7-ranked and second-seeded West Virginia University women's soccer team opens the 2017 NCAA Tournament against Bucknell on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 1 p.m., at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
 
Tickets for Saturday's match are on sale now at WVUGAME.com. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students and youth and $2 for groups of 10 or more. WVU students will be admitted for free with a valid WVU student I.D.
 
To provide a safer environment for Mountaineer fans and to expedite entry into all ticketed WVU athletic events, the West Virginia Department of Intercollegiate Athletics enforces the NFL's Clear Bag Policy. The athletic department invites and encourages fans to visit WVUsports.com/clearbag for more information, to view pictures of permissible and non-permissible items and to obtain answers to frequently asked questions about the clear bag policy.
 
The Mountaineers' (15-3-2, 7-1-1) tournament appearance is their 18th straight, the seventh-longest active streak nationally. WVU's No. 2 regional seed is its second in three seasons. The Mountaineers were seeded No. 1 last year and finished as the NCAA National Championships Runner-Up.
 
Saturday is the first-ever meeting between the Mountaineers and the Bison (12-8, 7-2), the Patriot League's automatic qualifier.
 
"Bucknell has a goal scorer in (Kendell) Ham," Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "She has recorded 12 goals and is very dynamic in the attack. This is a team who is very relentless defensively. They will high press us and get after it. A lot of what we have to be concerned with is how we're playing."
 
WVU is 19-16-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, 13-6-3 in home matches and 10-5-2 in the first round. The Mountaineers went 3-0-1 at Dick Dlesk Stadium in the 2016 NCAA Tournament and opened play with a 3-0 victory over Northern Kentucky on Nov. 12. Forward Heather Kaleiohi tallied the game-winner 49 seconds into the match for the second-fastest goal in program history and the team's fastest goal scored in tournament play. Michaela Abam and Ashley Lawrence added insurance goals, and WVU held NKU to six shots, with only one landing on-frame.
 
The Mountaineer attack ranks No. 55 nationally with a 1.80 goals/game average. WVU has outscored its opponents 36-13 this season, with 12 different Mountaineers tallying at least one goal. Senior forward Michaela Abam paces the team with 19 points on a team-best eight goals and three assists.
 
Led by 2017 co-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Amandine Pierre-Louis, the WVU backline has posted 11 shutouts this season, 10 credited to sophomore Rylee Foster, and ranks No. 25 nationally with a 0.629 goals-against average.
 
The Bison defeated top-seeded Navy, 3-2, on Nov. 5 to claim the Patriot League Tournament title for the second straight season. Bucknell has made four overall trips to the NCAA Tournament, and Saturday marks the team's first tournament match not against Penn State.
 
Ham, a senior forward, scored all three goals in the championship game, and she ranks No. 25 nationally with a team-best 12 goals. A First Team All-Patriot League selection, she was joined on the conference's top team by twin sister, defender Jackie Ham.
 
Bucknell's backline has posted eight shutouts and allowed 35 goals for a 1.25 GAA. Sophomore Dani Kaufman has started 19-of-20 matches in goal and shows a 1.25 GAA, allowing 23 goals in 1651:27 minutes of action. She has made 100 saves for a .813 save percentage and shows a 10-8 record in goal.