Women's Soccer Set to Play Scranton in the Opening Round of the NCAA Tournament

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.- The 64 team field for the 2013 DIII Women's Soccer Tournament was announced Monday and the Endicott women's soccer team drew the Royals of the University of Scranton in their opening round match.  Endicott, 15-5-2 on the season, advanced to the NCAA tournament after winning the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) title on Saturday.  Scranton, 15-2-3, advanced by receiving an "At Large" bid.  The Gulls and Royals will face off on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt.

Endicott won the CCC title after a fantastic post season run in which they allowed just one lone goal.  The Gulls, battle tested after three overtime matches in the post season, relied on their defense and a very timely offensive attack to book their tickets to the tournament.  As the top seed in the CCC tournament, Endicott defeated Curry 2-1 in overtime at home in the quarterfinals before knocking off fifth seeded Wentworth 1-0 in overtime in the CCC semifinals.  In a tight CCC tournament championship match, Endicott would go on to the national tournament after advancing past Gordon with a 3-1 advantage in penalty kicks.

Their opponents out of the Landmark Conference proved to be battle tested in 2013 as well.  Six of their matches took at least one overtime to decide while four took at least two overtime frames.  Similar to Endicott, Scranton's conference championship match was decided on penalty kicks with the Royals coming up short as they fell to Drew 4-3 in penalty kicks.

On the season, the two teams match up evenly statistically.  The Gulls are averaging 2.1 goals per game compared to the Royals' 2.3.  Endicott holds the goals against average advantage as they have allowed an average of 0.66 per game compared to 0.75 for Scranton.  The Gulls also average 18.0 shots per game compared to the Royals' 15.75.  Scranton holds a slight edge in assists as they have 35 to Endicott's 27 and corner kicks 128 to Endicott's 111.

The 2013 tournament will be the 10th in program history for Endicott.  In those 10 appearances, the Gulls are 4-9-3 all-time while making an appearance in the round of 16 in 2006.  This is the first NCAA appearance since 2009 for Endicott.  For Scranton, it will be their 15th appearance as they have accumulated an all-time record of 7-11-4 in the tournament.  The Royals have a pair of quarterfinal appearances that came in 2001 and 2003.

The Gulls, who have one of the most balanced offensive attacks in recent team history, are led by All-CCC Third Team honoree Laura Wysocki (Somers, Conn.).  The sophomore has tallied seven goals and two assists for 16 points on the season.  Of her seven goals, three have been game winners.  All-CCC First Team members Madison Missinne (Ridgefield, Conn.) and freshman Jessica Joseph (Bedford, N.H.) tied for second on the team with six goals each.  Of Missinne's six goals, a team leading four were game winners.  Defensively, the Gulls are led by All-CCC First Team member and CCC Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year Sarah Person (Holden, Mass.), and fellow All-CCC First Team goalie Katie Donnelly (Madison, Conn.).  The duo, along with All-CCC Second Team defender Clare Mansfield (Stoneham, Mass.) and Katherine Chipman (Brunswick, Maine) will look to continue their lock down play as of late. 

The match time has been set for a 1:30 p.m. start.