From Emory University Athletics
The 14th-ranked Emory University received a bid to
the 2014 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championships, and will
welcome three other teams to the Woodruff Physical Education Center
in Atlanta, Georgia for the first two rounds of the tournament this
weekend on Friday, November 14th and Saturday,
November 15th.
Emory's first round match will be on Friday against Berry College
(12-6-1), which received entry to the tournament after winning the
Southern Athletic Association (SAA) title. The two teams
played earlier in the season at Berry, with Emory coming away with
a 1-0 win.
On the other side of the draw, 13th-ranked Whitworth
College (15-1-3), winner of the Northwest Conference, will take on
Covenant College (15-4-2), winner of the USA South Conference, also
on Friday. The winning teams from each of the first-round
matches will meet in the second round on Saturday.
Emory finished the regular season with an overall record of 13-3-2,
including a 3-3-1 University Athletic Association (UAA) mark, good
for third-place in the conference. The Eagles entered the
final weekend of the campaign ranked 17th in
Division III in goals-against average, lowering the mark to 0.53
with a 0-0 double-overtime draw against Carnegie Mellon University
on Saturday.
The Eagles received one of the 18 at-large bids to the tournament,
available to teams that did not receive an automatic bid from their
conference.
The NCAA Tournament bid was the 15th that the
Eagles have received in the program's history, and their fifth in
eight years under Head Coach Sonny
Travis. Emory reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA
Championships in 1988, and the round of 16 in 2008. The
team's last NCAA Tournament appearance was 2012, when the Eagles
won a first-round match against Roanoke College, before falling on
the road to Messiah College, the eventual National Champions, in
the round of 32.
Emory previous has played host to the NCAA Men's Soccer
Championships five times – 1989, 2003, 2007, 2008 and
2009.
Check back at EmoryAthletics.com later in the week for more details
on the event, including game dates and times and ticket
information.