Women to Host First Two Rounds of NCAA Tourney

Women to Host First Two Rounds of NCAA Tourney

11/7/2005

Nashville — The No. 20 Vanderbilt women’s soccer team will host the first two rounds of the Women’s College Cup despite not receiving a seed 1-4 reserved for the top 16 teams in the 64-team field. Typically, the seeded teams are selected as host sites, however No. 4 seed Pepperdine will have to travel from California to play in Nashville.

“It’s probably one of the greatest thrills we’ve had,” said head coach Ronnie Coveleskie Hill. “This is my first trip. It’s Vanderbilt’s fist since 1998. The opportunity to make the tournament and to be able to host the first two rounds is amazing.”

The No. 20 Commodores (16-3-2, 8-2-1 SEC) will face off against Samford (15-3-3), who secured their trip to the tournament when they won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to earn an automatic berth. The Commodores defeated the Bulldogs earlier this season. Entering that game Samford was unbeaten and Vanderbilt had posted six straight shutouts. Both those streaks ended when VU won 2-1, their seventh victory in the middle of a 12-game winning streak

While Hill was confident the Commodores had made a strong case for the tournament, the coach and her players were all nervous when they had not heard their name called after the first 58 teams.

“You’re always hesitant until you see your name come up,” Hill said. “I wish I could bottle up the energy and the emotion that the girls had and the looks on their faces when they heard their name. Then to see that we’re going to be hosting. Wow. I always felt deep down throughout the season that we had a really special team. We had to go one game at a time and keep proving it. We’re grateful to the NCAA for recognizing that and for giving us the opportunity to host.”

The entire bracket will be available on www.ncaasports.com.

Watching at the Student Recreation Center on Vanderbilt’s campus, the team was nervous throughout the selection show, aired on ESPNews. When the student-athletes finally saw Vanderbilt on the screen they jumped up screaming and shouting. Only after Hill calmed them slightly did they realize they were also going to be hosting and they cheered again.

“I was incredibly nervous,” said sophomore forward Sarah Dennis (Germantown, Tenn.), the team’s only Tennessee-native. “The anticipation made it that much better though. There were just so many surprises on that last screen: first that we got in; second we get to play Samford, a team that we are familiar with; and third we’re at home. I’m so excited this mean’s my family can come watch us in the first round.”

While Dennis and her teammates were thrilled by the NCAA Selection Committee’s decision, she added that she knew they had their work cut out for them.

“Samford was a very, very rough game,” Dennis said. “We have to treat every game as if we were playing North Carolina.”

Dennis’ mention of UNC is fitting as the No. 3 Tar Heels (17-1), the premier team in women’s college soccer during the last quarter century, is the No. 1 seed and also a host site in Vanderbilt’s portion of the bracket. If both teams were to win their first three games, they could potentially meet in the Elite Eight round.

Before the Commodores can worry about that however, they would have to deal with the first two rounds at home. Should they get past Samford, the Commodores would face either Pepperdine (13-3-3) or SEC rival Ole Miss (14-4-2), who won the Western Division.

The Commodores and Rebels are not the only SEC teams playing. Florida (13-5-1), who tied Vanderbilt for second place in the East are also hosting. The SEC regular season and tournament champion Tennessee will have to travel to Virginia for their first two rounds, starting with Wake Forest.

Check back at vucommodores.com for more information about the College Cup, including game times.