For six seasons, the Utah State women?s soccer team had either won or finished among the top seeded teams in the Western Athletic Conference but had always fallen short in the league tournament.
Sunday, the Aggies (15-4-2) finally broke through and earned a spot in their first NCAA Tournament. For its efforts, USU will travel to Auburn on Saturday to face the No. 3 seeded Tigers (14-6-2) at 10 p.m. (MT) in the Auburn Soccer Complex.
?It is a rarity to win the regular season and the WAC Tournament title,? USU coach Heather Cairns said following the Aggies 1-0 victory against Fresno State. ?This win and getting to the NCAA Tournament has been a dream for all of us. It has been a dream for all the players that have come before.?
The College Cup is scheduled for Dec. 2-4 at Kennesaw State (Ga.).
Utah and BYU will not be among the field of 64, including 34 at-large teams, teams which will compete for the 30th NCAA Division I Women?s Soccer Championship. Key losses prevented both from being given an at-large bid.
Yet, both could feel a bit hard done by, as teams that finished below them in their respective conferences did make the field.
Five Pac-12 teams were selected, including No. 1 overall seed Stanford. So was California, which finished below Utah. Oregon State, defeated by the Utes, was selected as was Washington State and UCLA.
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Early-season losses to Nevada and BYU cost the Utes as well as an overtime defeat at home to UCLA
Portland, which finished fourth in the West Coast Conference behind the Cougars, was an at-large bid despite a .500 overall record. BYU could point to home losses to Miami and San Diego as the reason it is staying home.
However, the senior-laden Aggies, 7-0-1 in their last eight games, will pack their bags for warmer climes against the SEC Tournament champions.
?We just want to thank all of the Aggie players that have come before us,? Cairns said. ?We have a lot of people pulling for us. We want them to know that a piece of this is for them for all the hard work and the foundation that they laid.?
CROSS COUNTRY
Brigham Young, including the third-ranked men?s team, is the host of this year?s NCAA Mountain Region Cross Country meet, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with the men?s 10-kilometer race at the East Bay Golf Course.
The women?s 6K race is scheduled to start at noon.
The top two teams automatic qualify for the NCAA championships Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind.
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Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/52865261-77/ncaa-teams-tournament-state.html.csp
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