INDIANAPOLIS - The Salisbury University field
hockey team will make the first of what they hope will be two trips
to Collegeville, Pa., as the No. 8 Sea Gulls were selected to the
2008 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship announced on
Monday by the selection committee.
Salisbury (15-3) won its 14th consecutive Capital Athletic
Conference title last Saturday and received an at-large bid into
the tournament. The Sea Gulls were placed in the Ursinus College
regional. Ursinus is also the host of the 28th Annual Division III
Field Hockey Championship which will be held on November 22-23. SU
will face the winner of Wednesday's first round matchup between
Castleton (14-7) and No. 11 SUNY Cortland (15-2) on Saturday,
November 15, in a second round game. The winner will advance to
Sunday's regional final. The other half of the bracket pits the
host No. 3 Ursinus (17-2) against the first round winner between
Sewanee (14-6) and Lynchburg College (17-5).
SU will be making its 15th straight NCAA tournament trip, the
second longest active streak behind The College of New Jersey's 28
consecutive appearances. For a quarter of a century the Sea Gulls
have been a staple in the NCAA tournament as SU has appeared in 24
of the past 25 tournaments. Salisbury is 37-20 all-time in NCAA
tournament action which includes four national championships (1986,
2003, '04, '05).
The Sea Gulls have never faced Castleton or Sewanee in program
history. SU last faced Cortland in the 2002 NCAA tournament where
the maroon and gold came away with a 3-1 victory in the second
round. The Red Dragons hold a 9-7 series lead though. On the
other half of the bracket, SU last faced Lynchburg in 2001 in the
NCAA first round and lost 2-1 in overtime as the Hornets won by
penalty strokes. SU is knotted at 2-2 in the series with the
Hornets. Salisbury and Ursinus have only matched up once, in 2005,
in the national semifinals where SU prevailed with a 3-2 victory.
No. 1 Messiah College (14-1), No. 2 Tufts University (16-1) and
defending national champion No. 4 Bowdoin College (15-2) are the
three other regional hosts this weekend in the 24-team field. In
addition to the regional host schools and Salisbury the other teams
that received first round byes include No. 5 The College of New
Jersey (15-2), No. 6 Middlebury College (13-3) and No. 10 Rowan
University (14-4). The national semifinals will be held on November
22 in Collegeville, Pa., at Ursinus College on Eleanor Frost Snell
Alumnae Field. The championship game is slated for Sunday, November
23, at the same location.
2008 NCAA Division III Field Hockey
Championship
