NCAA Bracket in PDF Format
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Nov. 10, 2003
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University will face Bay Area rival Stanford in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship, the NCAA Selection Committee announced this afternoon. The Broncos, the 2001 National Champions and 2002 College Cup finalists, are the tournament's ninth overall seed, and will host the first and second rounds of the 22nd NCAA Championship at Buck Shaw Stadium this Friday and Sunday.
The Broncos will face the Cardinal at Buck Shaw Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday. Cal Poly and Arizona State will face each other in the other game at 5 p.m. The winners will face each other on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Broncos, ranked third in the country with a 12-3-5 record, will be making its 15th straight NCAA postseason appearance. Santa Clara received the West Coast Conference's automatic berth into the Tournament after winning its third straight West Coast Conference Championship on November 8. The Broncos have advanced to the College Cup on nine occasions.
Stanford is 10-8-2 on the season and earned an at-large berth into the tournament. The Mustangs (18-1-2) and the Sun Devils (12-4-3) were also at-large bids.
Of the 64 teams selected, 14 are from the West. West Coast Conference opponents Portland, San Diego and Pepperdine were placed in the draw. SCU went 6-3-2 against the tournament field during the regular season. North Carolina is the tournament's top seed, followed by Notre Dame, Florida, UCLA, Penn State, West Virginia, Virginia and Portland.
The third round will be held November 21-23 and the quarterfinals will be played November 28-30. The 2003 Women's College Cup will be held December 5 and 7 and is hosted by North Carolina State University and the Capital Area Soccer League in Cary, N.C.
This is the third year of the NCAA Championship's 64-team field. Five seasons ago, the women's bracket was increased from 32 to 48 teams. In the championship, 29 conferences were awarded automatic berths with 35 teams receiving at-large selections.