ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon women’s soccer team seems to be in good position to qualify for its first-ever NCAA Division II Tournament. Gannon moved up one spot and is ranked fifth in the latest NCAA Division II Atlantic regional rankings released Wednesday afternoon.
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) and West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) champions receive automatic bids. Four teams will receive at-large bids to form the six-team regional. The NCAA Division II Tournament selections will be announced Monday, November 9 via a webcast selection show on www.ncaa.com at 7 p.m.
The latest regional rankings appear to be good news for the Lady Knights. The top four teams in the regional rankings are in this weekend’s PSAC Final Four and the WVIAC champion is expected to gain the sixth seed. That possibly leaves the fifth seed to the Lady Knights since both Gannon and Mercyhurst lost PSAC Quarterfinal matches Tuesday afternoon.
West Chester is the top-ranked team for the fifth consecutive week. The Rams are 16-1-1 against Division II opponents and 16-1-1 against in-region opponents. California (Pa.) (15-4-1, 15-4-1), Kutztown (13-4-2, 13-4-2), Indiana (Pa.) (12-5-1, 12-5-1) and Gannon (10-6-1, 10-6-1) completed the top five. All records are through Sunday, November 1.
Mercyhurst (12-6-1, 12-6-1), Slippery Rock (10-5-3, 10-5-3), Davis & Elkins (12-4-0, 12-3-0), East Stroudsburg (10-6-2, 10-6-2) and Edinboro (7-7-5, 7-7-5) rounded out the top 10.
Gannon dropped to 10-7-1 overall with a 2-0 loss Tuesday afternoon at No. 16 California (Pa.) in the PSAC Quarterfinals. This weekend’s PSAC Final Four pits West Chester versus Indiana (Pa.) and California (Pa.) against Kutztown.
For the complete NCAA Division II women’s soccer regional rankings, please
click here.