Minnesota College Soccer Update – The 2009 NCAA Soccer Tournament Begins

The 2009 NCAA Soccer Tournament gets heated up this weekend with a number of games taking place today.

Sadly, the University of Minnesota were bypassed on this year’s tournament even though they shared the Big Ten title last year and made it to the Sweet 16.

This year the Gophers ended the season tied for 4th place in league play with Purdue. Wisconsin, who ended up in 3rd place and was beaten by Minnesota, was invited to the big show. Also Purdue, who shared the 4th place position, goes to the tourney yet Minnesota also beat them in league play. The Tournament selection process always seems a mystery and someone is always left home with no date.

Minnesota has 9 teams in the tournament. In D-3 there are 5 teams on the women’s side and 2 on the men’s. Macalester College is the only team hosting, with 2 games played there on Saturday.

In D-2 a pair of Minnesota women’s teams will travel all the way to Colorado to play each other.
Mankato State (16-2-2) will face off today against U M Duluth (13-4-2) in Denver, CO. at Auraria Field. Game time is 2:00 CT. The NCAA D-2 Bracket with scores can be found here.

In D-3 men’s action, Macalester (12-7-1) will take on Grinnell (9-7-4)  on Saturday at 7:30 pm CT at the Rock Bowl in Dubuque, IA. at Loras College. The game will be webcast; see the bracket for that link.

St. Olaf (13-4-2), the other MIAC men’s team to qualify will also see action on Saturday. They will play Wisconsin Whitewater (11-5-3) at West Campus Field in River Forest, IL. That game will take place at 1:30 pm and will also be webcast. Again, see the bracket for the link which can be found here.

In D-3 women’s action, 5 teams will battle this weekend.
Carleton College (10-5-5) will take on Wheaton College (15-4-1) at Wheaton, Ill. That game will take place today at 1:30 PM and will be webcast with video and an audio stream is also available. See bracket for details.

On Saturday 4 more Minnesota teams take to the turf.
Concordia-Moorhead (16-0-2) will take on Dubuque (15-5-1) at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN at 5:00 pm CT. Immediately following will be the Macalester (13-5-2) game against St. Scholastica (17-3-2) at 7:30 pm CT. St. Scholastica of Duluth won the league tile for UMAC. The second game will have audio streaming of the broadcast. Check the bracket for more details.

Finally, St. Thomas (13-5-1), who were a surprise entry in the tourney, will take on Wisconsin Stevens Point (15-3-1) in Rock Island, Ill. This game will also take place at 7:30 pm CT and will have live video streaming. Check the bracket for details. That bracket can be found here.