Women's Soccer UMAC Tournament Kicks off Monday

UMAC Women's Soccer Tournament Website
 
ST. PAUL – The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament will begin on Monday, November 2 with the opening round contest in the five-team single elimination tournament scheduled for 2 p.m.

The opening round of the tournament will be a match-up of the number four-seeded Northland College and the number five-seeded Bethany Lutheran College at Ashland High School. The LumberJills enter the tournament with a 6-3-1 conference record while the Vikings hold a UMAC record of 5-3-2. Northland's goalkeeper Alexandria Ritchie is the current league leader in save percentage with a .803 on the season. The previous meeting between the two teams this season resulted in a 1-1 tie game.

The College of St. Scholastica enters the tournament as the number two seed after posting a UMAC record of 9-1 and claiming a share of the 2015 regular season title. The Saints will host the third-seeded University of Minnesota Morris for their second match-up of the season on Wednesday, November 4th at 11:30 a.m in a semifinal contest. The Cougars enter the tournament after compiling a conference record of 7-3. The contest will feature three of the league's top scorers in St. Scholastica's Leah Hamm and Becca Rancour, as well as Minnesota Morris' Molly Hancuh. The last time the teams faced off this season St. Scholastica came out on top with a 4-0 shutout.

The tournament's No. 1 seed, and 2015 regular season co-champion, the University of Northwestern will host the second semifinal game on Wednesday, November 4 at 2 p.m. against the winner of the 4/5 seed opening round match. The Eagles finished out the regular season with just one conference loss and an overall UMAC record of 9-1. Jordan Skarin leads the way in scoring for Northwestern with 15 goals and 35 assists on the season placing her in the top five of the league. On the defensive end Josie Monson has had a stellar season for the Eagles landing herself in the top goalkeepers of the conference with a 1.63 goals against average.

Wednesday's semifinal winners will advance to the UMAC Tournament championship game on Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed. The league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament will be awarded to the 2015 UMAC Women's Soccer Tournament Champion.
 
***Article Courtesy of UMAC Athletics