PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Memphis won its first American Athletic Conference women’s soccer championship to clinch the league’s automatic qualifier to the 2018 NCAA Championship. The Tigers host No. 23/- Wisconsin in the First Round.
USF clinched its fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the past five years with an at-large berth. The Bulls host America East Champion Albany.
It will be the first matchups these teams have ever had with each other.
Wisconsin, an at-large selection, went 12-3-4 in the regular season but lost in its opening game on the Big Ten Tournament on PK’s and enter the NCAA’s not having won a game since October 21st.
Albany went 14-6-2 on its way to an automatic qualifier and has won six-straight games and eight of its last nine. The Great Danes have not played a ranked team this season.
Both Memphis and USF remain in the national rankings in week 12. The Tigers are up to 15/16 in the United/TopDrawerSoccer polls while the Bulls check in at 20/17.
Memphis tied or bettered its top ranking in both polls this week while USF has now been at least receiving votes in every week of the season.
Memphis boasted both the Most Outstanding Offensive and Defensive Players of the American Athletic Conference Championship in sophomore Clarissa Larisey and Chanel Hudson-Marks.
They were joined on the All-Tournament team by the Tigers’ Marie Levasseur and Stasia Mallin, USF’s Kelli Burney, Aubrey Megrath and Evelyne Viens, UCF’s Kristen Scott and Vera Varis, and ECU’s Jayda Hylton-Pelaia and Melanie Stiles.
UPCOMING GAMES – NCAA FIRST ROUND