The brackets for NCAA tournament play have been announced. As you probably know, three of our fall sports teams won the NCAC championship, and therefore will be moving on to the NCAA tournaments. Field Hockey’s bracket was released yesterday, and Men’s and Women’s Soccer went up a few hours ago. Here’s a bit of information on the end of their NCAC seasons, and what’s in store for these three teams.

Field Hockey:

At the end of a thrilling regular season filled with high-scoring contests (the Ladies scored 5 or more goals in 9 of their 21 games), Kenyon’s Field Hockey team ranked first in the NCAC. They with a record of 19-2 overall and 13-1 in conference play, and entered the NCAC tournament for the second year in a row. They defeated Wittenberg University 2-0 on McBride Field last Wednesday to advance to the finals, where they faced Denison University. Denison and Kenyon met two times in the regular season, and split the games with a win each. At McBride Field on Saturday, however, it was the Ladies who got the best of the Big Red. They took the game 1-0, claimed the NCAC title, and finished the season ranked first out of Division III Great Lakes Region teams.

Now, for the first time since 2007 and the fourth time in Kenyon history, the Ladies in the NCAA tournament. They will face Messiah College on McBride Field on Wednesday at 1:15 pm. The winner of this game will face Catholic University on Saturday. This will be the first meeting between the Kenyon Ladies and the Messiah Falcons.

Women’s Soccer:

Women’s Soccer dominated the NCAC throughout the regular season, and tied for first in the NCAC with Allegheny College. The Ladies finished with a 12-7-1 record overall and a 7-1 record in conference play. Their first objective was to defeat the one NCAC team that had defeated them this season–Wittenberg College. The Ladies and the Tigers tied for shots, and Wittenberg had more corner kicks than Kenyon, but the Ladies came through in the second half to take Wednesday’s semifinal game 2-0. Their next objective was to beat their regular season statistic equals at Allegheny. The championship game was played at Kenyon, and Allegheny scored only moments into the game,  but this did not deter the Ladies.They returned to the Hill with a 3-1 win and their first-ever NCAC title.

The Ladies are headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006. They will play Emory University on Saturday at 1:30pm at Thomas Moore College in Kentucky. Thomas Moore will play Maryville College, and the winners of both games will play each other on Sunday. This is the third time in history that Kenyon and Emory have played each other, the first being a 2-2 draw in 1987 and the second being a 3-0 Emory win in 2005.

Men’s Soccer

After starting the regular season with a 12-game win streak, it wasn’t a surprise to anyone that the Lords advanced to the postseason. They finished 2nd in the NCAC with a record of 17-1-1 overall, and 7-1-1 in conference play. However, in order to take the conference crown, they had to defeat the two teams they had not been able to beat in the regular season. In the semifinal, they faced Wabash College, the team that had dealt them their only loss. The Lords bounced back, however, and crushed the Little Giants 3-0. In the final, they faced Ohio Wesleyan University. At their last contest, the teams were scoreless through regulation play and two rounds of overtime play, resulting in a 0-0 draw. The teams went into overtime again in the final, but this time, the Lords scored to take the title.

The Lords will host two games on Saturday at Mavec Field. The first will be their own game against Heidelberg University at 11am, and the second will be another NCAA match-up between North Park University and Thomas Moore College. The winners of those two games will play each other on Sunday. Kenyon is in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row and the 11th time in history. They have already played Heidelberg once this season, and the result was a 2-1 Kenyon win.