Nov. 9, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. – League champion North Carolina and fellow nationally Top 10-ranked teams Florida State and Boston College lead a group of eight Atlantic Coast Conference members that have been selected to compete in 2009 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship.

The 64-team field, announced Monday night, features North Carolina and Florida State as No. 1 national seeds, while Boston College will compete as a No. 2 seed. Wake Forest and Virginia Tech made the field as No. 3 seeds, and Maryland is a No. 4 national seed.

Virginia and Duke also made the field, giving the ACC a league-record tying eight teams in the tournament for a third straight year. The six national seeds also match a conference record set last year.

This is the seventh straight year that at least seven ACC teams have made the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship field, and the 11th straight year that at least six have been selected.

Play begins for all eight ACC teams on Friday. North Caroilna, Florida State, Boston College, Wake Forest and Maryland will be host teams for their first-round games and potential hosts for second-round games on Sunday should they advance.

ACC teams comprise three of the top four seeds in the North Carolina Regional – North Carolina, Wake Forest and Maryland – and they will all open NCAA play at home.

The top-seeded Tar Heels (17-3-1) open by playing host to High Point (7-14-2) on Friday. Wake Forest (13-5-2) is seeded third and will play host to Kennesaw State (11-6). Maryland (12-5-2), seeded fourth, opens at home against Monmouth (15-4-1). A fourth ACC team, Duke (8-8-4) was also placed in the North Carolina Regional and will open play against Rutgers (13-3-4) at Columbia, S.C.

The Florida State Regional finds the host Seminoles (16-4-1) facing Southeastern Louisiana (13-4-2) on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

As the No. 2 seed in the Stanford Regional, Boston College (15-3-2) will play host to Harvard (9-6-1) in the opening round. The teams met early in the regular season, with the Eagles claiming a 4-1 win.

Virginia Tech (14-7) is seeded third in the UCLA Regional, and will open play against Murray State (11-8-2) at Dayton, Ohio. Virginia (9-5-5) was also placed in the UCLA Regional and faces an opening-round game against St. John’s (13-6-1) at State College, Pa.

Friday’s winners will advance to second-round games on Sunday, with the first-round sites continuing to serve as hosts. Please see the attached bracket for the complete 64-team field and their regional placement.

North Carolina enters the field as the defending national champion and will be seeking is 20th NCAA title overall. The Tar Heels have appeared in the NCAA tourney each of the 28 years since its inception in 1982 and own an all-time record of 100-7-1 in the event.

Several other ACC teams will extend notable streaks with this year’s NCAA appearances. Virginia is in the field for the 16th straight year and the 22nd overall. Wake Forest will be competing for the 14th straight year. Florida State, which has reached four of the last six Women’s College Cups as a Final Four participant, has been part of the tournament field every year since 2000 (10 straight appearances).

It marks the seventh straight tournament appearance for Duke, and the Blue Devils’ 16th overall. Boston College is appearing for the seventh straight year (13th overall), while Virginia Tech made the field for a second straight year (third overall).

Meanwhile, Maryland is back in postseason play for the first time since 2004. This year’s NCAA appearance will be the Terps’ 10th overall.