Nov. 8, 2004
SAN MARCOS, Texas - The Texas State soccer team (13-9-0) will be traveling to College Station, Texas to take on ninth ranked and site host Texas A&M (17-5-0), Friday for the first round of the 23rd NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship. The trip to the NCAA tournament is the third in seven years for the 'Cats. The time of the game has yet to be determined.
"It is pretty much the match-up I expected," said Bobcat head coach Kat Conner about the pairing.
In 2001, the 'Cats were in the same situation. Texas State won the SLC Championship and played against Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
It was the freshman season for the three senior leaders on the team, Kendra Comfort, Kendra Kade, and Jaynee Sherman. "When we played them four years ago, we were in the game," co-captain Kade said. "If we play like we did this past weekend we will be very competitive."
Coach Conner has to overcome more than just the loss four years ago. She will be taking her team to face her former coach and boss. Conner played under Texas A&M's head coach G. Guerrieri for two years, and was an assistant coach with him for six.
"Our attack has become much more sophisticated over this season," Coach Conner said as she looked forward to the tournament. "If we keep possession of the ball and keep it clean in the back field we have nothing to be afraid of."
Illinois (13-5-2) and Rice (14-4-3) will be the other two teams playing in College Station on Friday. The winner of that match-up will take on the winner of the match-up between the Bobcats and the Aggies on Sunday.
Twenty-nine conferences were granted automatic bids for the 2004 championship. The remaining 35 teams were selected at-large. The ACC leads all conferences with eight teams in the tournament. Five teams will represent the Big 12, Big 10 and the Pacific-10; four teams will represent the West Coast Conference.
The automatic qualifiers are: America East Conference, Binghamton; Atlantic 10 Conference, University of Dayton; ACC, Virginia; Atlantic Sun, Campbell; Big 12, Texas A&M Big East, Connecticut; Big Sky Conference, Weber State University; Big South, Birmingham-Southern College; Big Ten, Ohio State; Big West Conference, California Polytechnic State University; Colonial Athletic Association, Virginia Commonwealth; Conference USA, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Horizon League, University of Detroit Mercy; Ivy Group, Princeton; Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Loyola College (Maryland); Mid-American Conference, Bowling Green State University; Mid-Continent Conference, Oral Roberts University; Missouri Valley Conference, Creighton University; Mountain West Conference, University of Utah; Northeast Conference, Central Connecticut State University; Ohio Valley Conference, Eastern Illinois University; Pac-10, Arizona; Patriot League, Colgate University; Southeastern Conference, University of Florida; Southern Conference, Furman University; Southland Conference, Texas State University-San Marcos; Sun Belt Conference, University of North Texas; West Coast Conference, Santa Clara; and Western Athletic Conference, Southern Methodist University.
