Nov. 15, 2007

• Navy's NCAA Tournament Notes
Navy Stats | West VirginiaStats

First & Second-Round NCAA Tournament BracketFriday, Nov. 16 - First Round (Morgantown, W.Va.)Gm 1   James Madison (16-4-1) vs. Penn (13-3-1)             3:30 pmGm 2   Navy (14-4-4) at 4th-seeded West Virginia (15-4-2)   6:00 pm
Sunday, Nov. 18 - Championship (Morgantown, W.Va.)Final   Winners of Games 1 & 2                              1:00 pm

Navy Makes Second Consecutive NCAA Tournament Appearance
• Navy is making the program's third appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including its second in as many years, after earning the automatic bid by way of winning the Patriot League Tournament.
• The Mids' three NCAA Tournament appearances have come in the last five years (2003, '06, '07), making Navy's Class of '08 the second class to play in two NCAA Tournaments, joining the Class of '07 who also made two appearances.
• The Navy women's soccer team is the only women's team in any sport at the Naval Academy that has earned a Div. I NCAA Tournament bid.
• Navy is the only Service Academy women's soccer team that has earned a Div. I NCAA Tournament berth.

Navy's NCAA Tournament History
• Unseeded Navy traveled to fifth-seeded Penn State on Nov. 14, 2003, in the Mids' first NCAA Tournament appearance.
• The Nittany Lions defeated the Midshipmen, 5-1.
• PSU scored the opening-three goals of the game, including a strike by All-American Tiffany Weimer just 1:18 into the contest.
• Navy's goal (71:53) was scored by 2006 team captain Molly Burd, lobbing a shot over the keeper's head who was pulled out of the goal.
• Penn State outshot Navy, 21-6 ... Burd took two of the Mids' six shots, including two on goal.
• After battling to a 0-0 tie in last year's opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Navy advanced to the second round via a 5-4 advantage in penalty kicks against 20th-ranked William & Mary.
• Though The Tribe took a 4-3 advantage in PKs, Navy keeper Lizzie Barnes made saves on W&M's final two PKs and rookie Shelly Moeller and junior Lindsay Parker connected on theirs to advance the Mids.
• Each team took 10 shots in regulation.
• 2006 National Champion North Carolina handed Navy a 4-0 loss in the Mids' first second-round appearance.
• The Tar Heels outshot Navy, 20-1 and put 15 of their 20 shots on goal.

Tournament Facts
• Navy is one of 30 automatic qualifiers in this year's NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament ... the remaining 34 spots were at-large bids.
• The four No. 1 seeds are North Carolina, Penn State, UCLA and Stanford.
• North Carolina and Connecticut are the only two teams who have been invited to the tournament every year since its inception in 1982.
• The ACC is represented by a tournament-best eight teams.
• Among the 30 automatic qualifiers, only 10 earned the automatic bid a year ago, including Navy.

Representing The Mid-Atlantic Region
• Nine teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region earned NCAA Tournament bids.
• Eight of the nine teams will face one another with first-round match-ups between Virginia and Loyola, William & Mary and Georgetown, James Madison and Penn, along with Navy vs. West Virginia.
• Monmouth (vs. Penn State) is the only team representing the Mid-Atlantic Region playing a team outside of the region.
• Six of the nine teams are ranked within the region ... Loyola, Monmouth and Navy are not ranked.

Scouting the Mountaineers
• West Virginia owns a 15-4-2 record, including a 9-1-1 mark in the Big East.
• The Mountaineers own an impressive 11-1-1 record this season at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium ... their lone loss was a 2-1 decision to Wake Forest, while their tie was against Notre Dame in the Big East Tournament.
• Ranked 12th in the NSCAA/adidas final regular season poll, West Virginia received one of the 30 automatic bids.
• WVU is one of 16 host schools to play host to the first and second rounds of the national tournament ... it's the fourth time it has done so, as it also hosted the opening rounds in 2001, '02 and '03.
• West Virginia is making its eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in its 12 years as a Div. I program.
• The Mountaineers are seeded for the third time in the program's 12-year history, also receiving the nod in 2002 and '03.
• Last Sunday, the Mountaineers earned the school's first Big East Tournament crown via penalty kicks (5-3) against 11th-ranked Notre Dame after tying 1-1 in regulation.
• The Mountaineers are unbeaten in their last seven matches. • Three of their four losses this fall have been against ranked programs - Virginia (0-3), Texas A&M (1-2) and Connecticut (0-2).
• Senior midfielder/forward Ashley Banks, the 2007 Big East Co-Offensive Player of the Year, is pacing the Mountaineers with 34 points on 13 goals and eight assists ... she has driven in three of the team's 15 game-winners.
• Third-Team All-Big East forward Deana Everrett is the team's second-leading scorer with 23 points on seven goals and a team-best nine assists and has also produced three game-winners.
• Rookie Kerri Butler has taken over the goalkeeping duties as of late, surrendering six goals in her nine appearances while making nine saves ... she is allowing 0.74 goals per game and making stops on 72.7 percent of the shots she has face.

A Win Over West Virginia Would ...
• be the soccer program's first NCAA Tournament victory.
• be the second time a Patriot League team has earned a victory in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament ... Colgate defeated Arizona, 1-0, in 2004.
• advance the Midshipmen to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year.
• give Navy its second win over a nationally-ranked program in its 15-year history and for the second year in a row.
• give the Mids 15 wins, marking the sixth time in school history they have reached the 15-win plateau and the fourth time in seven years.

Navy Vs. the Big East • Navy owns an 8-6-2 record against teams in the Big East ... the Mids own winning records over Georgetown (4-1) and Pitt (2-0), while it is even with West Virginia (1-1).
• The Mids' last contest against a Big East team was in 2005 when Navy tied Seton Hall, 2-2, at home.

Lucky 13 • Navy is one of just 12 programs in the country to produce 10-plus wins in each of the last 13 years.
• The others in order of wins are: North Carolina (305), Notre Dame (268), Penn State (242), Portland (234), Santa Clara (233), Texas A&M (232), UCLA (229), Connecticut (227), Florida (227), Virginia (177) and Stanford (176).
• With 177 wins over the 13-year span, the Mids are deadlocked with the ACC's Virginia (177) and have one more win than Stanford, one of this year's four No. 1 seeds.

Competing with the Best
• The Mids own a 1-9-1 all-time record against ranked opponents, including a 1-1-1 mark last fall.
• Navy has played at least one ranked opponent in each of the last five seasons, including top-seeded Penn State in four of the five years ... West Virginia will be the Mids' first ranked foe of the 2007 campaign.
• The Mids have played the No. 1-ranked team three times, including North Carolina twice ... in 2003, Navy held the Tar Heels scoreless until the 73rd minute when Jordan Walker scored her first goal of the season.
• Navy's 1-0 win over ninth-ranked Penn State on Oct. 26, 2006, marked the program's first win over a ranked team.
• Kristen Laraway's shot in the 80th minute sailed past the outstretched arms of the Nittany Lions' keeper to give the Mids the go-ahead goal.

On the Road
• Navy owns an all-time record of 77-58-12 (.565) in games played away from Annapolis ... Navy is 5-4-3 this fall.
• The Mids are 58-46-10 (.553) in true road games, including 3-3-2 this season.
• Navy owns a 19-12-2 (.606) record in neutral site match-ups, including a 2-1-1 mark in '07.
• Navy has played 149 (109-30-10, .765) home games in its history to 147 road/neutral site contests.

Advantage, Navy
• Navy owns a +332 goal differential in its 15-year history ... the Mids have outscored their foes, 649-317.
• This season, Navy has outscored its opponents 41-18 (+23).
• In Patriot League action, the Mids owned an 11-4 scoring edge.
• Unbeaten in their last 10 games, the Mids have outscored their foes, 25-4, during that span.
• Navy has scored 40 or more goals in nine of the last 10 seasons (scored 38 in 2005) and 10 of the 15 years the program has existed (only played 7 games in 1993).

A Potent Combination: Balanced Offense / Smothering Defense
• The Mids are ranked 57th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 1.86 goals per game.
• Senior forward Brigitte Fox has scored 16 of Navy's 41 goals and is ranked 19th in the nation in goals per game (0.727) and 27th in points per game (1.59).
• Navy has outscored its opponents 41-18 this fall with 16 of its 22 players (excluding keepers) scoring at least one goal.
• 20 players have turned in a goal or an assist this fall.
• Navy's defense is ranked No. 48, giving up 0.786 goals per game.
• The Mids have shut out 11 of their 22 foes this fall, the fourth most in school history.
• Navy's 0.5 shutouts per game average is the 42nd best in the country.
• Junior keeper Lizzie Barnes is ranked 76th in the nation in goals-against average (0.863) ... she is Navy's career record holder in GAA (0.57), save percentage (85.7) and with 21 shutouts, she is just one shy of tying the school record.