Nov. 9, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division III Field Hockey Committee has announced today the field of 24 teams that will compete in the 2008 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship.

Sixteen teams will compete in eight first-round games Wednesday, November 12.  The eight first-round winners, along with the eight teams that received a first-round bye, will compete at four campus sites during second/third-round play, Saturday and Sunday, November 15 and 16.  

The winners of the four sites will advance to the semifinals and finals Saturday and Sunday, November 22 and 23, at Eleanor Frost Snell Alumnae Field on the campus of Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. 

Semifinals will be played at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, with the championship game being played Sunday, November 23, at 1 p.m.  Ticket information is available by calling 610/409-3606.

Fourteen conferences have been awarded automatic qualification for their champions into the 2008 championship. Four teams were selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification.

Finally, six berths were reserved for Pool C, which consists of institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champions and the remaining teams from Pool B.

The 14 conferences and schools receiving automatic qualification are:
Centennial Conference
Ursinus
Colonial States Athletic Conference
Neumann
Commonwealth Conference
Messiah
Commonwealth Coast Conference
New England College
Empire 8
Stevens Institute of Technology
Freedom Conference
Eastern
Liberty League
Skidmore
Little East Conference
Keene State
New England Small College Athletic Conference
Bowdoin
New England Women’s and Men’s Athletics Conference
Springfield
New Jersey Athletic Conference
The College of New Jersey
North Atlantic Conference
Castleton
North Coast Athletic Conference
Wooster
Old Dominion Athletic Conference
Lynchburg
    
The four Pool B teams are:

Christopher Newport
Cortland State
Sewanee (University of the South)
Salisbury

The six Pool C teams are:

Johns Hopkins
Lebanon Valley
Middlebury
Rowan
Trinity (Connecticut)
Tufts

    
The Bowdoin Polar Bears, winners of the 2007 championship at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, will look to return to the finals at Ursinus in this year’s championship. Bowdoin completed an undefeated season with a 4-3 win over Middlebury College in last year’s championship game, sealing the school’s first national championship. Other previous champions in this year’s tournament include State University College at Cortland (1993, 1994, 2001), Middlebury College (1998), Rowan University (2002), Salisbury University (1986, 2003, 2004, 2005), Ursinus College (2006) and The College of New Jersey (1981, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999).

Castleton State College is making its first appearance in the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship while The College of New Jersey is making its 28th consecutive championship appearance (1981-2008).  
The dates, sites and pairings are listed on the complete championship bracket, which is attached.  For more information about the championship, log on to www.ncaa.com.