U-M Earns NCAA Tournament Bid, Will Face St. Joseph's in First Round
11/4/2018 10:43:00 PM | Field Hockey
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The University of Michigan field hockey team will begin its quest for the program's second NCAA championship on Friday (Nov. 9) at 2:30 p.m., when it travels to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to face St. Joseph's in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship.
Top-seeded North Carolina is the host school for the regional and will face the winner of the play-in game between William & Mary and Monmouth in the other first-round matchup on Friday at noon. Friday's winners will meet in the quarterfinal round, which is scheduled for Sunday (Nov. 11). All matches will take place at the Tar Heels' Karen Shelton Stadium.
The winner of each regional site will advance to the national semifinals, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 16, at Louisville's Trager Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.
Michigan makes its 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and fourth in as many seasons. U-M owns a 17-12 record in NCAA Tournament play and has advanced to the semifinals in four of its 14 appearances, most recently last season, and has played in the national title game twice.
Michigan received an at-large berth to the tournament after winning 14 of its last 17 games, including six against nationally-ranked opposition and capturing a share of the Big Ten regular-season title -- the program's second in as many years. U-M reached the Big Ten Tournament and fell to Iowa, 2-1, on Friday (Nov. 2) in Evanston, Illinois.
St. Joseph's (18-2) claimed an automatic bid after winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a 1-0 decision against Virginia Commonwealth. Michigan had three common opponents with the Hawks during the regular season -- UMass, Monmouth and Rutgers. U-M went 3-0 against those teams, while St. Joseph's fell to Rutgers, 3-2, in early September. It will be the first meeting between the two schools.
Michigan is one of five Big Ten Conference schools to earn NCAA Tournament selection -- the most of any conference this season. Maryland, which won the conference tournament Sunday (Nov. 4) to earn the automatic bid, will host a regional, while Iowa, Penn State and Rutgers also made the field.
