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Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference

SOCCER, VOLLEYBALL TEAMS HEAD TO NATIONAL AND REGIONAL POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS

SOCCER, VOLLEYBALL TEAMS HEAD TO NATIONAL AND REGIONAL POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS
November 7, 2017

Seven AMCC soccer and volleyball teams prepare to continue their seasons to national postseason tournaments. The Medaille College men's soccer team and the Penn St. Behrend women's soccer and volleyball teams all won conference titles in their respective sports and thus earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA national tournament. The Franciscan University's men's and women's soccer teams, Behrend men's soccer team, and Penn St. Altoona women's volleyball teams all earned berths to the ECAC tournament.

The Medaille College men's soccer team advanced to the program's seventh NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon, defeating the top ranked Penn State Behrend Lions in penalty kicks for the AMCC Championship. The Mavericks will travel to Westerville, Ohio on Saturday to take on the number 19 team in the country in Otterbein University. The Cardinals finished the season with an overall record of 17-2-0 and went 9-0-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play. They advanced to their sixth NCAA Tournament by defeating Capital 1-0 in the OAC Championship game and will be returning to the NCAA Tourney for the first time since 2002.

The Penn State Behrend women's soccer team will travel to Ada, Ohio to face No. 13 Ohio Northern University in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Division III Tournament on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Lions (15-4-1) will be making their seventh straight and 10th overall appearance in the NCAA Championships.The Polar Bears (17-1-2) won their second Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament title in school history to earn the automatic bid into the championships, marking their fourth overall appearance in the dance. Behrend and Ohio Northern are meeting for the fourth time in program history. The Polar Bears tallied three consecutive wins from 2000-02. The last time they met, Ohio Northern defeated the Lions 7-0.

The Penn State Behrend women's volleyball team will travel to Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio to face No. 4 Wittenberg University in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday at 3 p.m. The Lions (19-11) are making their third appearance in the 64-team tournament, earning the automatic bid after winning their fourth Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship with a 3-2 win over La Roche on Sunday. Otterbein will host the eight-team NCAA Regional with other first-round matches including No. 22 Juniata vs. Brockport, No. 18 Ohio Northern vs. DePauw and Otterbein against Cabrini. The Tigers are making their 23rd overall appearance in the tournament. Wittenberg has won 11 straight North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) titles, defeating DePauw 3-0 on Saturday for the championship. It will be the first time Behrend and the Tigers will play each other under the helm of head coach Phil Pisano in his 14th season.

The Penn State Behrend men's soccer team earned a bid to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Men's Soccer Championship. The Lions (15-4-1) earned the overall top-seed of the ECAC and will host the first round against No. 4 Penn State Harrisburg at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. No. 2 Grove City will face off against No. 3 Franciscan at the conclusion of the match. The two winners will battle each other on Sunday at noon. Behrend is making their eighth appearance in the ECAC Tournament and first since 2015. The Lions were victorious in 2009, claiming the ECAC Championship crown. In 2015, Behrend was also the No. 1 seed and hosted the tournament. They tied No. 7 seed Alvernia 1-1 in the championship final, but fell 4-2 in a shootout.

The Barons men's soccer team earned the No. 3 seed in pod one and will face No. 2 Grove City College at Penn St.-Behrend at 2pm. The winner will face the winner of the first game of the pod, which features No. 1 Penn St.-Behrend and No. 4 Penn St.-Harrisburg. The Barons enter the tournament with an 11-6-2 overall record, setting a new school win record after their 2-1 win over La Roche in the conference semifinal match. Grove City (10-5-4) enters the game after falling in the Presidents' athletic conference semifinal game to Geneva last Wednesday, 1-0 in overtime. Franciscan and Grove City have faced each other once in program history as the Barons won the meeting 2-1 in double overtime in 2008.

The Lady Barons will travel to Frostburg, MD to take on Grove City in the opening round on Saturday. Franciscan (10-9) earned the No. 4 seed in Pod 3 of the tournament and will square off against No. 1 seed Grove City (15-5) in the first game of the day. The Wolverines lost in the Presidents' Athletic Conference championship match against top-seeded Thomas More. The Lady Barons and Wolverines have squared off just once in program history, with Grove City notching a 3-1 win in 2015. The selection to the ECAC tournament is the first time in program history the Lady Barons have earned a bid to the regional tournament.

The Penn State Altoona women's volleyball team earned the opportunity to extend its season this week, as the Lady Lions were selected on Monday to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Division III Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament. Penn State Altoona received the third seed in "Pod 4" of the ECAC Tournament bracket. The Lady Lions will travel to play No. 2 Westminster College in the quarterfinal round this Wednesday, November 8 at 7:00 p.m. This marks the sixth time in Penn State Altoona women's volleyball program history that the team has earned a berth into an ECAC postseason tournament. It is also the second consecutive season that the Lady Lions have been selected to the ECAC tournament. Penn State Altoona compiled a 13-13 overall record this season, including a 7-2 mark in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference that placed the team atop the league's regular season standings. The Lady Lions were eliminated in the semifinal round of the AMCC Tournament this past Saturday, falling to La Roche College by a score of 3-1. Westminster went 26-6 this season, including going 15-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. The Titans suffered a 3-1 loss to Thomas More College in the PAC championship match on Saturday.