NCAA Championship Information | Interactive Bracket | Printable Bracket | Selection Show Video

WALTHAM, Mass. – After a two-year absence, the Bentley University Falcons are back in the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships. Coach Jessica Spencer's team was seeded third in the North Region and will play a first-round game at number two Merrimack College Saturday evening at 6:30 pm.

The winner of Saturday's game will advance to face UMass-Lowell, the top-seed in the North and the host for the final two rounds of the six-team tournament. The semifinals will be on Friday, Nov. 9 and the national championship game two days later.

In the other half of the bracket, defending national champion West Chester University will face Indiana (Pa.) for the right to play number one-ranked Shippensburg in the semifinals.

Bentley will be making its 13th appearance in the Division II championships, second all-time to Bloomsburg. The Falcons have reached the finals seven times, most recently in 2006, and earned the university's first-ever NCAA national championship in 2001.

Bentley, ranked ninth in last week's National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division II poll, finished the 2012 regular season with a seven-game winning streak and dropped to 11-7 overall with a 1-0 loss to UMass-Lowell on Saturday in the Northeast-10 semifinals.

Spencer has five players remaining from her last NCAA team, which suffered a first-round loss to UMass-Lowell. They are goalie Julia Powell (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug HS), defender Kelsey Mattson (Bristol, N.H./Newfound Reg. HS), midfielder Nicole Dion (Lunenburg/Lunenburg HS) and forwards Beth Maguire (Medfield/Medfield HS) and Samantha Boardman (Chester, Md./Kent Island HS). Dion is the only one of the five seniors who played in that game and she picked up one of the Falcons' two goals.

Merrimack, the NE-10 regular season champion, is currently 16-3 overall, and UMass-Lowell will enter the NCAA's at 18-3 following a 1-0 win over Merrimack in Sunday's Northeast-10 final.

Bentley and Merrimack met twice during the regular season and the Warriors prevailed in both, 4-1 back on Sept. 6 and 3-2 in overtime Oct. 2.           

NCAA DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIPS

First Round – Saturday, Nov. 3
Bentley (11-7) at Merrimack (16-3), 6:30 pm
Indiana, Pa. (14-5) at West Chester (16-2)

Semifinals – Friday, Nov.9, at UMass-Lowell
Bentley/Merrimack winner at UMass-Lowell (18-3)
IUP/West Chester winner vs. Shippensburg (17-2) 

Championship – Sunday, Nov. 11, at UMass-Lowell