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INDIANAPOLIS – Back-to-back Big West Tournament championships have brought Cal State Fullerton a return trip to third-ranked Stanford as the Cardinal will host the Titans in the first round of the 33rd NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship at 7 p.m., Friday, it was announced today by the Division I Women's Soccer Committee.
Tickets are $15 for reserved seats. For bleachers, they are $10 for adults and $8 for students, youths, and seniors. Call 1-800-STANFORD for more information.
The Titans (10-7-4) clinched the Big West Conference's automatic NCAA Tournament berth for the second straight year after winning their fifth league tournament championship on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Long Beach State at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
The Titans, the 2014 Big West regular season champions, will now make their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance as Stanford received one of four No. 1 seeds in the bracket. Fullerton will also bring a seven-match winning streak and a 10-match unbeaten streak to the NCAA Tournament.
Fullerton will be making its sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament (2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2014) and its third since 2007, which was eighth-year head coach Demian Brown's first year at the helm of the Cal State Fullerton women's soccer program after serving as an assistant coach for three years (2004-06).
The Titans are advancing to the tournament with 10 wins, marking the 10th double-digit win season for a Fullerton team in program history which dates back to 1993.
Ranked at No. 3 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Stanford completed the regular season with a record of 17-1-2 overall and a 9-1-1 mark in the Pac-12, receiving an at-large bid into the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
The Cardinal, 10-0-1 this season on its home field, has not lost at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium since a 1-0 loss to California on Nov. 6, 2013. The Cardinal's only loss this year was a 2-1 defeat at UCLA on Oct. 9.
In 2013, Stanford lost to eventual national champion UCLA, 2-0, in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal will be making its 24th postseason appearance, and most recently won a national title in 2011.
Four players have scored at least seven goals for Stanford with a team total of 47 led by Lo'eau LaBonta's 11 goals and three assists. Goalkeeper Jane Campbell has totaled 12 shutouts with a 0.43 goals against average as Stanford has allowed just eight goals all season.
The Titans boast a record of 3-5 at the NCAA Tournament with the Titans best finish in 2005 as Fullerton reached the third round before suffering a 2-1 loss to Virginia.
In five previous trips to the NCAA Tournament, the Titans have played UCLA on three occasions (0-3; 2001, 2006, 2007) and have been sent to Los Angeles to play the Bruins in the first round on two occasions (2001, 2007).
This will be the Titans second meeting against the Cardinal in postseason play with Stanford defeating the Titans, 1-0, at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium on Nov. 15, 2013.
The defending national champion UCLA Bruins, the automatic qualifier out of the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12), earned a top seed along with Texas A&M, the automatic qualifier from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in the field of 64 teams. Stanford and Florida State also earned No. 1 seeds after receiving an at-large selection from the Pac-12 and an automatic qualification from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), respectively.
Thirty-one conferences were granted automatic bids for the 2014 championship, while the remaining 33 teams were selected at-large. The top 16 teams are seeded and conference teams cannot play each other in the first- or second-rounds. When pairing teams, the committee follows geographic proximity parameters. The top 16 teams will host and all other sites were selected for the first-round to create the least number of flights.
First-round games will be played at campus sites November 14, 15 and 16. Second-round games will be played Friday, November 21, at campus sites, and third-round games will be played Sunday, November 23, at the same campus sites. Quarterfinal games will be played November 28 or 29 also on campus sites.