Nov. 8, 1999

PDF Complete NCAA Bracket

The sixth-ranked and BIG EAST champion Notre Dame women?s soccer team has been seeded fifth in the 1999 NCAA women?s soccer championship. The 18-3-0 Irish will receive a first-round bye and play host to the winner of a first-round game between Dayton and Evansville. The winner of that 7:00 p.m. Wednesday game will travel to Alumni Field for a 1:00 p.m. game on Sunday., Nov. 14. The Irish won their fifth consecutive BIG EAST championship with a 4-2 win over Connecticut on Sunday to earn an automatic bid into the 48-team field.

Notre Dame will be making its seventh straight NCAA appearance and is one of only five teams to appear in each of the last seven championships. The Irish boast a record of 16-5 in its seven NCAA championship appearances for a .762 winning percentage, the second highest in NCAA history. The Irish won the NCAA championship in 1995, reached the final in 1994 and 1996, were semifinalists in 1997 and were quarterfinalists in 1998. The Irish lost in the regional semifinals in their first appearance in 1993. Notre Dame has a 5-3 record against the other 47 teams in the field, including losses to top-seeded Santa Clara and second-seeded North Carolina.

Three BIG EAST teams made the field for the second consecutive year, and only four other conference had more than three schools qualify for the NCAA championship. BIG EAST championship runner Connecticut and semifinalist Boston College join Notre Dame in the field. Dayton, with a 17-3-0 record, claimed the Atlantic 10 automatic bid, while 10-9-2 Evansville beat Southwest Missouri State 3-2 in triple overtime to win the Missouri Valley Conference title. Notre Dame has played Dayton five times with the series tied at 2-2-1 since the last meeting in 1992. Evansville dropped its only game against the Irish, a 4-0 loss in 1993.