
NCAA Division I Tournament
The NCAA Division I Tournament is once again upon us, and 2023 sees five Aussies across as many teams feature after Championship Sunday saw three conference champions join Santa Clara and USC, who wrapped up at-large bids in the final week or two of the campaign. Those two teams look to be the best chance of an Aussie advancing deep into the tournament, but Maine have been regionally ranked for a large part of the season. Meanwhile, Morehead State and Grambling State will be out to shock the world with some early round upsets.
Grambling State (Aimee Benton)
First Round: @ #2 Arkansas – 11:30AM, Saturday November 11
An utterly dominant regular season performance from Grambling State hardly gifted the Tigers an easier path in the NCAA Tournament, drawing #2 seed Arkansas in the first round. Facing the Razorbacks would have been difficult enough in and of itself, but after they lost the SEC Championship game to Georgia 1-0, the team from Fayetteville will be aiming to run roughshod over the competition as they look to make a run to the College Cup. However, Aimee Benton and the Tigers have absolutely nothing to lose and are perhaps one of the best SWAC outfits in recent years, with only Prairie View A&M’s 2021 side finishing the regular season with a higher RPI in a non-COVID year in the last decade. The NCAA Tournament has not been kind to SWAC teams in recent seasons with some heavy defeats, but hopefully Grambling State can turn that around. Madison Covey-Taylor has taken the majority of the playing time between the sticks in recent weeks, but as always, Benton is a chance of seeing the pitch, possibly even as an outfield player as we have seen once or twice this year.

Morehead State (Natasha Tanner)
First Round: @ #1 Florida State – 9:00AM, Saturday November 11
If Grambling State copped a tough draw, Natasha Tanner and Morehead State face an even tougher schedule as they face #1 seed Florida State. Having finished as the 2nd seed in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Eagles went on the road to knock off #1 seed Tennessee Tech on their home patch to secure the championship and their spot in the NCAA Tournament. Florida State, on the other hand, came into the season as a national title contender and dominated throughout the season, finishing with a 16-0-1 record and a fourth consecutive ACC Championship. As with most of the smaller teams, the Eagles will be considered rank outsiders, but with few outside expectations comes the freedom to get out there and give it a red-hot crack, which is something the Eagles will no doubt do in their first tournament game in a decade. It is also worth mentioning that Morehead State have given up just one goal in their last six games, a statistic that bodes well for them as they come up against the Seminoles’ much-vaunted attack.

Maine (Lara Kirkby)
First Round: @ #4 Harvard – 9:00AM, Sunday November 12
Although they came into the America East tournament as the second seed and needed overtime to win the championship, Lara Kirkby’s Maine outfit were by and large the best team in the conference this season, and justly earned the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid. Like Grambling State and Morehead State, the Black Bears also face a highly seeded outfit, heading to Massachusetts to take on a Harvard side that is a smoky to make a run to the College Cup. However, Maine have dropped just one game this season and when a team gets in that kind of winning form, that confidence can be hard to break down for any opposition, even one as strong as Harvard. However, facing a team of the Crimson’s calibre brings with it its own challenges. The Crimson have banged in goals for fun at times this season, averaging 2.65 per game, so that Maine defence that has conceded just 0.94 per game will need to be at its best. Hopefully, we also get to see Lara Kirkby maintain the form that saw her named America East Tournament Most Outstanding Player, with the award coming just days after the midfielder was named in the All-Conference First Team.

#7 Santa Clara (Holly Furphy)
First Round: v Arizona State – 8:00AM, Sunday November 12
On paper, this appears to be the closest of the five games involving Australians in the opening round. Santa Clara finished 28th in the RPI ranking, whilst Arizona State finished 47th. However, Arizona State come into the tournament on the back of four straight losses, the latter three of which they would have been expected to at least draw, if not win. Santa Clara did drop two of their final five games of the season, but rattled off four consecutive wins prior to that in what has been a topsy-turvy campaign for the Broncos. With that said, if both of these teams can find top gear this weekend, it could be an electric game as each knows they could and probably should have been be positioned more favourably in the bracket if they had not had those lapses at certain times. Santa Clara will no doubt be favoured, and hopefully Holly Furphy can make an impact coming off the bench as we have seen her done at times throughout the 2023 campaign. Should the Broncos get up, a potential matchup with #2 seed Penn State awaits in what would be a very tasty proposition.

#8 USC (Talia Grossman)
First Round: v Grand Canyon – 9:00AM, Saturday November 11
USC sit just one spot behind Santa Clara in the RPI ranking as well as one seed line below the Broncos, but on paper, might have earned a more favourable draw as they take on Grand Canyon in the opening round. However, as can be the case with strong teams from low and mid-major conferences, the strength of schedule can sometimes lead to metrics that belie their actual level. Grand Canyon put together a 14-4-4 record whilst playing in the WAC, whilst conversely, USC finished 10-4-3 but had to run the gauntlet that is the Pac-12 in their final season in the conference. The Women of Troy come in as favourites, and they will want to get the job done as comfortably as possible, because a matchup with #1 seed BYU awaits in the second round. Should they get through both of these opponents, the draw would open up spectacularly, and we can still dream of a Maine v USC matchup in the Sweet Sixteen.

NCAA Division III Tournament
Southern Maine (Kayla O’Connor)
First Round: v Rowan – 5:30AM, Sunday November 12
NJCAA Division I Tournament
Arizona Western (Riley McQueenie)
Pool Stage Match 1: v Navarro– 8:00AM, Tuesday November 13
Pool Stage Match 2: v Monroe CC – 8:00AM, Wednesday November 14
Renee Junna (Tyler)
Pool Stage Match 1: v Barton – 10:30AM, Tuesday November 13
Pool Stage Match 2: v Eastern Florida State – 10:30AM, Wednesday November 14
NJCAA Division II Tournament
Johnson County (Montana-Rose Curry, Sophia Abbott)
Pool Stage Match 1: v Rock Valley – 6:30AM, Tuesday November 13
Pool Stage Match 2: v Northwest Mississippi – 6:30AM, Wednesday November 14
Northeast (Samantha Bayer, Chelsea Dolbel, Pyper Lochead, Talia Sanders)
Pool Stage Match 1: v Schoolcraft – 11:30am, Monday November 13
Pool Stage Match 2: v Jones – 11:30am, Wednesday November 14
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