Monday, October 29, 2007

            Valparaiso will head to the 2007 Horizon League Women’s Soccer Championship, presented by the U.S. Army, as the fifth seed and head to Indianapolis, Ind. on Saturday for an 11 a.m. CDT match against fourth-seeded Butler in the quarterfinals.

            The Crusaders enter the tournament 10-8 overall, 4-4 in Horizon League play.  Butler enters the contest 9-8-1 overall, 5-3 in conference action.  The Bulldogs defeated Valpo 2-0 earlier this year on September 30 at Eastgate Field in the Horizon League opener.

            The tournament gets underway on Tuesday evening with the first round match-up as #9 seed Youngstown State (1-17, 0-8) travels to Cleveland State (4-13-1, 1-6-1).  The winner of the first round game will head to Milwaukee (11-4-3, 7-0-1), the regular season champion in the quarterfinals on Saturday.  The winner of the Valpo-Butler quarterfinal will meet the victor of this match.

            The other quarterfinals on Saturday have #6 Detroit (4-10-4, 2-3-3) traveling to #3 Wright State (12-5-1, 5-2-1) and #7 Green Bay (2-15, 2-6) heading to Chicago to face #2 Loyola (12-8, 7-1).

            The semifinals will be held on November 9 at the highest remaining seed with the championship match held at the same site on November 11.  The league champion will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.