GORHAM, Maine – For the second consecutive year, and second time in program history, the University of Southern Maine Huskies women's soccer team is headed to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. The Huskies (15-1-4) claimed the Little East Conference's automatic bid to the tournament after winning the LEC's tournament championship with a 3-0 shutout win over Western Connecticut State University Wolves. Southern Maine, the 2023 LEC Regular Season Champion, was the top-seed in the tournament and received a quarterfinal round bye. Southern Maine defeated UMass Boston 3-0 in the semifinal and WestConn 3-0 in the championship.
Southern Maine will face No. 11 Rowan University (14-1-2, 8-0-1 NJAC) in the first round at host site MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Profs suffered their first loss of the season, 2-0, in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship to The College of New Jersey. Rowan has scored 54 goals this season and allowed six. Rowan is led by Mackenzie Clement's 15 goals and two assists (32 points).
Joining the four-team pod with the Huskies and Rowan University are host Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the College of Mount Saint Vincent. Sixty-four teams will vie for the 2023 NCAA Division III National Championship Title. Forty-one slots are dedicated to automatic qualifiers and the remaining 23 bids will be given to at-large teams chosen by the selection committee.
In his fifth season and sixth year, head coach
Seth Benjamin '01 (66-24-9), became the program's all-time leader in wins with the Huskies' victory over WestConn in the championship. Leading Southern Maine to back-to-back conference regular season and tournament titles, Benjamin is the program's all-time leader in win percentage (.718).
Completing the 2023 Little East Conference regular season undefeated at 6-0-2, the Huskies shut out their opponents 13 times this season. Allowing just 13 goals all season, Southern Maine limited its opponents to a 0.65 goals against average, and outscored its opponents 53-13 on the season. In Little East Conference action, the Huskies' outscored their opponents 20-5, and limited its opposition to just 6.6 shots per game.
Defensively, the Huskies are led by reigning Little East Conference Defensive Player of the Year
Mia Sargent (Portland, Maine) who makes up one half of a strong center-back duo with senior
Sarah Lowell (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee). Junior
Kiki Huntress (Kittery Point, Maine/Traip Academy) has been outstanding as the Huskies' defensive center-mid and is a two-time LEC Defensive Player of the Week and was a third-team All-LEC pick in 2022.
Offensively, the Huskies are led by 2022 LEC Offensive Player of the Year, senior
Catriona Gould (Freeport, Maine). Scoring two goals in the Huskies' championship game, Gould tied the program's record for goals in a career and already established the single-season mark last year as a junior. Gould has 14 goals and four assists for 32 points. The 2023 LEC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, sophomore
Riley Reitchel (Palermo, Maine/Erskine Academy) has nine goals and a team-best 11 assists, and is followed by junior
Julia McKenna (Windham, Maine). McKenna, the 2022 LEC Rookie of the Year, has eight goals and seven assists from her spot in the midfield.
Senior goalkeeper
Breanna Atwood (Franklin, Mass.) has backstopped the Huskies' defense. With 11 shutouts to her credit this season, Atwood has tied her own single season record and is the program's all-time leader in shutouts. The 5-10 goalkeeper is having the best season of her already stellar career with a 0.57 goals against average and a .890 save percentage. She is 41-9-6 in her career with 26 career shutouts.
2023 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament
Huskies vs. Rowan at MIT (Cambridge, Mass.) | Saturday, November 11
Who: No. 11 Rowan University (14-1-2, 8-0-1 NJAC) Conference Runner-Up
When: Saturday, November 11 (TBA)
Where: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. (Roberts Field)
Southern Maine Team Info:
Record: 15-1-4 (6-0-2 Little East) 2023 Little East Regular Season Champion, 2023 Little East Tournament Champion
Head Coach:
Seth Benjamin '01, (6
th season), 66-24-9 Overall, 27-13-3 Little East
NCAA Tournament Appearances: Second (Last 2022)
All-Time Record in NCAA Tournament Play: 0-1
Huskies to Watch: Catriona Gould, Sr., F, (14 g, 4 a, 32 pts);
Riley Reitchel, So., F, (9g, 11 a, 29 pts);
Julia McKenna, Jr., M, (8 g, 7a, 23 pts);
Eliza Roy, Sr., F, (8g, 5a, 21 pts);
Kiki Huntress, Jr., CDM, (1 g, 0 a, 2 pts);
Mia Sargent, Sr., B, (1 g, 2 a, 4 pts); Bre Atwood, Sr., GK, (15-1-4, 0.65 GAA, .874 Save Percentage).
2023 NCAA Division III NCAA Women's Soccer National Championship Tournament
The 41 conferences and teams receiving automatic qualification are:
CONFERENCE TEAM
| Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference |
Penn State-Behrend |
| American Rivers Conference |
Loras |
| American Southwest Conference |
Hardin-Simmons |
| Atlantic East Conference |
Marymount (Virginia) |
| Centennial Conference |
Johns Hopkins |
| Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference |
Christopher Newport |
| College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin |
North Central (Illinois) |
| Commonwealth Coast Conference |
Endicott |
| Empire 8 |
Nazareth |
| Great Northeast Athletic Conference |
Johnson & Wales University (Providence) |
| Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference |
Hanover |
| Landmark Conference |
Scranton |
| Liberty League |
William Smith |
| Little East Conference |
Southern Maine |
| Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference |
Westfield State |
| Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
Calvin |
| Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth |
Messiah |
| Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom |
Misericordia |
| Midwest Conference |
Lake Forest |
| Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
St. Catherine |
| New England Small College Athletic Conference |
Amherst |
| New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference |
MIT |
| New Jersey Athletic Conference |
TCNJ |
| North Atlantic Conference |
Maine Maritime |
| North Coast Athletic Conference |
Denison |
| Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference |
MSOE |
| Northwest Conference |
Pacific Lutheran |
| Ohio Athletic Conference |
John Carroll |
| Old Dominion Athletic Conference |
Virginia Wesleyan |
| Presidents' Athletic Conference |
Grove City |
| Skyline Conference |
College of Mount Saint Vincent |
| Southern Athletic Association |
Sewanee |
| Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
Pomona-Pitzer |
| Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference |
Trinity (Texas) |
| St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
Spalding |
| State University of New York Athletic Conference |
SUNY Cortland |
| United East Conference |
Penn State-Berks |
| University Athletic Association |
Washington University in St. Louis |
| Upper Midwest Athletic Conference |
Wisconsin-Superior |
| USA South Athletic Conference |
Southern Virginia |
| Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
Wisconsin-La Crosse |
The Pool B berth is: Maryville (Tennessee)
The 22 Pool C berths are:
Babson
Bowdoin
Cal Lutheran
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Case Western
Emory
Franklin & Marshall
Mary Hardin-Baylor
McDaniel
Montclair St.
NYU
RIT
Rochester (New York)
Rowan
Simpson
Swarthmore
Tufts
University of Chicago
Washington and Lee
Wesleyan (Connecticut)
Williams
2023 Tournament Format and Dates
First/second rounds: Friday-Sunday, Nov. 10-12 at campus sites*
Sectional rounds: Friday-Sunday, Nov. 17-19 at campus sites*
Semifinals: Thursday, Nov. 30 at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Virginia
National championship: Saturday, Dec. 2 at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Virginia
* Host institutions with a Sunday no-play policy will compete on Friday & Saturday
* - in the case of a participating school having a Sunday No-Play policy
- cac –
