Women's Soccer Earns #1 Seed, Will Host Long Island

A conference semifinal loss to Illinois did not deter the Penn State women's soccer team from capturing a number-one seed in the 2012 NCAA Tournament as it was announced today that Penn State would host Long Island this weekend at Jeffrey Field.

The Lady Lions (17-3-1) won their 15th straight regular season Big Ten title this year, but fell in the conference semifinals this past Friday in a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the Lady Illini. Long Island (10-7-3) won the Northeast Conference title and come into the match on a six-match winning streak. The teams share one common opponent from the 2012 season in Iowa whom Penn State defeated 2-1 and LIU fell to by a 4-0 score.

The Lady Lions are led by midfielder Christine Nairn who scored 13 goals and added 9 assists on the season. Supporting her have been Maya Hayes (12 goals) and Mallory Weber (11 goals) as well as goalkeeper Erin McNulty who sports a 0.95 goals against average in 17 games this season.

On the other side, Long Island leans on keeper Jennifer Bannon and her 1.05 GAA due to the fact that they are not a goal-scoring juggernaut, only netting 17 goals in 20 games this year.

Penn State's first-round matchup will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. If they advance, they will take on the winner of Boston College and Hofstra on Sunday.

Other #1 seeds include Florida State as well as Stanford and BYU, both teams that Penn State lost to during the regular season.

A full bracket can be found on the NCAA's website.