NAC foes square off in NCAA first round game

INDIANAPOLIS -- Two Northern Athletics Conference men's soccer teams received at large berths to the 2006 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship, announced today by the NCAA Men's Soccer Committee. Aurora University and Dominican University both received Pool B berths to the upcoming championship tournament.

The two NAC schools received two of the four Pool B berths, which consists of independent institutions, and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification, in the 57 team championship.

Aurora University (12-4-4) will travel to NAC foe Dominican University (18-1-1) on Saturday, November 11 for a 11:00am first round game. Dominican, ranked No. 8 in the latest D3Kicks.com Top 25 poll, defeated the Spartans, 4-1, in the teams' only meeting this season on October 10. The Stars out shot the Spartans 16-7 in the conference game.

The winner of the game will take on the winner of the University of Chicago (10-5-3) and St. Norbert College (15-2-1) at Dominican on Sunday, November 12.

The 2006 trip to the NCAA Division III Championship marks Dominican's fifth straight appearance, and Aurora's first in school history.

Dominican won the 2006 Northern Athletics Conference championship with a perfect 9-0 conference record, while Aurora took second with an 8-1 record. The Stars also won the 2006 NAC tournament defeating Concordia University Wisconsin, 1-0, in the tournament final.