No. 13 Eagle Women To Open NCAA Tourney Play Vs. Drury At McKendree

The No. 13-ranked Ashland University women's soccer team will start the road to the NCAA Division II Final Four in Lebanon, Ill..
 
As announced by the NCAA on Monday (Nov. 17) night, the Eagles (13-2-5), the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region, will play the No. 6 seed Drury (10-2-8) to open postseason play on Friday (Nov. 21). That split regional will be contested on the campus of McKendree.
 
This will be the third time in the last five seasons that the Eagles and Panthers will face off in the NCAA playoffs.
 
Ashland earned automatic qualification to the NCAA tournament after winning the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament for the fourth time in five years. This is the 15^th time the Eagles will go to the D-II playoffs (1997-2004, 2018-19, 2021-25), and the seventh non-COVID season in a row.
 
A 56-team tournament (anywhere from 6-8 teams in each of eight regions), the D-II postseason will begin on Friday. The 2025 NCAA Division II women's soccer national championship game will be in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Dec. 13.
 
In the Midwest Region, three automatic bids come from the tournament champions in the Great Midwest, Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The other five bids are at-large. Thirty-five teams are eligible for postseason – 12 from the Great Midwest, eight from the GLIAC and 15 from the GLVC.