In this daily feature, we will look at the ongoing filling of the competitors’ menu for the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Tournament.

On the women’s side…

Some important dates:

Monday, November 9: Selection Show on ESPNews – 8 p.m. EST

Friday November 13: 1st Round Matches (Campus Sites)

Sunday November 15: 2nd Round Matches (Campus Sites)

Friday November 20 - Sunday, November 22: 3rd Round Matches (Campus Sites)

Friday November 27 - Sunday November 29: Quarterfinal Matches (Campus Sites)

Friday December 4 - Sunday December 6: Women’s College Cup (College Station, TX)

Loyola (MD) celebrates their conference vidtory.

Early Arrival…

Loyola (MD) is the first women’s program to qualify for the 64 team NCAA Tournament. The Greyhounds were trailing 2-0 to Niagara 60 minutes into the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game, which was being played at Disney Wide World of Sports near Orlando (and no, the Metro Atlantic does not have members in Florida).

Loyola rallied behind a 61st minute penalty kick from Christina Gomez, an equalizing goal two minutes later from Gianna Mangione on a Heather Cooke assist, and a 67th minute winner from Tessa McClenahan on a cross from Amanda Meehan for a 3-2 win and the tournament championship.

Mangione was the tournament MVP. Katherine Remy Vettori’s team improves to 15-4-3 on the season. They are #56 in the most recent TDS Tournament 64 National Ranking.

Sizing up the Big East…

The semifinals and final are yet to be played at the Big East Conference Women’s Tournament at UConn this weekend, but Nikki Izzo-Brown’s West Virginia Mountaineers are the big winners already. WVU was 8-5-6 after the regular season, and while being #21 in the latest RPI probably ensured them a berth in the NCAA field, it certainly didn’t hurt to upset higher-seeded Rutgers 1-0 on the road to reach the semifinals. There’s no way the Mountaineers can be kept out of the big dance now.

Caralee Keppler scored the winner on an assist from Blake Miller, while Kerri Butler recorded the shutout for the Mountaineers, who will now face Marquette in the first semifinal Friday. Notre Dame and St. John's play in the 2nd contest Friday at UConn, with both games to be shown live on CBS College Sports.

BU's Emily Pallotta

America East Showdown…

Boston University has looked good all year, but it will need to be at its best Saturday when it hosts Binghamton in the America East Tournament Championship game. The Terriers beat Stony Brook in overtime 2-1 on a golden goal from Emily Pallotta, while Binghamton defeated Maine on penalty kicks (4-2) after playing 110 minutes of scoreless soccer. Jen McEachron made the big save during penalties to lift the Bearcats to the win.

RPI Bubbles…

The RPI is the only outside tool approved by NCAA for use by its Tournament Committee when it chooses the 64-team field. Some of us feel it has too big a role in that process, but it is what it is. With 30 conferences producing automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Tourney (mostly via conference tournaments), the 34 at-large bids will depend heavily on a good RPI rating. Here are some teams that are in something of an “iffy” range at least as far as their RPI ratings go.

Kansas (#52 and 12-7-1 overall), Colorado (#54 and 9-9-0 overall), UNC Greensboro (#55 and 13-6-0 overall), Tennessee (#57 and 8-8-3 overall), Samford (#59 and 12-1-4 overall in the Southern Conference), Hofstra (#61 and 10-5-3 overall in the CAA), Pepperdine (#65 and 10-7-1 in the WCC), William & Mary(w) (#66 and 12-7-0 overall).

Remember that the selection committee uses the final 8 games of the season (including conference tournaments) as a secondary criterion. Also, a team must have at least a .500 record to be eligible.

The Sun Will Come Out….

Tomorrow. Also tomorrow, I’ll list who I think the locks are for selection when the list comes out next Monday. I’ll also go into the Probables and Maybes.

Fans of the Men’s Game

Don’t worry, we’ll start sizing up your side of things in the next week as it begins to take better shape. The selection announcement there is Monday, November 16, with most of the conference tournaments running the week prior to that.