History Made! Spartan Field Hockey to host Johnson & Wales With First-Ever Automatic Bid to NCAA Tournament

After making history on Saturday, the tenth ranked Spartan field hockey squad found out their next opponent at the NCAA Tournament.

The Spartans will host Johnson & Wales (Providence) on Wednesday in the first round of the tournament. The winner of that game heads to Salisbury, Maryland for the second and third rounds next weekend. Game time on Wednesday is set for 4:00 p.m. 

The Spartans enter the tournament with a record of 16-5. They earned their first ever MAC Commonwealth title as they notched a 1-0 win at Messiah in overtime on Saturday in Grantham. 

The Johnson & Wales Wildcats enter the tournament with a stellar mark of 18-3 as they won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament on Saturday thanks to a 4-2 win over third-seeded Simmons. The GNAC Championship is the fourth straight conference title for the Wildcats. It will be their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance overall.

The Spartans are making their third straight NCAA tournament appearance but their first as an automatic bid winner. The Spartans have hosted a first-round game in each of their tournament appearances. 

The Spartans finished the season ranked ninth in the National Power Index (NPI) while they were tenth in the last NFHCA poll released last week.  

There will be a full tournament preview including ticket prices posted on www.ycpspartans.com on Tuesday morning.