The No. 5-ranked and host Pirates (19-2-2 a year ago) will welcome in defending national champion and preseason No. 1-ranked West Florida (24-1), 2010 NCAA DII National Champion and preseason No. 2-ranked Grand Valley State (20-2-3) as well as preseason No. 13-ranked Columbus State (18-3-2) for tournament action on Friday, September 8 and Sunday, September 10, at the Armstrong Soccer Field.

The tournament begins at 1 p.m. on Friday with fifth-ranked Armstrong facing second-ranked Grand Valley State, and continues with a 3:30 p.m.match between top-ranked West Florida and No. 13-ranked Columbus State. The weekend concludes on Sunday with an 11:00 a.m. matchup between Grand Valley State and Columbus State, then a 1:30 p.m. showdown between Armstrong and West Florida.

Usually, clashes between such highly-ranked opponents are saved for the end of the season when NCAA Championship play takes center stage, but head coach Eric Faulconer did not have a problem getting the participating schools to commit to coming to Savannah for the event.

"I think we have put together the best four-team regular season women's soccer tournament in the country at any level," Faulconer said. "Grand Valley State and West Florida are the premier programs at the NCAA Division II level and Columbus State is a perennial Top 10 power. All the coaches involved did not hesitate one second to jump at the opportunity to commit and bring this event together."

The Pirates have a great amount of experience against the teams in the field, having faced Grand Valley State in a tournament setting to open up last year, while also facing national champion West Florida twice and Columbus State three times during the 2012 campaign. Armstrong went 2-0-1 against Columbus State, prevailing in penalty kicks in the NCAA Southeast Region championship match. The Pirates were 1-1 against West Florida, downing the Argonauts 2-1 in Pensacola during the regular season - the only loss experienced by UWF last year - but falling 1-0 in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Grand Valley knocked off Armstrong, 3-1, in the 2012 season opener.

It won't be the first time that the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II has played in Savannah as the Pirates were atop the NSCAA DII rankings for several weeks last season, but it will be the first time that host Armstrong has had the opportunity to play against the top-ranked team in the nation on its home field. The Pirates enter the tournament riding a 40-match unbeaten home streak that dates back to the 2008 season and continuing that streak will be a great challenge for a squad that lost 83% of its goals scored from a year ago. Coach Faulconer will look to returning All-Conference midfielder and CoSIDA Academic All-American Andye Dawson plus All-Region goalkeeper Morgan Luckie to lead a youthful Pirate team into the opening weekend. 

Head coach Joe Bartlinski's West Florida squad has only gotten better with the addition of a pair of Icelandic U-19 national payers Sara Helgadottir and Freyja Vidarsdottir to join an already lethal lineup that sports the reigning NSCAA Player of the Year in senior forward Chelsea Palmer as well as NSCAA All-American and 2012 NCAA Championships Most Outstanding Defensive Player goalkeeper Sarah Story. Not surprisingly, the Argonauts have been picked to repeat as Gulf South Conference Champions in a preseason poll of the league's coaches and placed seven players on that league's preseason All-Conference team - Palmer, Story, forward Sashana Campbell, midfielders Shelby Bush and Daniela Cruz as well as defenders Kelly Andres and Taylor Harbison.

Grand Valley State advanced to the NCAA National Semifinals a year ago - its fourth straight trip to the NCAA DII Women's Soccer Final Four - and returns 14 letterwinners and five All-GLIAC players for head coach Dave Dilanni. The Lakers were the unanimous selection to repeat as GLIAC champions in 2013 and it will be tough for anyone to score on Grand Valley State this season as the team returns its entire starting back line from a year ago - seniors Taylor Callen, Kayla Kimble, Tayler Ward and junior Juane Odendaal. That group helped Grand Valley State reel off 10 conescutive shutouts during the 2012 season. Coach Dilanni added eight newcomers to the stable of returnees for the Lakers.

Columbus State looks to return to the form that made the Cougars NCAA Southeast Region champions in 2007 and 2008. The Peach Belt Conference coaches expect that to happen as the Cougars were voted the preseason pick to win the league title in 2013, over the two-time defending champion Pirates. Head coach Jay Entlich has 14 players returning from last season, including All-Southeast Region defender Shelby Rolling and forwards Chelsea Pearson and Kelsey Pelletier. 

"All of our teams are going to be tested this weekend and it will prepare us well for the rest of the 2013 season," Faulconer said. "We have been fortunate to have hosted numerous rounds of the NCAA tournament over the years and this will have the feel of postseason play with the quality of the field. It should be an exciting weekend of soccer in Savannah."

Fans can follow along with all the action via live stats of all four games and webcasts of three of the four contests on the official tournament site here or by visiting armstrongpirates.com.

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