LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament Champions Siena Women’s Soccer will face Connecticut in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Saints and Huskies meet in the only NCAA Tournament match being held on Sunday, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. from Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in Storrs, Conn.  

Siena (12-6-3) secured the program’s second MAAC Championship – and the league’s automatic berth into the field of 64 teams – following an historic run in the conference tournament. The Saints defeated each of the conference’s top three seeds – Marist, regular season champion Monmouth and second seeded Manhattan 5-2 in the championship match Sunday – to become the first No. 6 seed in MAAC history to win the tournament.

Siena makes its second NCAA Tournament appearance, after securing its first trip to the Field of 64 following the program’s first MAAC Championship in 2010. The Saints dropped their inaugural NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010 falling 5-1 against Georgetown in College Park, Md.

Ironically, the Saints opened that historic season on Aug. 22, 2010 in Storrs in the only previous meeting between Siena and UConn. Freshman Brittany Pfaff, who went on to become one of the most prolific scorers in program history, scored her first collegiate goal with 33 seconds remaining in the first overtime as the Saints stunned regional power UConn 3-2. That victory served as the catalyst for the most accomplished season in program history in which Siena opened the 2010 campaign with a program record 12 consecutive victories en route to being the last remaining undefeated and untied team in all of Division I. 

Siena enters the NCAA Tournament riding a six-match winning streak and are unbeaten in their last seven matches overall. All of those results carried major postseason implications, as the Saints had to go 3-0-1 in their final four regular season matches just in order to secure the sixth and final MAAC Tournament berth.  

UConn (17-3) makes its 30^th NCAA Tournament Appearance. The American Athletic Conference Regular Season Champions, the Huskies earned one of 33 at-large berths after suffering a 3-2 overtime defeat against Cincinnati in the semifinals of their conference tournament Thursday in Dallas, Texas. UConn is eighth in the latest NCAA RPI report released today and was ranked 10^th in the most recent NSCAA Coaches’ Poll released last Tuesday.

The winner of Sunday’s First Round matchup advances to face the victor of No. 3 seed Notre Dame and Oakland Friday, Nov. 20 in South Bend, Ind. 

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