REGIONAL RANKINGS

INDIANAPOLIS – The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team was included in the alphabetized list of the top nine teams in the Atlantic Region when the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Committee unveiled the first glimpse at the 2023 Regional Rankings Wednesday.
 
The regional rankings are the only official ranking used by the NCAA to determine which teams from each of the eight regions will qualify for the 56-team NCAA Division II playoffs. The regional rankings will be released on Wednesday over the next two weeks of the season before the final selections are unveiled Nov. 13.
 
The top seven teams in the Atlantic Region in the final set of rankings will earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The tournament champions from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and the Mountain East Conference will both earn automatic bids with the five at-large bids from the region being determined by the rankings.
 
Six of the nine teams in the initial rankings released Wednesday are from the PSAC with the other three spots going to teams from the MEC.
 
Slippery Rock joins PSAC West members Gannon University and Mercyhurst University, as well as PSAC East teams East Stroudsburg University, Kutztown University and West Chester University in the rankings.
 
The three Mountain East teams represented are the University of Charleston, Concord University and Frostburg State University.
 
Entering Wednesday's game at Edinboro, Slippery Rock had accumulated a 10-3-2 overall record. The Rock recently clinched a PSAC Tournament berth last week with their 2-1 victory at Indiana University (Pa.).
 
Against other teams listed in the regional ranking, Slippery Rock has a 1-2 record with a split against Mercyhurst and a loss to Gannon.
 
There are multiple factors taken into consideration to determine the playoff fields, including winning percentage against Division II opponents, Division II strength of schedule, winning percentage against Atlantic Region teams, the NCAA Rating Percentage Index, the strength of schedule within the Atlantic Region and the NCAA's Performance Indicator.
 
This week's data as published by the NCAA can be viewed HERE.
 
Slippery Rock last qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2019 following a season in which it won the PSAC West regular season title as well as the PSAC Tournament Championship en route to earning the second seed in the Atlantic Region and finishing the year with an 18-4 record.
 
The Rock returns to competition 6 p.m. Wednesday at Edinboro. Slippery Rock defeated the Fighting Scots earlier this year at home, 1-0.
 

Atlantic Region Rankings
School	Division II Record	In-Region Record
Charleston	13-0-2	13-0-2
Concord	9-4-2	9-4-2
East Stroudsburg	9-2-3	9-2-3
Frostburg State	13-1-1	12-1-1
Gannon	10-3-1	10-3-1
Kutztown	11-0-4	11-0-4
Mercyhurst	13-2-0	13-2-0
THE ROCK	10-3-2	10-3-2
West Chester	9-3-2	9-3-2

 



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