UT Set To Compete In NCAA South Regional

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The No. 17 University of Tampa Spartans are gearing up for the first round of the NCAA Division II women's soccer tournament set to be held Friday at 5 p.m. central time on the campus of the University of West Florida in Pensacola.

Tampa, the NCAA South Region No. 3 seed, will take on the No. 6 seed North Alabama in the first round as the winner will advance to face West Florida in the semifinals Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT.

The Sunshine State Conference tournament champions hit the road Wednesday afternoon pumping off a six game winning streak, which ended with an overtime victory in the Sunshine State Conference finals.

Senior Luana Miessa leads the Spartans with seven goals as the freshman phenom Carolyn Simon follows with six respectively. Brittan Spence, the SSC Most Outstanding Player adds five goals of her own. Second team all-SSC Courtney Peffley is in the front of the pack registering an impressive 12 assists on the year.

Tampa's defense is controlled in the form of second team all-SSC nominee Samantha Kay and senior captain Pasquale Anderson. Freshman Leah Cesanek controls the goal recording 11 shut-outs already this season.

Chloe Roberts of North Alabama leads the Lions with 28 goals as her fellow forward Jennifer Osmond follows with 10 respectively. UNA's Nikki Brown guides the team with 15 assists as goalkeeper Alex McLay registers a (0.82) GAA.

Live stats for the South Regional will be available through www.tampaspartans.com.

Fans may also follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.