SEC Women’s Soccer Championship starts Oct. 28 in O.B.

SEC Women’s Soccer Championship starts Oct. 28 in O.B.
Vandy, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Tennessee among nation’s best

First round matches in the single elimination SEC Women’s Soccer Championship between the respective 10th & 7th seeded teams and 8th & 9th seeded teams are scheduled on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
The quarterfinals will be played on Oct. 30 at noon, 2:30 pm., 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., with the surviving semifinalists set to play on Nov. 1 at 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. The tourney final will be played on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPN.
The tourney will include the top 10 teams in the conference based on winning percentage of conference games (regardless of division). The tourney winner receives the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship.
Orange Beach has a contract to host the women’s title tournament through 2020, at the very least. The Orange Beach Sportsplex is located at 4389 William Silvers Parkway in Orange Beach, about 1 mile from the Foley Beach Express exit on Canal Road. Tickets will be available at the gate. Adult tickets are $5 per game and children (K-12) are $2 per day.
Texas A&M (pictured) got an 88th minute goal from Emily Bates to top the Arkansas Razorbacks, 2-1, in the 2017 SEC Tournament championship match.
The SEC standings with league records on Oct. 23: Vanderbilt, 8-0-1; Arkansas, 6-2-1; South Carolina, 6-2-1; Tennessee, 6-2-1; Ole Miss, 5-3-1; Texas A&M, 5-3-1; LSU, 4-4-1; Florida, 3-4-2; Auburn, 3-5-1; Missouri, 3-5-1; Alabama, 2-5-2; Mississippi St, 2-5-2; Georgia, 1-5-3; Kentucky, 0-9-0.
Texas A&M is ranked fourth and South Caroina eighth nationally. Vanderbilt is ranked 12th and Tennessee 18th nationally. Those teams are already assured at large slots in the the NCAA Championship Tourney that starts the following week. Mississippi State is ranked 25th and Auburn and Arkansas also received votes in the poll. The championship field of 64 teams includes 31 conference champions who qualify automatically; the balance of the field is selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Committee.
There are 333 NCAA member institutions that sponsor Division I Women’s Soccer teams and are eligible to compete in the National Championship Tourney. The 2018 Women’s College Cup will be held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. Single elimination semifinals games will be held November 30 .
The winners compete for the national championship on De