St. Ambrose Favored To Defend Women's Soccer Tournament Title

CHICAGO --- Like it did one year ago, defending Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer regular-season and tournament champion enters the 2024 league tournament red hot.  One year ago, it was a nine-match winning streak.  This time, it is an eight-gamer.

The Fighting Bees (11-5-2) enter the eight-team tournament as the No. 1 seed, yet they are not invincible having lost a pair of conference games during the regular season.  Those defeats came in back-to-back fashion in late September.

The first of those setbacks was dealt by the tournament's No. 2 seed in Olivet Nazarene University (7-4-6).  The Tigers, who went unbeaten during the league season (7-0-4), scored a convincing 4-1 win over SAU on Sept. 25.  Three days later, St. Ambrose fell to No. 5 seed Saint Xavier University 1-0.

Olivet Nazarene's ties, meanwhile, came over a four-game stretch between Oct. 5-19 to No. 3 seed University of St. Francis (8-5-5), No. 4 Holy Cross College (8-7-3), Saint Xavier and No. 6 Judson University (5-4-8)

Joining St. Ambrose and Olivet Nazarene in hosting quarterfinal-round matchups will be St. Francis and Holy Cross.  Those teams posted identical 6-2-3 records during the conference season with the former gaining the upper hand by defeating Holy Cross.

The rest of the tournament field includes No. 7 Trinity Christian College (7-5-6) and No. 8 Viterbo University (8-8-1).

First-round matchups have Viterbo traveling to Davenport, Iowa to face St. Ambrose, Trinity Christian heading to Olivet Nazarene, Judson meeting St. Francis in Joliet and Saint Xavier embarking to Indiana to face Holy Cross.

The top two remaining seeds after the quarterfinal round host the semifinals on Saturday with the championship game slated for next Wednesday (Nov. 13).

By virtue of winning the regular-season title, St. Ambrose warrants one of the conference's two automatic bids to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.  Should the Fighting Bees also capture the CCAC Tournament, Olivet Nazarene would gain the league's second automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round by finishing second during the regular season.

For a tournament bracket, go to Bracket.

The complete tournament schedule follows:

Wednesday, November 6 - First Round
• Match #1: No. 8 Viterbo (8-8-1) at No. 1 St. Ambrose (11-5-2) --- 7 pm CT
• Match #2: No. 5 Saint Xavier (7-5-4) at No.4 Holy Cross (8-7-3) --- 1:30 pm CT
• Match #3: No. 7 Trinity Christian (7-5-6) at No. 2 Olivet Nazarene (7-4-6) --- 3 pm CT
• Match #4: No. 6 Judson (5-4-8) at No. 3 St. Francis (8-5-5) --- 7 pm CT

Saturday, November 9 - Semifinal Round
• Match #5: Winner-Match #1 vs. Winner-Match #2 --- TBA (at site of highest remaining seed)
• Match #6: Winner-Match #3 vs. Winner-Match #4 --- TBA (at site of highest remaining seed)

Wednesday, November 16 – Championship
• Match #7: Winner-Match #5 vs. Winner-Match #6 --- TBA (at site of highest remaining seed)