(Posted November 9, 2009)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. - The automatic qualifying bid may have let the Juniata College field hockey team sleep better this year on the night of the selection meeting, but it did not keep the team from being excited wondering where they would play. Early Monday morning, The NCAA Division III Selection Committee announced the pairings for the first round games, and the Eagles are heading to Virginia.

Juniata (17-3) will play Wednesday against the Lynchburg College Hornets, a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) at 5:00 p.m. The game will be played at Lynchburg's home turf.

The Eagles earned the first automatic bid by the Landmark Conference after a 1-0 victory over visiting Susquehanna University in the conference championship Saturday afternoon. It was the team's third straight conference title, but the first time the team has not needed an at-large bid to enter the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship.

Lynchburg (17-4) was also the top seed in the ODAC Tournament this past weekend and knocked off Eastern Mennonite University by the score of 1-0 to earned the conference's automatic bid Saturday afternoon. It was the Hornets fourth straight ODAC championship.

Juniata was ranked 18th in the latest Kookaburra/NFHCA Division III National Coaches Poll while Lynchburg was slated in at no. 10. The next poll will be released tomorrow, November, 10.

To view the entire field hockey bracket, please click here.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.