Oct. 30, 2005

DAYTON - The University of Dayton women's soccer team is seeded fourth and will face fifth-seeded Saint Joseph's University Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET as the 2005 Atlantic 10 Women's Soccer Championship begins at UD's Baujan Field. In Thursday's first quarterfinal at 5:30 p.m., third-seeded Charlotte will face the sixth seed Duquesne University. The pairings were announced Sunday by the A-10 Office.

A-10 newcomer Saint Louis University is the tournament's No. 1 seed and will have a bye to the semifinals along with second-seeded University of Rhode Island. SLU will face the lowest-remaining seed in Friday's semifinals with URI playing the higher of the remaining seeds. Should the Flyers advance to the semis, they will play in the 8 p.m. game. If not, the Billikens' semifinal match is at 5:30 p.m. with the Rams playing at 8 p.m.

The winners of Friday's semifinal matches will play for the A-10 title and the conference's automatic bid to NCAA Championship on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Flyers will be making their 10th-consecutive A-10 Championship appearance -- the longest active streak in the league -- but just their second as a No. 4-seed. Dayton suffered one of just its four conference tournament losses as a four-seed, falling to No. 1 Massachusetts 2-0 in the 1997 conference semifinals at Xavier University.

UD owns a conference-best winning percentage of .750 (12-4-0) in the Championship and has won five titles. UD's Baujan Field has twice hosted the A-10 Championship -- 1998 and 2002. In '98, the top-seeded Flyers defeated UMass before falling to Xavier in the finals. In '02, second-seeded UD was upset by Richmond 1-0 in the semifinals.

Since the A-10 moved to a six-team format for the Championship two years ago, the Flyers have won both titles and been the top-seed both times.

Tickets are on sale for the Championship and can be purchased by calling the UD Ticket Office at 937-229-4433. Adult single-day tickets are at $6 or $15 for a three-day pass. Youth (children under 18) and Senior Citizen single-day tickets at $4 and students of A-10 schools (w/ ID) are $3. Group rates are also available, but must be purchased in advance.