INDIANAPOLIS -- The field of 64 teams, which will compete for the 28th NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, was announced today by the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Committee.  MVC champion Illinois State will face the No. 3 seed Florida (15-5-2) in the first round.  Friday's game is set to take place in Columbus, Ohio.

Illinois State (12-6-1) has one previous appearance in the NCAA Tournament, falling to Kansas, 3-1, in Columbia, Mo., in the NCAA first round in 2003.  The Valley has an 0-11 record in previous NCAA Tournament action, including a 2-0 loss by Evansville (at Missouri) in the 2008 championship.  Illinois State is the fourth different team to represent the MVC in the NCAA in the past four seasons, following Drake (2006), Creighton (2007) and Evansville (2008).  Missouri State is the only other MVC team to participate, as the Bears earned a spot in 2000.

"We have had a lot of success the past three years, but there was always something missing," said head coach Drew Roff. "So, we're excited to finally be a part of the NCAA Tournament. It is a very rewarding feeling, and I'm so proud of our players. We were the last team on the last bracket, but it was worth the wait. We played a tough nonconference schedule this year. We respect how talented Florida is, but we have experience in playing tough teams. We will hope for the best and see where we are at the national level."

The top 16 teams are seeded and conference teams cannot play each other in the first or second rounds. When pairing teams, the committee follows geographic proximity parameters. Sites are selected for the first and second rounds to create the least number of flights.  Thirteen of the top 16 seeds will be hosting first- and second-round competition.
   
The four No. 1 seeds include Stanford University, an automatic qualifier from the Pacific-10 Conference, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, an automatic qualifier from the Atlantic Coast Conference, University of California, Los Angeles from the Pacific-10 and Florida State University from the Atlantic Coast.
   
The Atlantic Coast and Pacific-10 lead all conferences with eight teams in the tournament. Seven teams will represent the Big East Conference. Six teams enter the tournament from the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten Conference will be represented by five teams.
   
Thirty conferences were granted automatic bids for the 2009 championship. The remaining 34 teams were selected at-large.

Nine teams are making their first appearance in the tournament and include: Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Boise State, Central Michigan, Davidson, Indiana/Purdue-Indianapolis, Murray State, North Carolina-Wilmington, Southeastern Louisiana and St. John's (New York).

First-round matches will be played Friday, November 13, at campus sites, and second-round matches will be played Sunday, November 15, at the same campus sites.  The first-round contests hosted by Stanford will be played Thursday, November 12 with the second-round game to be played Saturday, November 14. Third-round games will be played at on-campus sites November 20, 21 or 22. Quarterfinal matches will be played November 27, 28 or 29. Times will be announced.

The 28th annual NCAA Women's College Cup will be played December 4 and 6 at the Aggie Soccer Stadium in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M University, College Station will serve as host.  In the 2008 championship game, North Carolina captured its 19th NCAA title with a 2-1 victory over Notre Dame.