@UNCBearsSoccer Travels to Tucson for First NCAA Division I Tournament

Friday, November 13

Tucson, Airz

6:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Arizona

11/12/2015 9:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer

The Bears take on the Arizona Wildcats in their first ever College Cup appearance since joining Division I

GREELEY, Colo. - UNC Women's Soccer makes program history this weekend, traveling to Tucson, Arizona for the first round of the NCAA Division I Tournament. The Bears will play the University of Arizona Wildcats on Friday, Nov. 13th at 6:00 PM MT.

"A lot of hard work went into getting the Big Sky Championship and I'm really proud of the team for getting it done," head coach Tim Barerra said. "Now we're on to the next phase."

The Bears [13-7-2, 8-2-2 in Big Sky games] earned their first program bid to the Tournament after defeating Idaho in the Big Sky Conference Tournament finals (1-1 tie with 3-0 PKs for the win).

The Wildcats finished fifth overall in the Pac 12 Conference, with an overall record of 12-5-2 (6-4-1 in Pac 12 games). This is the first time they have hosted a game in the tournament.

The NSCAA NCAA Division I Pacific Region rankings have Arizona listed at #4, and Northern Colorado listed at #10.

"Arizona has done very well this season and they'll be a tough team to play, especially on the road. We know a bit about them, and some of our girls have played with some of theirs seeing as how we have four girls from Arizona on our roster."

The only time the Northern Colorado squad has defeated a Pac 12 Conference team was back in 2008, when Barerra led his team to a 1-0 victory over Oregon State. This will be the first time that UNC has faced Arizona.

True freshman Mariel Gutierrez has had a stand out season so far with the Bears, picking up seven goals (28 shots on goal) and one assist. Gutierrez also picked up Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 20th, was named to the Big Sky All-Conference first team, All-Tournament Team, and was named the Conference Top Newcomer.

11/13 6PM vs Arizona: [LIVE VIDEO] [LIVE STATS]

Seniors setting records:
* Essence Ortiz-Laneir holds spots in multiple list of career records for the Bears, including tied second for number of games played (76), tied tenth for number of game-winning goals (since becoming Division I) (3), eleventh in shots attempted (80), and tied ninth for number of shots on goal (40).

* Rebecca Lancia has climbed close to the top of most lists in career records, despite missing half of this season due to injury, including being tied seventh in career assists (15), eighth in shots attempted (87), and eighth in shots on goal (45).

* Kaitlin Ruff has the second most goalie wins in Division I program history with 16, the third most shut outs with seven, and the ninth highest amount of saves with 167.

* Adrienne Jordan made her way into the career records pages, having played in 71 games as a Bear, tied 14th for most in program history.

* Ambree Bellin nears the top-15 list of career assists, needing just two more to crack the top-15.

For more information on the Bears this season, check out UNCBears.com, visit the official Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter at @UNCBears.com.