Spartan Women’s Soccer NCAA Bound

AURORA, Ill. November 6, 2006 - Aurora University’s women’s soccer team will represent the Northern Athletics Conference in the 2006 NCAA Division III Women’s Soccer Championships. The Spartans received a Pool B berth, one of three in the country, and will travel to Wheaton College on Friday, November 10, 2006, to take on the host Thunder. Game time has been set for 5:00 p.m.

The Spartan Women’s Soccer program, under the direction of Head Coach Kanute Drugan, will make its fourth NCAA Division III Women’s Soccer Championships appearance in the last six seasons. In their previous appearances, AU is 0-3 with defeats coming in 2005 against University of Chicago (4-0), 2002 against Loras College (5-1) and 2001 against Lawrence University (2-1).

AU enters the opening round of the NCAA tournament on a nine-game win streak and are unbeaten in 15 of their last 16 contests. The lone blemish came at the hands of Wheaton College (5-0) on October 6. AU captured the Northern Athletics Conference championship with an 11-0 regular season record and went 2-0 in the NAC tournament. On the season, the Spartans out-scored their opponents in NAC play 84 to 6 (13 games).

The Spartans women finished the regular season with a 17-3-2 overall record and captured their eighth conference title in the last 12 seasons. The previous seven titles came in the former Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference.

This season, AU has set or tied numerous school records including new marks in season goals (99), assists (76) and points (274). The Spartans are led by sophomore forward Allison Bailey (Dixon, IL/Dixon H.S.) and freshman goalkeeper Jenny Jarvis (Naperville, IL/Naperville Central H.S.). Bailey leads the Spartans offense with 14 goals, 11 assists and two game winning goals, while Jarvis has been a defensive ace for the Spartans. In her first collegiate season, Jarvis is 17-3-2 with 10 shutouts (one shy of tying a school record) and 88 saves with a 0.81 goals against average.

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