Monday, November 08, 2010

MACON, Ga. – Watching in great anticipation of their first-ever appearance in the NCAA College Cup, head coach Grant Serafy and the Mercer University women's soccer team found out its NCAA tournament fate as the 64-team field was revealed live on ESPNU on Monday afternoon.

The team gathered at Mellow Mushroom in Macon to watch the selection show and cheered as the Bears logo appeared broadly on four televisions. The next foe for the Bears - The University of Florida. The Gators(18-2-2) received the No. 2 seed after winning the Southeastern Conference title over the weekend defeating South Carolina 1-0.

Mercer (10-8-1)was one of 33 teams that secured an automatic bid to the national tournament, as they too won their conference championship defeating Jacksonville 1-0 on Saturday. The bid is the first-ever for the 26-year program and the first for head coach Grant Serafy.

Serafy had led his team to two previous A-Sun championship games and won the 2008 regular season championship but this will be the first NCAA tournament experience for the seven-year head coach.

The Bears were also receiving votes in the latest NSCAA/HendricksCars.com Southeast Regional Rankings.