Aurora University's women's soccer team will represent the Northern Athletics Conference in the 2009 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championships. The Spartans received a Pool A berth after winning the Northern Athletics Conference tournament championship and will travel to the University of Chicago on Friday, November 13, 2009, to take on the host Maroons. Game time is set for 11:00 a.m. at the University of Chicago. 

The Spartan women's soccer program, under the direction of Head Coach Kanute Drugan, will make its sixth NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championships appearance in the last nine seasons and fourth trip in the last five seasons. In their previous appearances, AU is 0-5 with defeats coming in 2007 against University of Chicago (1-0 in overtime), 2006 against Wheaton College (2-0), 2005 against University of Chicago (4-0), 2002 against Loras College (5-1) and 2001 at Lawrence University (2-1). 

AU enters the opening round of the NCAA tournament on a nine-

game winning streak. The last blemish on the Spartans' schedule came at the hands of Elmhurst College (2-0) on October 7. AU captured the Northern Athletics Conference championship with a 10-1 regular season record and went 2-0 in the NAC tournament. On the season, the Spartans out-scored their opponents 60 to 19 (21 games). The Spartan women finished the regular season with a 16-5 overall record and captured their 11th conference title in the 16 seasons of the programs existence. 

Leading the way for the Spartan women this season are sophomore forward

(Highland Park, IL/Highland Park HS) with 11 goals, nine assists and five game-winning goals; freshman defender Britney Schenck (St. Charles, MO/Orchard Farm HS) has four goals, 10 assists and one game-winning goal; sophomore midfielder Nikki Counsell (Oconomowoc, WI/Oconomowoc HS) has four goals, two assists and one game-winning goal; and freshman goalkeeper Liz Wong (Tucson, AZ/Canyon Del Oro HS) has a 13-4 record with 59 saves, nine shutouts and a 0.73 goals against average.

The Spartans are one of 63 teams in the 2009 Championship Field. Forty conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the 2009 championship (where the Sp

artans were selected). Two teams were selected from Pool B which consists of independent institutions, and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final 21 berths were reserved for Pool C, which are institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and any remaining Pool B teams.

One team will receive a first-round bye. A two-team first-round match will be played to determine the teams that advance to the second round to play the team that received the first-round bye. Fifteen four-team sites will conduct first- and second-round play on the first weekend of the championship, November 13-14 or 14-15, 2009. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites, November 20-21 or 21-22, 2009.

All games, except the semifinals and final, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the semifinals December 4-5, at Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio, Texas.