After finishing their seasons last November, the men's and women's soccer teams had very uncertain fates.

Led by veteran coach Michael Coven, the men's squad finished 12-5-1 and won the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship. However, the end of the season was soured by the fact that the team did not get selected for the NCAA Division III Tournament. Given losses of key players like center backs Ari Silver '12 and David McCoy '12, along with central midfielder Theo Terris '12, it was hard to see the squad improving on its record this year.

A year after making the NCAA Division III Tournament, the women, who started many new players last year, stumbled to a 6-10-2 record and did not feature in the postseason. It was a difficult year for the squad, and coach Denise Dallamora would have found it a difficult task to replace key players like defenders Allison Maresca '12 and Ali Theodore '12 and midfielders Mimi Theodore '12 and Alanna Torre '12.

Fast-forward to one year later.

Monday afternoon, it was revealed that both the men's and women's teams were selected for the NCAA Division III Tournament. This is the first instance that both teams have made the tournament in the same season and the first time that the men's squad has qualified since 1985.

"I'm thrilled," said Coven, whose team is ranked No. 17 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and third in New England behind Amherst College and Williams College. "I'm thrilled that we made it, and I'm thrilled that we're hosting [a home first-round game against Baruch College]."

"I can't even say how I feel right now," said a visibly emotional Dallamora following the selection show.

"We worked hard."


After two crucial victories at New York University this weekend, as the women won 3-0 and the men triumphed 1-0, the Judges' fate seemed more certain.


Progress to the tournament is given in the form of either automatic bids (resulting from winning a team's conference) or at-large bids. Most years, the New England region receives two or three at-large bids per conference.


Though both Amherst's and Williams' men's teams are ranked higher than Brandeis, Amherst received an automatic bid to the tournament by winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championship, leaving room for an extra at-large bid.


Before Monday, it appeared that Williams would receive the first at-large bid, while the Judges would receive the second. The third bid would be a toss-up between three teams: Babson College, Wesleyan University or Tufts University.


According to men's goalkeeper, Blake Minchoff '13, the NYU victory "changed [our fate] from being questionable to make the tournament to most certainly making the tournament."


The women, on the other hand, were very much unsure of their fate. Unlike their male counterparts, the women did not have a national ranking, which is also taken into account in determining at-large bids. Additionally, their fifth-place ranking in New England made it appear that the Judges would fall outside the at-large bids.


"We were optimistic," said netminder Michelle Savuto '15 of the possibility of receiving a bid, "but there was so much we couldn't control. We did the best that we could, and we just had to wait to see how everyone else did."


However, in an unusual circumstance, the NCAA awarded New England five bids for the men and six bids for the women, respectively. On the men's side, all five teams previously mentioned for consideration-Williams, Brandeis, Babson, Wesleyan and Tufts-received at-large places. For the women, six teams-Amherst, Middlebury College, Wheaton College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brandeis and Bowdoin College-earned bids.


The unusual awarding of bids had much to do with the fact that lower-ranked New England teams on both the men's and women's sides played close matchups against higher-ranked teams. For example, during this weekend's NESCAC tournament, the Wesleyan men (9-3-3) played Amherst (15-0-2) to a 1-0 loss and Tufts (9-3-4) took Williams (13-1-3) to penalty kicks before falling. Likewise, the Bowdoin women (11-3-3) fell on penalties to No. 22 Williams (12-3-2) in Sunday's NESCAC final.
Additionally, the difficulty of both the men's and women's conference schedule played a factor in determining their fate. The UAA had more NCAA qualifiers than any other conference on both the men's side (five) and women's side (four).


The men will take on Baruch College at home in a first-round game on Saturday at 5 p.m. The women will face Union College, whom, incidentally, women's right back Emma Eddy '15 played for last year, on Saturday at Amherst College at a time to be determined.


While both teams making the tournament is certainly notable, neither team is satisfied with simply receiving bids.


"We're not content with where we are," said midfielder Sam Ocel '15. "We want to win a national championship."


"All of this work means something now," said Savuto. "I'm just so ready to go."