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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth's women's soccer team, second-place finishers in the Empire 8 Conference, has been selected to compete in the 61-team field for the NCAA Division III Tournament. In addition, the Golden Flyers (12-7-1) will host first- and second-round games Saturday and Sunday at Golden Flyer Stadium.

"This is a thrill for us," said Nazareth Coach Gail Mann, who recently celebrated her 200th coaching victory. "We truly felt we were good enough to be in, but we thought Sunday's loss to Ithaca sealed our fate."

Nazareth will host Endicott (15-3-2) of the Commonwealth Coast Conference Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Liberty League champion William Smith (13-1-4) will play Keuka (10-5-3) of the North Eastern Athletic Conference at 11 a.m. The winners will play again Sunday at Nazareth at 1 p.m. Tickets will be $6 for adults, $3 for students and $2 for children.

Nazareth defeated RIT 3-1 in Saturday's conference semifinal, then lost 5-0 at Ithaca in Sunday's championship game. The Golden Flyers probably benefited from a couple of positive out-of-conference results, specifically a 2-1 overtime win over 10th-ranked Virginia Wesleyan and a 1-1 tie against fifth-ranked William Smith.

"This means so much to us," Mann said. "We have six seniors who didn't want to stop playing yet."

The Golden Flyers will be making their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance. They last appeared as E8 Conference champions in 2006.