The 2017 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Soccer Championship brackets were released on Monday afternoon with the Dominican University women's soccer team drawing the defending national champions, Washington University-St. Louis Bears, and the men pitted against the Capital University Crusaders.
 
The women (17-0-4), placed in a quad that features the sixth-ranked Bears (15-1-1), Thomas More Saints (15-4-1) and Wittenberg University Tigers (8-6-3), will play at Francis Field on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.  Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Followed by game two between Wittenberg and Thomas More.  Both advancing teams will play on Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m. at Francis Field.
 
The Stars claimed their first trip to the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship with a 2-0 win at MSOE on Saturday in the championship round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament.  The win was the 17^th win of the season for the Stars, setting the program's single-season win record.  Josseline Williams (31 goals, 4 assists) and Tania Paez (8 goals, 12 assists) power the nation's 22^nd ranked offense while freshman goalkeeper Abbey Brown anchors a defense that has surrendered just seven goals against all season with a 0.32 goals against average and 16 shutouts.
 
In the Bears, Dominican gets the defending national champions and 2017 University Athletics Association (UAA) champions.  Washington University enters Saturday's matchup averaging 2.71 goals per game while posting a 0.36 goals against average, tenth-best across NCAA Division III women's soccer, with 12 shutouts.
 
In the men's bracket, the Stars (14-4-0) are being sent to a regional quad hosted by the University of Chicago Maroons.  Dominican and Capital are slated to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. at Chicago's Amos Alonzo Staff Field.  The winner then advances to Sunday's second round to meet the winner of Chicago and the Lake Forest College Foresters.
 
Dominican claimed the 2017 NACC Tournament title with a 2-1 come from behind victory over MSOE on Saturday afternoon in River Forest, returning to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship for the 14^th time and first since 2014.  Dominican boasts one of the top offenses in the country, scoring 3.67 goals per game behind five different players with at least 25 points.  Senior Jonathan Arzeta (7 goals, 17 assists) leads the country in both total assists and assists per game (0.94).
 
Capital enters the tournament by one of the 20 at-large bids to the national tournament after going 12-7-2, advancing to the finals of the Ohio Athletic Conference men's soccer tournament.  Capital makes just its second appearance in the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship, the program's first since 2009.