BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins women's soccer team will open play in the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament on Saturday, November 11 against Penn State-Berks it was announced today.  The Johns Hopkins-Penn State-Berks game is one of two games that will take place at Virginia Wesleyan with the host Marlins taking on Montclair St. in the other matchup.  The winners of Saturday's first round games will meet on Sunday, November 12 for a spot in the round of 16.
 
This will be the second all-time meeting between the Blue Jays and the Nittany Lions.  The previous meeting between the two teams also took place in the NCAA Tournament with Johns Hopkins taking a 2-0 decision in the first round of the 2019 tournament.
 
Johns Hopkins (15-2-2) earned an automatic bid to the tournament for the second consecutive year as the Blue Jays won the Centennial Conference Tournament title with a 2-1 win over Franklin & Marshall on Sunday at Homewood Field.  This is the 21^st appearance in the tournament for the Blue Jays, including their 18^th straight dating back to 2005.  Johns Hopkins is 37-18-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and claimed the program's first national championship last season with a 2-1 win over Case Western in the title game.
 
Penn State-Berks is making its ninth appearance in the tournament, including its second straight.  The Nittany Lions (10-8-2) are 2-8 all-time in the tournament and all eight previous appearances have come since 2013.  They earned an automatic bid to the tournament with a 3-0 win over Bryn Athyn in the United East Championship Game on Sunday.
 
The host Marlins are making their third consecutive and 15^th overall appearance in the tournament.  Virginia Wesleyan (16-3-1) is 11-13-5 all-time in the NCAAs and advanced to the NCAA Semifinals in 2006 and 2022.  Johns Hopkins and Virginia Wesleyan have met in the NCAA Tournament three times with the series standing at 1-1-1; all three NCAA meetings came between 2006 and 2008.  Overall, Johns Hopkins leads the series 2-1-1 with the most recent meeting in 2018 resulting in a 3-0 Blue Jay victory.
 
Montclair State (13-3-2) earned an at-large bid to the tournament after falling to TCNJ, 3-2, in the NJAC Semifinals.  The Red Hawks are making their ninth appearance in the tournament and sport a 9-7-2 all-time record in the NCAAs.  Johns Hopkins and Montclair State have never met in women's soccer.
 
Game times and ticket information for the NCAA First and Second Rounds will be announced later today.