The Division II Men's and Women's Soccer Committees devoted much of their annual meetings January 30-February 3 in Indianapolis discussing a predetermined site for the 2001 championships.

The committees met jointly on the subject in light of the success of the 1999 men's and women's championships at Barry University, which were held concurrently because Barry's men's and women's teams both advanced to their respective championship's semifinals. The 2000 championships are scheduled to be conducted on the campuses of participating teams, but the committees feel that the championships would be ready for a combined, predetermined site by 2001.

With the "festival" atmosphere provided by Barry at last year's championships enjoying marked success, the committees decided to include specific information relating to holding a festival in the bid requirements sent out to member institutions interested in hosting the 2001 championships. Interested parties have an opportunity to submit bids to the national office within the next three months.

Should the combined-championships proposal be approved, the two committees also addressed differences among the committees' selection criteria. In an effort to align criteria, both committees agreed to place primary emphasis on in-region results with out-of-region results considered as important secondary criteria.

Men's committee actions

During the committees' separate meetings, the men's committee fulfilled a Division II Championships Committee request to further define inadequate playing surfaces, specifically artificial surfaces, in regard to site selections for the championships.

The committee determined that inadequate artificial playing surfaces are those that are similar to a synthetic carpet and do not have grass-like features.

The committee will allow future championship competition on an artificial surface that has synthetic grass-like qualities as long as the surface remains in acceptable condition for championship play.

The committee also discussed the possibility of bracket expansion. The group prepared a 24-team bracket proposal in the event the Championships Committee invites the men's soccer committee to expand its field size.

The Championships Committee met in January and recommended bracket expansion in field hockey, women's volleyball and men's lacrosse. The committee also recommended that Division II return to a ratio system for determining bracket size, which may impact men's soccer in the future.

In other actions, the men's soccer committee further defined the criteria used to determine facility requirements of a host site for quarterfinal contests.

Women's committee actions

The women's soccer committee reviewed existing regional alignments and recognized the challenge that the Central region presents with its large number of sponsoring schools. In an effort to equalize sponsorship in each region, the committee voted to move the Great Lakes Valley Conference from the Central region to the Great Lakes region.

Also, in light of the Championships Committee's recent recommendations regarding bracket expansion criteria, the women's soccer committee discussed the possibility of expanding the bracket and further altering regional alignments.

The committee also met with National Inter-collegiate Soccer Officials Association and National Soccer Coaches Association of Ameri-ca representatives to discuss common issues.