The Division II Men's and Women's Soccer Committees have developed modified date formulas for their championships during years in which a Division II National Championships Festival is held for fall sports.

The committees worked on the concept at their February meetings, close to when Division II announced that the inaugural fall festival would be held in Pensacola, Florida, in 2006 (see story, page 1).

Committee members were aware that Division II was considering an expansion of the festival approach to include fall sports after the success of the first festival held for spring sports last year. The committees' challenge, however, was to accommodate the timing of the festival without compromising the integrity of the date formula currently in place for the Division II Men's and Women's Soccer Championships.

Both committees agreed on alternatives that are being forwarded to the Division II Championships Committee for consideration. The proposals modify the men's 24-team bracket and the women's 32-team bracket, both of which currently are conducted over a four-weekend period, with Thanksgiving weekend off before the finals.

Because the 2006 fall festival calls for the semifinals and finals to be played November 19-21, the men's and women's committees had to decide how to compress the 2006 championships from four weeks to two. The only reasonable approach without compressing the regular season was to eliminate the week off between the quarterfinals and semifinals and tighten the period in which the preliminary-round games are conducted. Committee members noted, however, that such a move was considered only as a way to accommodate the championships festival and should not be construed as an indication that a similar schedule would be considered during years in which a festival is not held.

The committees emphasized their preference for the date formulas currently in place that will be used for the 2005 championships. For the men's championship first-round games will be November 10 or 11, second-round games will be November 12 or 13 and quarterfinals will be November 19 or 20. The semifinals and final will be December 2 and 4 at Midwestern State University.

The 2005 Division II Women's Soccer Championship begins with first- and second-round games November 11-13, followed by quarterfinal matches November 19 or 20. The women's semifinals and final also will be at Midwestern State on the same weekend (December 1 and 3). The combined championship was conducted for the first time in 2002.

Men's committee actions

In addition to developing the modified date formula for years in which a fall sports festival will be conducted, the men's soccer committee also discussed but took no action on two topics -- regionalization and championships eligibility -- that affect all of Division II. The committee noted that the Division II Regionalization Task Force has developed an eight-region model targeted for implementation in 2007-08, but members agreed to maintain the current regional alignment in place for soccer at least for the 2005 season.

Committee members also discussed concepts being reviewed by the Division II Championships Eligibility Project Team.

The committee also recommended that Murray Hartzler, men's soccer coach at Francis Marion University, succeed University of Bridgeport soccer coach Brian Quinn as chair of the group when Quinn's term on the committee expires in September.

Women's committee actions

The Division II Women's Soccer Committee is recommending that the semifinal games for the 2005 championship at Midwestern State be moved from an evening time slot to the afternoon. Committee members agreed to consult with the men's committee, however, before finalizing that proposal.

The women's committee also voted to increase minimum ticket prices for preliminary-round competition, beginning with the 2005 championship. The new minimums are $7 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and students with an ID from participating institutions and $1 for children under 12 (children age 2 or younger are admitted free of charge unless prohibited by facility policy). Committee members also encouraged host institutions to offer a $10/$5 all-sessions ticket for first- and second-round competition.

The women's committee also:

• Voted to modify the current primary selection criteria by adding the secondary criterion of results against Division II teams within region and outside of conference. Secondary criteria also would be reordered so that results against Division II teams within region and outside of conference is criterion No. 3 and the Division II in-region "quality-win index" becomes criterion No. 4.

• Recommended to the Division II Championships Committee that the travel party be increased from 28 to 30, effective in 2007.

• Agreed that institutions must include a draft of a participant manual when submitting bid materials for preliminary-round competition.

• Named Chalese Connors, athletics director at Texas Woman's University, as chair to replace Geoff VanDeusen, head women's soccer coach at Central Missouri State University. The committee also named Peter Campbell, associate athletics director at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, as vice-chair, effective in September.