The Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Committees adjusted championship-administration policies to accommodate the new regional alignments that will take effect beginning with the 2009 championship. The committees met February 10-12 in Indianapolis.

The realignment, approved in 2008, places men’s and women’s teams from schools that sponsor both into the same region. It also comes close to equalizing the number of teams within each region (with the exception of the New England region) and increases the number of women’s regions from seven to eight.

In preparation for the realignment, the committee discussed how to rank teams within each region and decided to continue to rank the top 15 percent, but increase the minimum number of teams a region can rank from four teams to six. With the addition in the number of women’s regions, the committee also changed the officials’ rotation to include all eight regions instead of seven.

The committees also reviewed the realignment plan to make sure no schools were hurt competitively by the change, said Heather Benning, chair of the women’s committee and assistant athletics director at Grinnell.

“We realized that, if anything, there are some schools that have been put into a stronger situation because they have a larger geographic region,” Benning said.

The committees also approved the automatic berths to the 2009 championship, adding the Landmark Conference on both the men’s and the women’s side. The addition brings the men to 39 automatic berths and the women to 40.

The committee also reviewed the use of opponents’ winning percentage and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage in selection criteria. In only the second year of using the two statistics in selections, the committee wanted to understand the validity and reliability of the numbers. Benning said that the NCAA statistics staff explained how the two measures work in tandem, with one (opponents’ winning percentage) more in an institution’s control than the other (opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage).

The men’s committee will recommend that the number of players in uniform on the bench at the championship be increased from 22 to 27. Joe Hakes, athletics director at Millikin and outgoing chair of the men’s committee, said the issue was important to help the championship adhere to the Division III philosophy that emphasizes participation.

“We’re trying to make the kids feel comfortable and not left out,” Hakes said. “We’re Division III, we’re about the student-athlete experience, and we just felt that that was part of it.”

Hakes acknowledged that the issue had been recommended without success in the past, but indicated that no costs were involved and student-athlete participation was paramount.

The committees also praised the success of the 2008 championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, and its accompanying community-service project that matched the eight participating teams with eight after-school programs in the Greensboro area.

“We were very pleased with Greensboro and our experience there,” Hakes said. “Everyone there was cheerful and happy to help, and it made for a great tournament and a great experience for the kids.”

The 2009 championship will be in San Antonio at the Blossom Soccer Stadium.

Finally, the women’s committee recommended Scott McKenzie, women’s soccer coach at Juniata, to be chair. The men’s chair is to be determined.