The Bowdoin College field hockey team will begin its quest for a second straight national title this weekend as three local teams open play in NCAA tournaments.

Bowdoin (17-0) will host a second-round match at 11 a.m. Saturday against Keene State (20-4).

The Bowdoin volleyball team (26-2) will make its first NCAA appearance, playing Baruch (24-10) at 3 p.m. today at Springfield (Mass.) College.

The St. Joseph’s men’s soccer team (14-5) reached the NCAAs for the second time in three years. The Monks will play Trinity (10-5-2) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Babson College in Massachusetts.

Also on Saturday, the NCAA New England cross country regional will be held at Bowdoin College, with teams seeking to qualify for the national championships.

FIELD HOCKEY: Four teams will compete at Ryan Field for a trip to the Final Four next weekend.

The top-ranked Polar Bears received a first-round bye. Keene State topped Endicott 2-0 on Wednesday.

The other second-round match, at 2 p.m. Saturday, will feature 19th-ranked Denison (18-1) against 20th-ranked MIT (18-3), which topped Husson 7-0 in a first-round match.

Saturday’s winners meet at 1 p.m. Sunday. Sunday’s winner will advance to the Final Four next Friday and Saturday at Nichols College in Dudley, Mass.

Bowdoin has won three of the last four national titles (2007, ’08, ’10).

 

VOLLEYBALL: Bowdoin is one of the eight teams gathered for the first three rounds of the NCAAs at Springfield. The winner of Sunday’s third-round match advances to the Final Eight at Washington University in St. Louis next weekend.

The Polar Bears are seeded third in its group, behind No. 2 UMass-Boston (26-4) and No. 1 Springfield (31-2). Those two teams are the only ones to beat Bowdoin this year.

 

MEN’S SOCCER: St. Joseph’s will go against a strong defense in Trinity. The Bantams lost to fourth-ranked Amherst 2-0 in the NESCAC final last week — the only time they allowed more than one goal.

The St. Joseph’s-Trinity game will be preceded by an 11 a.m. game between Lesley University (15-4-1) and Babson (15-2-3). The host Beavers are ranked 11th nationally.

Saturday’s winners meet in Sunday’s second-round game at 2 p.m. The winner advances to next weekend’s sectionals. The Final Four is Dec. 2-3 in San Antonio.

 

CROSS COUNTRY: New England teams will gather at Bowdoin for one of the eight Division III regional meets. The women’s 6K is at 11 a.m., the men’s 8K at noon.

The top two teams in each race qualify for the national meet Nov. 19 in Winneconne, Wis.

The third-, fourth- and fifth-place teams have a chance to qualifying as at-large teams, depending on the results in the other regionals.

After the teams have been determined for the national meet, a total of 56 individual runners from the eight regionals will also be invited to nationals.

 

Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH