WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Monmouth University women will play at Princeton University in the first round of the NCAA D-I Tournament at Roberts Stadium in Princeton, N.J. Friday at 7 p.m.

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions, who have won six consecutive games, captured their third conference hampionship with a 5-1 win over Manhattan Wednesday. Madie Gibson, Lexie Palladino and Miranda Konstantinides were named to the all-tournament team, while Allie Girardi was named tournament most outstanding [layer. The Hawks became the first team to repeat as MAAC Champions since Loyola Maryland in 2003 and 2004.

Monmouth returns to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season and makes its fifth appearance overall. Last year, Monmouth scored its first NCAA Tournament goal in a 4-1 loss at Virginia. The Hawks had played at Penn State, a 3-0 defeat in 2013 and also faced the Nittany Lions in 2007, a 4-0 loss in State College, Pa., prior to a 4-0 setback at Maryland in 2009.

Princeton (14-2) hosts Monmouth after claiming the Ivy League title. The Tigers went 6-1 in conference play, including winning the final three games of their season to finish in first place. Princeton has outscored its opposition 6-1 over the three-game winning streak and 36-6 this season.

Monmouth leads the all-time series with Princeton 9-5-0, but the Tigers defeated the Hawks 3-0 Aug. 25.

The winner of the game will move on to play the winner of the game between Arkansas and NC State.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.