No. 16 Utah toppled archrival Brigham Young for the second time in eight days, winning the Mountain West Conference tournament — and an automatic NCAA tournament berth — with a 2-0 victory Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
Amber Brower and Amanda Feigt scored goals for the Utes, who won the regular-season crown outright by beating BYU, 1-0, a week earlier.
Central Florida, Denver, DePaul, High Point, Idaho State and SMU also won tournament titles and NCAA berths with victories Saturday. Twenty more conference tournament champions will be crowned on Sunday.
Santa Clara claimed the West Coast Conference's automatic NCAA berth by beating host Gonzaga, 5-1, in its regular-season finale. The WCC is one of three conferences — the Pacific-10 and Ivy League are the others — that selects its NCAA representative based on regular-season results.
The 64-team NCAA tournament pairings will be unveiled Monday at 4 p.m. EST on ESPN News.
A recap of Saturday's action:
Atlantic Sun Conference: Central Florida (16-4-1) earned its third successive NCAA tournament berth and fifth in six years, pulling out a 3-0 shootout victory after a 2-2 tie with host Florida Atlantic. Kelly Hoffmann took advantage of a poor clearance to pull FAU even in the 88th minute, but the Owls hit posts with all three of their penalties while UCF converted its three kicks. FAU's Lauren Lucena headed home a Danielle Castro in the 31st minute, but UCF answered six minutes later, Jennifer Montgomery finishing after a poor clearance. The Golden Knights, who shared the regular-season title with FAU, went ahead on Rachel Overstreet's rebound in the 75th.
Big Sky Conference: Jennifer Loo scored from a Janel Smith free kick in the 30th minute and Idaho State's defense made it stand up for a 1-0 victory as the Bengals (10-8-1) grabbed their third successive Big Sky tournament title and the conference's NCAA berth at Ogden, Utah. Defender Hollie Christensen was selected tournament MVP after Idaho State shut out Northern Arizona and Montana to extend its winning streak to six games.
Big South Conference: Sixth-seeded High Point (10-9-1), playing at home, won its first NCAA tournament berth after rallying from deficit to beat UNC Asheville, 3-2, on penalties following a scoreless tie. Goalkeeper Katie Smith surrendered goals on UNCA's first two shootout attempts, then stopped Hilary McKay, Emily Kay and Olivia Korman to secure the Panthers' triumph. UNCA netminder Michelle Mattos stopped two of High Point's first three shots, but Lena Svensson and Chelsi Parrado converted to push the Panthers ahead.
Conference USA: Margo Sackmaster scored her first goal of the season early in the second half and Lindsey Deason made two saves in the shootout as DePaul (14-6-2) claimed the C-USA's NCAA berth at Charlotte, N.C. Deason stopped shots by Jamie Perry and Carrie Carlson as the Blue Demons topped Saint Louis, 4-3, on penalty kicks following a 1-1 draw. Sackmaster tallied from Julianne Sitch's feed in the 48th minute to answer Christie Cigno's strike near the end of the first half.
Mountain West Conference: Tournament MVP Amber Brower and Amanda Feigt scored second-half goals at Salt Lake City to lift No. 16 Utah (16-2-1) past Brigham Young, giving the Utes the MWC's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. Utah, which required penalty kicks to get past UNLV in Thursday's semifinals, went ahead when Brower scored from Lauren Field's pass in the 60th minute. Feigt dribbled 35 yards, beating two defenders, to double the advantage with 96 seconds to play.
Sun Belt Conference: Tournament MVP Lleane Grimditch finished Diana Brunkhardt's pass five minutes into overtime and Denver (18-3) claimed its third successive Sun Belt tournament title with a 1-0 triumph over North Texas at Bowling Green, Ky. The Pioneers did not give up a goal in three tournament games.
Western Athletic Conference: Tournament MVP Kim Harvey's 27th goal of the season — and fourth of the WAC tournament — was a 90th-minute strike that carried host SMU (17-3-1) past Rice, 2-1, and into the NCAA tournament. Morgan Field gave the Mustangs a 22nd-minute advantage with a rebound off a Harvey shot that hit the post, but Rice's Ashley Anderson tied the score in the 69th minute with a long ball that took a high bounce over goalkeeper Amanda Clark. Harvey's winner arrived with 56 seconds remaining in regulation. Olivia O'Rear crossed after a run up the left flank and crossed to Adria Campbell, who touched the ball on to Harvey.
Ivy League: Dartmouth won the Ivy League title outright when Penn upset Princeton, 3-2, as Katy Cross scored three goals and goalkeeper Vanessa Scotto turned in a terrific second-half performance. The Big Green had claimed a share of the title and the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament last weekend.
West Coast Conference: Santa Clara (12-3-5) claimed the conference's automatic NCAA berth by drilling Gonzaga, 5-1, as Leslie Osborne, Tina Estrada and Bonnie Bowman all had a goal and an assist. The Broncos would have claimed the NCAA berth but shared the WCC title with a loss after defending NCAA champ Portland let a two-goal lead get away in a 2-2 tie with visiting San Diego.
