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The No. 14 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's soccer team is set to begin play Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament against Centre (Ky.) at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
 
The Warhawks (18-3) earned an at-large bid to the national tournament. It's the program's fourth consecutive NCAA berth and fourth in program history. The team has advanced to at least the second round in each of its appearances, including a trip to the third round in 2011.
 
UW-Whitewater enters tournament play after seeing its 15-match winning streak snapped in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament final.
 
The Warhawks, the WIAC regular season champions for the fifth consecutive season and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, were knocked off 1-0 by UW-Oshkosh at Fiskum Field last Saturday.
 
Coming off its first loss since Sept. 10, the team enters NCAA play with aspirations of reaching the national semifinals for the first time in program history.
 
Sophomore Brianna Reid (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) leads the offense with a conference-best 14 goals to go along with three assists for a total of 31 points, which is tied for the league lead. She also leads the WIAC with five game-winning goals, including the match-clinching tally in UW-Whitewater's 2-0 triumph over UW-River Falls in the WIAC Tournament semifinals on Nov. 6.
 
Reid was named WIAC Offensive Player of the Year earlier this week, while junior Jenna Woodson (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) and Carly Pottle (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) joined Reid on the All-WIAC first team.
 
Woodson, now a three-time first team pick, is tied for the conference lead with eight assists and ranks fourth on the team with 14 points. A 2013 All-American and the WIAC Offensive Player of the Year a season ago, Woodson also enters NCAA play with two game-winning goals.
 
Pottle ranks among the top 10 in the conference in goals (8), assists (4) and points (20). Her three game-winning goals are tied for second on the team.
 
Freshmen Marie Lesperance (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha South), Jordan Jackson (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) and sophomore Carina Krausert (Waukesha, Wis./Catholic Memorial) each have 10 points or more. Lesperance is third on the team with 17 (6 goals, 5 assists), Jackson is fifth with 12 (4 goals, 4 assists) and Krausert is next with 10 (3 goals, 4 assists).
 
Senior defender Sarah Sedlar (Racine, Wis./Racine Case), the 2014 WIAC Defensive Player of the Year, and senior goalkeeper Jordan Myers (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley), who garnered first team All-WIAC accolades for the third consecutive season, lead the defense.
 
Sedlar has started all 21 matches and spearheads a Warhawk defense that leads the conference and ranks 18th in the nation with a 0.47 goals against average. She has also added two goals and one assist for five points.
 
Myers leads the conference with 10 shutouts and has started every match this season. She also paces the WIAC with a 0.50 goals against average.
 
Senior Kaitlyn Fritsch (Cottage Grove, Wis./Monona Grove) and freshman Nicole Lorenz (Schaumburg, Ill./Conant) are also key components to the defense. Fritsch has started 20 contests and has three assists, while Lorenz is tied for fourth on the team with four goals in 21 matches played.
 
Head coach Ryan Quamme was selected WIAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his three years at the helm of the program. He has been a part of all four of the Warhawks' NCAA appearances, serving as an assistant in 2011 prior to taking the head coaching position.
 
Centre (15-5-1 overall), which received votes in the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division III Top 25 poll, enter the weekend on a six-match winning streak. The Colonels earned an automatic bid to the tournament by virtue of their Southern Athletic Association championship, downing Rhodes 2-1 in the title match.
 
Anne Mitchell and Alex Combs form the majority of Centre's offensive attack. Mitchell leads the team with 26 points, including nine goals and an SAA-leading eight assists. Combs enters the weekend with nine goals and seven assists for 25 points. The duo has combined for nine game-winning goals.
 
Katie Stevenson (6 goals, 3 assists), Destinie Graves (6 goals, 2 assists) and Katie Downing (5 goals) are also players to watch in the final third.
 
Goalkeeper Olivia Alford leads the Colonels' defense. She enters NCAA play with five shutouts and a 0.75 goals against average in 20 matches.
 
Centre is making its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and fifth overall. The Colonels reached the first round last year after advancing to the second round in each of the previous two seasons.
 
UW-Whitewater and Centre have just one previous meeting all time. The Colonels downed the Warhawks 2-0 on Sept. 8, 2006, in a two-day tournament at Transylvania (Ky.).
 
The winner of Saturday's match moves on to play whoever advances from the No. 25 Puget Sound (Wash.)-No. 13 Washington-St. Louis match, which takes place at 11 a.m.
 
Other Notes:

• Reid enters the weekend with five goals in her last four games. She matched a season high with three goals in the Warhawks' 8-0 victory at UW-Superior on Oct. 25, equaling her output from Oct. 8, when she posted a hat trick in UW-Whitewater's 3-1 win at North Park (Ill.).
• Lesperance, who has four goals in her last four matches, is joined in the NCAA Tournament by her older sister, Holly. A junior forward at Lake Forest (Ill.), Holly Lesperance enters NCAA play with 38 points (13 goals, 12 assists) for the unbeaten Foresters, who host St. Scholastica (Minn.) in a first round match Saturday.
• Other than UW-Oshkosh's game-winning goal in the WIAC Tournament, which came on an own goal, Myers has surrendered just one goal in her last seven contests.
• Senior defender Kelsey Beld (Madison, Wis./Madison Memorial) was tabbed a co-recipient of the WIAC Scholar-Athlete Award. Beld maintains a 4.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, and is majoring in accounting. A 2013 Academic All-American, Beld was named Capital One Academic All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America earlier this month.