Coach Paul Ratcliffe denied there is any additional pressure on his Stanford team as defending national champion or as the consensus No. 1-ranked team in the country.

The Cardinal (17-1-1), which captured its fourth consecutive Pac-12 title, will be playing in its 15th consecutive NCAA tournament and is seeking to advance to its fifth consecutive College Cup, fourth consecutive final, and successfully defend its national championship.

The Bengals (11-5-3) earned the trip after beating Montana on penalty kicks, 4-3, in the Big Sky Conference tournament final Sunday after a scoreless draw at home. Idaho State earlier had finished in a three-way tie for the regular-season title.

Stanford was awarded the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA women's soccer tournament and opens at home this Friday against Idaho State at 7 p.m.

The Stanford women's soccer team has received the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament and will host a first-round match on Friday night. Photo by Jim Shorin/Stanfordphoto.com.

To reach the College Cup, Stanford would need to get past UCLA (15-2-2) or San Diego State (19-1-1) -- the top-seeded teams on the bottom part of Stanford's 16-team bracket. Stanford has beaten both teams this season, though each was close. Stanford rallied to win at UCLA, 2-1, and used a first-half free kick by Courtney Verloo to beat San Diego State, 1-0, at the Santa Clara Classic.

A second-round matchup will pit the Stanford-Idaho State winner against Santa Clara (11-3-6) or Long Beach State (12-7). The third-round opponent would come from among those two, plus Denver and Colorado College. Maryland is the only other seed in Stanford's eight-team pod.

As for being a No. 1 seed for the third consecutive season, Ratcliffe said, "It's great to be the No. 1 seed. And to play at home is the best part of being a No. 1."

"Once you get to the playoffs everyone has a target on them," Ratcliffe said. "Everyone feels the pressure in the playoffs. It's how you perform on the day, and how competitive you are on the day."

"It's always a difficult journey. We're going to have to perform to the best of our ability. The team's excited to get going. They're feeling good. They just want to get after it and compete as hard as they can."

The 31st annual NCAA Women's College Cup will be played Nov. 30 and Dec. 2 at the University of San Diego. This will be the first College Cup on the West Coast since it was held at San Jose's Spartan Stadium in 1999 and 2000.

As long as Stanford remains in the tournament, there is a strong chance it will play host through the quarterfinals.

First-round matches will be played at campus sites. Just one round will be played the first weekend, followed by two rounds at a single campus site the following weekend (Nov. 16 and 18).

Tickets for the first round will be sold beginning Tuesday at 9 a.m. They can be purchased by phone at 1-800-STANFORD, online at gostanford.com, or in person at the ticket office at Gate 4 of Stanford Stadium from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

The four No. 1 seeds are Stanford, BYU (18-1-1), Penn State (17-3-1), and Florida State (19-3). If the seeds hold, Stanford would play BYU in the College Cup semifinals and Florida State in the final.

Stanford opens NCAA title defense as No. 1 seed