|
|
NCAA men's tournament Maryland leads field dominated by ACC, Big East and California schools.
SoccerTimes (Monday, November 14, 2005) -- Maryland was awarded the No. 1 seed in the the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament today, one of eight Atlantic Coast Conference teams to receive bids for the event. Joining the ACC are seven schools from the Big East and seven more from the state of California, the schools from these three entities representing 45.8 percent of the 48-team field. The Big Ten, Pacific-10, Ivy Group and West Coast Conference each had three representatives. NCAA Men's College Cup national semifinals and title match will be played at the SAS Soccer in Cary, N.C., Stadium December 9 and 11 with North Carolina State serving as host. "I think it will be the most exciting Final Four in a decade," Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski said. "Cary will be busting at the seams. It's already sold out." Maryland, which has lost in the national tournament semifinals the last three season, is looking to capture its first NCAA championship since sharing the 1968 title, the product of a 2-2 draw with Michigan State in the final. "I can't be more excited," said Cirovski who is 209-100-19 (.666) as a college head coach, 183-88-13 (.667) in 13 years at Maryland. "The regular season was the appetizer and this is the main course." As far as their being eight ACC representatives in the NCAA field, he said, "I think all eight teams are deserving. Once you're in this league, you realize how difficult it is to get results." Maryland was somewhat surprising choice as top seed since the Terrapins lost to eventual champion Duke in ACC Tournament. Duke was given the sixth seed. "I didn't know what to expect," Cirovski said. "I was expecting to be one of the top four seeds. I think the strength of our schedule and our results are what carried us through. New Mexico, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion, was the No. 2 seed, with two-time defending champions, which received an at-large bid from the Big Ten, the third seed and North Carolina, the ACC runnerup given the fourth seed. The 16 seeded teams all receive byes in the first round, which will be played Friday and Saturday, and will, with one possible exception, host second-round matches November 22 The remaining top 16 seeds, as determined by the NCAA Tournament Selection Comittee, are (5) UCLA, Duke, (7) California, (8) Connecticut, (9) Akron, (10) Old Dominion, (11) Pennsylvania State, (12) Virginia Tech, (13) Virginia, (14) North Carolina State, (15) California State-Northridge, and (16) Dartmouth. Twenty-three conferences were awarded automatic bids with those schools listed below. The remaining 25 teams were selected at-large. Two teams will make their first NCAA tournament appearance. Stony Brook, the America East winner and Stetson, which captured the Atlantic Sun title. Stetson (9-10-1) and Mid-Contintent champion Western Illinois (6-9-4) are the two entrants with losing records Here is a schedule of first-round matches with the winner's second-round opponents. First-round matches will be played Friday and Saturday with second-round games scheduled for November 22. Rhode Island (13-7-2) at Brown (10-4-2)
Marist (10-8-1) at St. John's (9-5-5)
Robert Morris (9-7-1) at West Virginia (12-7-2)
Stony Brook (12-4-4) at Yale (10-3-4)
San Francisco (11-5-4) at Southern Methodist (10-5-3)
James Madison (12-6-2) at North Carolina-Greensboro (15-5)
Stetson (9-10-1) at South Florida (12-6-1)
Providence (6-3-9) at Hofstra (14-4-3)
Western Illinois (6-9-4) at Notre Dame (10-7-3)
Coastal Carolina (11-8-1) at Clemson (11-5-3)
Hartwick (13-5-1) at Seton Hall (12-3-3)
Lafayette (13-4-2) at Creighton (12-4-3)
Ohio State (11-7-2) at Santa Clara (12-6-2)
South Carolina (12-6-2) at Wake Forest (11-7-2)
San Diego State (9-3-6) at California-Santa Barbara (12-4-3)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (13-4-4) at Bradley (15-5-1)
Conference champions who earned automatic bids America East - Stony Brook
Gary Davidson is SoccerTimes managing editor. E-mail Gary Davidson. |
