NEW YORK – The 2017 NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship bracket was announced Monday afternoon. BIG EAST tournament champ Georgetown earned the overall No. 14 seed, while BIG EAST regular season champion Butler earned an at-large bid to the big dance.
BIG EAST championship winner Georgetown was selected as one of the 16 seeded teams in the tournament and will host a second round game on Sunday, Nov. 20. The Hoyas, the national No. 14 seed earned the BIG EAST’s automatic berth with a 2-1 double overtime victory over Xavier in the tournament final on Sunday at Shaw Field. Georgetown finished second in the league this season with a 6-2-1 record. Overall, the Hoyas went 14-3-2 and will enter the tournament with an RPI of 19. Georgetown was ranked No. 18 nationally by the United Soccer Coaches in the final regular season poll and was consistently ranked throughout the season.
It is Georgetown's eighth overall tournament appearance and sixth in the last eight years. Their last was 2015 when the Hoyas were the national No. 3 seed and the automatic bid out of the BIG EAST. Georgetown failed to advance out of the third round as the Hoyas fell 5-4 in PK’s to Boston College. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. In 2012, the squad was the national runner up, falling to Indiana, 1-0, in the national championship game. Prior to that season, the program had never moved beyond the second round of the tournament with previous appearances in 2010, 1997 and 1994.
The Hoyas will remain at Shaw Field hosting the winners of Central Arkansas at SMU at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Georgetown will provide a free webcast on GUHoyas.com.
SMU (15-2-1) was the winner of both the American Athletic Conference’s regular season and tournament. At the end of the regular season, SMU was ranked 11th in the United Soccer Coaches poll. Making their first NCAA tournament appearance, Central Arkansas (9-10-1) won the Missouri Valley’s automatic qualifier and enter Thursday’s match on a 10-game unbeaten streak.
BIG EAST regular season champion Butler (12-4-2) ranked 15th nationally in the current United Soccer Coaches poll will host Lipscomb in the tournament’s first round on Thursday, Nov. 16. Butler went 8-1-0 in league play and led the BIG EAST in the RPI rankings at No. 14. The match will take place at the Sellick Bowl at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on Butler’s Facebook page. The winner of Thursday’s match will travel to VCU for a Sunday match with the No. 16 overall seed. VCU receives an opening round bye.
This marks Butler's second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the Bulldogs’ eighth appearance overall and just their second at-large berth. Butler has advanced to the NCAA Tournament on six occasions (also 1995, 1998, 2001, 2009, and 2010).
Lipscomb has an overall record of 11-7-2. After going 2-4 in the Atlantic Sun’s regular season, the team made a run to the tournament championship and the Atlantic Sun’s automatic bid. This is the first NCAA Tournament appearance for Lipscomb. Butler and Lipscomb have three common opponents on their respective 2017 schedules: Evansville, SIUE and South Florida. Both teams defeated Evansville, while Butler beat South Florida and lost to SIUE. The Bison lost to South Florida but topped SIUE.
The overall No. 1 seed in the tournament field is Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons, last year’s national runner-up, won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships.
The 48-team field is made up of the champions of 24 conferences, who qualified automatically, in addition to 24 teams that were selected at-large. The top 16 teams were seeded and receive first round byes. All first-round games will be played Thursday, Nov. 16, on campus sites, while all second-round action will take place Sunday, Nov. 19. The third round will be played Nov. 25 and 26, while the quarterfinals will be played Dec. 1 and 2. The Men’s College Cup will be held Dec. 8 and 10 at Talen Energy Stadium in Philadelphia with live coverage on ESPNU for the semifinals and ESPN2 for the national championship game.
Upcoming BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Schedule
NCAA Tournament First Round
Thursday, Nov. 16
Lipscomb at Butler at 7 p.m. ET
NCAA Tournament Second Round
Sunday, Nov. 19
Winner of Central Arkansas/SMU at No. 14 seed Georgetown at 1 p.m. ET