The 48-team field is set for the NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament, and the Pac-12 will go in with three of the top four seeds.
UCLA narrowly edged out conference champion Washington for the No. 1 spot while Cal will enter the tournament seeded fourth. Filling out the rest of the top 16 are four ACC teams – Notre Dame, Maryland, Virginia and Wake Forest – while the Big West matched the Pac-12’s three seeds in UCSB, UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge.
The Big East and Conference-USA each added earned two seeds: Georgetown and Marquette for the Big East, Charlotte and New Mexico for C-USA. Rounding out the seeded teams were the Big Ten’s Michigan State and America East standouts UMBC. All 16 teams will earn a bye through the first round of the tournament.
MAC regular-season and tournament champions Akron were frozen out of a chance to earn a bye, and will face reigning NCAA champions Indiana in the first round. Despite a 8-11-2 record this season, the Hoosiers earned an automatic berth by winning the Big Ten tournament.
The ACC earned the most berths from the selection committee, sending six teams total, while the Big Ten and Big East came close behind with five teams apiece. Big Ten regular-season champions Penn State will face St. Francis (Brooklyn) in the first round, which begins on Thursday. Despite going 9-8-2, Creighton will represent the Big East at the tournament. The winner of their matchup against Seattle will face Washington in the second round.
Seeded Teams
- UCLA
- Washington
- Notre Dame
- Cal
- Maryland
- Georgetown
- New Mexico
- Virginia
- Marquette
- UCSB
- Michigan State
- UC Irvine
- Charlotte
- Wake Forest
- CSU Northridge
- UMBC
