The 48-team field was announced for the 2011 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament, and as is the case every year, there were some surprises as well as some surprising omissions.
Central Florida, Wake Forest and Georgia State were among the teams to grab the final at-large berths in this year's NCAA Tournament Field, a field that features seven Big East teams and six ACC teams.
Here is how the field breaks down (seeded teams have first-round byes, first-round games to be played on Nov. 17th):
BRACKET 1
(1) North Carolina vs 1st-round winner of Elon vs. Coastal Carolina
(16) Indiana vs. w/o Liberty vs. Old Dominion
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(9) St. John's vs. w/o Fairfield vs. Brown
(8) UC-Irvine vs. St. Mary's vs. Cal State-Bakersfield
BRACKET 2
(4) Boston College vs. w/o Colgate vs. Rutgers
(13) UCLA vs. w/o Delaware vs. Virginia
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(5) Maryland vs. w/o Xavier vs. West Virginia
(12) Louisville vs. w/o Loyola-Chicago vs. Bradley
BRACKET 3
(3) UConn vs. w/o Stony Brook vs. Monmouth
(14) James Madison vs. Wake Forest vs. South Carolina
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(6) SMU vs. w/o Akron vs. Northwestern
(11) UAB vs. w/o Furman vs. UNC-Charlotte
BRACKET 4
(7) South Florida vs. w/o Florida Gulf Coast vs. Central Florida
(10) New Mexico vs. w/o Duke vs. Georgia State
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(2) Creighton vs. w/o Western Illinois vs. Northern Illinois
(15) UCSB vs w/o Dartmouth vs. Providence
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Second-round match-ups take place on Nov. 20th, with the Round of 16 slated for Nov. 27th.
The NCAA College Cup Final Four is set for Dec. 9th, with the Championship Final set for Dec. 11th in Hoover, Alabama.
What do you think of the field? Who do you see winning the NCAA Championship this year? Which match-ups are you most looking forward to seeing?
Share your thoughts below.
