INDIANAPOLIS – Southern Conference tournament champion Mercer and regular-season champion ETSU will compete in the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship first round on Thursday, as revealed when the NCAA announced the tournament’s 48-team bracket Monday. The Bears will face South Carolina and the Bucs will take on Virginia Tech, both on the road.
Mercer claimed the SoCon’s automatic bid, while ETSU earned an at-large selection, giving the SoCon two teams in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011 and just the fourth time ever.
Mercer earned a rematch with the Gamecocks (10-7-1), who the Bears beat 3-2 in double overtime on Aug. 30. South Carolina was ranked No. 23 nationally by College Soccer News at the time of the loss and most recently received seven Top-25 votes in the latest poll from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
“We had a good idea that it could be South Carolina,” Mercer coach Brad Ruzzo said. “We’ve played them several times over the last couple years, both in the fall and spring. We were fortunate enough to get a good result up [in Columbia earlier this year], so I think we’ll feel comfortable going there. … We’ll have some work to do. We played South Carolina the second game of the year, so their team is probably a little different and I know we are very different from that game. We’ll get back and do some preparation to be ready.”
The Bears (13-6-1) claimed the Southern Conference Championship and received the league’s automatic bid after defeating top-seeded ETSU in penalty kicks on Saturday, Nov. 12 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The match went to a penalty shootout in which the Bears prevailed, 4-1, after 110 minutes of scoreless play in regulation and overtime.
“The night before our [SoCon] final I kept telling myself that this was our fourth final in nine years and I would love nothing more for this group to get over that hump,” Ruzzo said. “Certainly, they did, so I’m very proud of them – the seniors in particular.”
It will be Mercer’s third trip to the NCAA tournament and first since 2001. The Bears reached the tournament twice in three years, 1999 and 2001, under former head coach Tom Melville and went 0-2 in both appearances. Mercer was defeated 3-0 by Rhode Island in Macon in 1999 and 1-0 by Kentucky in Clemson, South Carolina, in 2001.
South Carolina was upset by Old Dominion, 2-1, in the Conference USA quarterfinals Nov. 9 and has lost three of its last four matches. However, the lone win was an impressive 2-1 victory against Kentucky, which earned the No. 16 national seed and a first-round bye in the NCAA tournament.
A time for Thursday’s match at Stone Stadium has not been released at this time.
The Bucs will also see a familiar foe, as ETSU heads to Blacksburg, Virginia, to face Virginia Tech at 6 p.m. at Thompson Field.
The winner of ETSU-Virginia Tech will travel to take on 10th-seeded Charlotte on Sunday, Nov. 20.
“It’s huge to receive an at-large bid,” ETSU coach Bo Oshoniyi said. “Not only for our team but also for the program and the university. It’s the first time in soccer’s history, and it has been a long time in the university’s side as well. I think it’s something the boys can be proud of. It is tough for mid-majors and small schools to get an at-large bid, so the fact the guys were able to get that this season is huge.”
ETSU has been to the NCAA tournament twice in program history, the most recent time coming in 2013 when the Bucs won the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. However, this marks the first time in program history the Bucs have received an at-large bid.
ETSU has squared off against Virginia Tech three times in the last two seasons, all of which were spring or preseason matches. The last time the Bucs faced the Hokies during the regular season came in 2011, when ETSU won 1-0 at Summers-Taylor Stadium.
“This is going to be a fun matchup,” Oshoniyi said. It is a common opponent for us because we play them every preseason and every spring, so we know each other quite well. We went up there several times where we have won some and they have also won some. I think, overall, it be great matchup of two teams that are very familiar with each other. We are excited to get up there and get a win.”
In a season in which ETSU has rewritten a lot of records, the Bucs’ resume was strong enough to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. ETSU’s highlights this season include: defeating then-No. 1 North Carolina on the road, winning their first-ever regular season title, taking four ranked teams into overtime, never dropping out of the top 50 in RPI, and going undefeated in the last nine games (7-0-2). The Bucs currently sit at 12-4-3, which is the second-most wins in program history.