2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament
2018 NCAA Division I Men's soccer tournament | |||||
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Classification | Division I | ||||
Teams | 48 | ||||
Site | Harder Stadium (Semifinal and Final) Santa Barbara, California | ||||
Broadcast | ESPN2 (Final), ACC Network Extra, Big Ten Network, ESPN3, ESPN+ | ||||
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The 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament will be the 60th edition of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, a postseason tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I men's college soccer. The first four rounds of the competition will be held at the home ground of the higher seed, while the College Cup (semifinals and final) will be held at Harder Stadium on the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara.
The Stanford Cardinal are the three-time defending NCAA champions. In last year's final, Stanford defeated Indiana in extra time, 1–0.
Qualification
As in previous editions of the NCAA Division I Tournament, the tournament features 48 participants out of a possible field of 203 teams. Of the 48 berths, 24 are allocated to the 21 conference tournament champions and to the regular season winners of the Ivy League, Pac-12 Conference, and West Coast Conference, which do not have tournaments. The remaining 24 berths are supposed to be determined through an at-large process based upon the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of teams that did not automatically qualify.
The NCAA Selection Committee also names the top sixteen seeds for the tournament, with those teams receiving an automatic bye into the second round of the tournament. The remaining 32 teams play in a single-elimination match in the first round of the tournament for the right to play a seeded team in the second round.
Qualified teams
Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Qualification type | Previous appearances in tournament | Previous best performance |
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Seeding
Seeded teams | ||||||
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Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | United Soccer Coaches ranking |
RPI ranking |
Schedule
Round | Date |
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First round | November 14 |
Second round | November 18 |
Third round | November 24–25 |
Quarterfinals | Nov 30−Dec 2 |
College Cup Semifinals | December 7 |
College Cup Final | December 9 |