Highlanders To Learn NCAA Tournament Opponent Monday Morning
11/13/2022 6:57:00 PM | Men's Soccer
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - UC Riverside men's soccer will find out its first round opponent during Monday morning's NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 10:00 a.m. The Highlanders' date with destiny comes after the program's second Big West tournament title in program history, which was won in front of a standing room only crowd of more than 1,200 on Saturday night at the UC Riverside Soccer Stadium.Â
Monday's Selection Show will air live exclusively on NCAA.com beginning at 10:00 a.m. PT.Â
"These guys could've easily thrown in the towel after the first few weeks when the losses were coming, but they stuck with and believed in the process," head coach Tim Cupello said. "We kept chopping wood and carrying water and believing what's the next step and what are the lessons we could learn."
After a slow start to 2022, UCR went 5-2-2 in Big West play and unbeaten in seven of its last eight regular season matches en route to NCAA appearance beth number two.Â
The Highlanders earned the Big West's automatic berth after downing both CSUN in the semifinal round and UC Santa Barbara in the final of the Big West Championships. UCR earned the No. 1 seed following a 4-1 win over the Gauchos on Senior Night that clinched the regular season title before Saturday's win secured the double.Â
The 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship provides for a field of 48 teams to compete in a single-elimination tournament. Twenty-three conference champions qualify automatically; the balance of the field is selected at large by the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Committee. The teams will be seeded so that 16 of the 48 teams will receive a First Round bye and automatically advance to the Second Round.
