No. 12 Penn State Men’s Soccer To Host Hofstra-Lipscomb Winner In NCAA Tournament Second Round
Penn State men’s soccer will host either Hofstra or Lipscomb on Sunday, November 21 to open the NCAA Tournament.
The Nittany Lions clinched the No. 12 seed, receiving a bye to the second round of the competition.
The Nittany Lions earned their spot in the 48-team field with an automatic bid, after defeating Indiana 3-0 for their first Big Ten Tournament title since 2005 on Sunday.
With the win over the Hoosiers, Penn State won the Big Ten “double,” finally overcoming Indiana’s stranglehold on the conference. Todd Yeagley’s side will also go dancing, earning the No. 15 seed. The Hoosiers will play either Louisville or Bowling Green.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Maryland will host LIU in the first round for the right to play No. 10 Saint Louis, the lone unbeaten team in the country.
The 48-team bracket will be whittled down to 16 by the end of this weekend. The 16 ranked teams will host the winners of the opening matches in a bid to reach next weekend’s Sweet Sixteen. Hofstra and Lipscomb will play on Thursday, with the winner traveling to Jeffrey Field for the Sunday showdown.
Elsewhere in Penn State’s side of the bracket is No. 5 Pitt. The Nittany Lions lost to the Panthers earlier in the year, but could get the chance for a rematch if both squads advance past their first respective hurdles.
Pitt will face the winner of Northern Illinois and Oakland.
Pac 12 champion Oregon State earned the top overall seed. Washington, Georgetown, and Notre Dame round out the top four seeds, while defending national champions Marshall earned the No. 14 rank.
Jeff Cook’s Penn State is now entering its third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Nittany Lions, who received the No. 15 seed in 2019, were upset at the first hurdle to Providence in the squad’s first match in the Big Dance since 2014. Last spring, No. 9 Penn State defeated UMass before falling to No. 8 Georgetown in the Sweet Sixteen.
The broadcast information and kickoff time is currently TBD, but will most likely be announced early this week.
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