Men’s Soccer Gets 14 Seed, First-Round Bye in NCAA Tournament

The UCF Knights are back in the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament.

UCF got the #14 national seed when the bracket was released on Monday, which means they will have a first-round bye in the 48-team field:

Here was the team’s reaction:

Afterwards, head coach Scott Calabrese spoke with the media:

The Knights are coming off a heartbreaking loss to SMU in penalty kicks at home in the AAC Tournament final. However, UCF has won 20 of its last 27 matches, and are 12-1-4 at home the last two years, where they will play their next game on Sunday, November 18th at 6 p.m. ET.

They will face the winner of the first-round game between the Washington Huskies and Lipscomb Bisons, who play Thursday in Seattle at 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET). Washington is 12-7 on the year, finishing third in the six-team Pac-12. The Huskies were ranked as high as #3 in the nation earlier this year after beating Maryland, but are currently unranked and have an RPI of 22. Lipscomb is just 9-9 but won the Atlantic Sun Conference, defeating Stetson in the final in Nashville. The Bisons are #104 in the RPI.

It’s UCF’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011, and Sunday will be their first home match in the NCAAs since 2010. The Knights have never advanced further than the second round in program history.