| NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament | |
| Year: | 2011 |
| Other Title: | Men's College Cup (semifinals & final) |
| Country: | United States |
| Num Teams: | 48 |
| Defending Champions: | Akron Zips |
| Champions: | North Carolina |
| Runner-Up: | Charlotte |
| Semi-Finalist1: | Creighton |
| Semi-Finalist2: | UCLA |
| Matches: | 47 |
| Goals: | 127 |
| Top Goal Scorer: | Casey Townsend (4) |
| Prevseason: | 2010 |
| Nextseason: | 2012 |
The 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was a single-elimination tournament involving 48 teams to determine the champion of the 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The 53rd edition of the tournament began on November 17, 2011 and culminated with the North Carolina Tar Heels defeating the Charlotte 49ers, 1–0, in the final on December 13 at Regions Park in Hoover, Alabama.[1]
While the tournament resulted in few upsets, most national soccer headlines were made behind Charlotte's run to the final. The 49ers entered the tournament through an at-large bid, and were not seeded. Despite that, they were able to defeat defending champions, the Akron Zips, 1–0, in the third round, and then the Connecticut Huskies, 4–2, in a penalty shootout to advance to the College Cup. Joining the Tar Heels and the 49ers in the College Cup were the UCLA Bruins and the Creighton Bluejays.[2]
With the victory in the national final, the Tar Heels won their second NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship in program history.[3]
See main article: 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season.
A total of 48 teams will qualify into the tournament proper, either automatically, or through an at-large bid that is determined by a selection committee. Each conference that field varsity soccer teams are admitted one automatic berth into the tournament. Depending on the conference, that automatic berth is either given the champions of the regular season, or the tournament that culminates the regular season. Twenty-two teams earn automatic bids into the tournament, while 26 enter through an at-large bid.
| Team | Conference | Last Appearance | Appearances[4] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | ||||
| 19 | ||||
| N/A | 1 | |||
| 2 | ||||
| 10 | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 23 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 2010 | 26 | |||
| Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference | 2008 | 4 | ||
| 4 | ||||
| 19 | ||||
| 9 | ||||
| 31 | ||||
| N/A | 1 | |||
| Conference | Team | Last Appearance | Appearances |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | |||
| ACC | 2010 | 25 | |
| ACC | 2010 | ||
| ACC | 2010 | 14 | |
| ACC | 15 | ||
| A10 | 2009 | ||
| Big East | |||
| Big East | 2010 | ||
| Big East | 2010 | 16 | |
| Big East | 2010 | 32 | |
| Big East | 2010 | ||
| Big East | 2010 | 13 | |
| Big South | 2010 | ||
| Big 10 | 2010 | 36 | |
| Big West | 2010 | 10 | |
| CAA | 13 | ||
| CAA | |||
| CAA | 2010 | 13 | |
| Conference USA | 2005 | 19 | |
| Conference USA | |||
| Conference USA | 2010 | ||
| Ivy League | 2010 | ||
| Mid-American | 13 | ||
| Missouri Valley | 2010 | ||
| Mtn Pac Sports Fed | |||
| Southern | |||
Like previous editions of the NCAA Division I Tournament, the tournament featured 64 participants out of a possible field of 198 teams. Of the 64 berths, 22 were allocated to the conference tournament or regular season winners. The remaining 42 berths were determined through an at-large process based upon teams' Ratings Percentage Index that did not win their conference tournament. The most at-large berths went to schools from the Big East and Atlantic Coast conferences, containing half of the tournament field's at-large berths (six and five berths, respectively). Of the remaining 11 berths, six were from the Colonial Athletic and Conference USA conferences, each earning three berths.
From there, the NCAA Selection Committee selected the top sixteen seeds for the tournament, that earned an automatic bye to the second round of the tournament. The remaining 48 teams played in a single-elimination match in the first round of the tournament, to play a seeded team in the second round.
Similar to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, each of the tournament rounds were single-elimination. However, matches tied at the end of regulation went to two 10-minute golden goal periods, followed by a penalty shoot-out, if necessary. All matches in the first, second and third rounds, as well as the quarterfinals, were hosted by the higher seed. The College Cup, also known as the semifinals and final for the tournament were held at a neutral venue, this time being at Regions Park in Hoover, Alabama (south of Birmingham).
| Seeded teams | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | School | Conference | Record | Berth type | |
| 1 | North Carolina | ACC | 16–2–2 | Tournament winner | |
| 2 | Creighton | MVC | 17–2–0 | Tournament winner | |
| 3 | Connecticut | Big East | 14–2–2 | At-large | |
| 4 | Boston College | ACC | 14–5–0 | At-large | |
| 5 | Maryland | ACC | 12–3–3 | At-large | |
| 6 | SMU | C-USA | 13–5–1 | Tournament winner | |
| 7 | South Florida | Big East | 11–3–3 | At-large | |
| 8 | UC Irvine | Big West | 16–4–1 | At-large | |
| 9 | St. John's | Big East | 14–5–2 | Tournament winner | |
| 10 | New Mexico | MPSF | 16–0–3 | Tournament winner | |
| 11 | UAB | C-USA | 13–3–3 | At-large | |
| 12 | Louisville | Big East | 11–6–2 | At-large | |
| 13 | UCLA | Pac-12 | 14–4–1 | Tournament winner | |
| 14 | James Madison | CAA | 11–4–2 | At-large | |
| 15 | UC Santa Barbara | Big West | 13–6–1 | At-large | |
| 16 | Indiana | Big Ten | 11–3–5 | At-large | |
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| First round | November 17, 2011 |
| Second round | November 20, 2011 |
| Third round | November 27, 2011 |
| Quarterfinals | December 3, 2011 |
| College Cup: Semifinals | December 9, 2011 |
| College Cup Final | December 11, 2011 |
Host team, or higher seed, is listed on the right. Away team or lower seed is listed on the left.
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Numbers represent the seed the team earned in the tournament.
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Casey Townsend – Maryland
Darren Mattocks – Akron Giuseppe Gentile – Charlotte
Mamadou Diouf – Connecticut Ethan Finlay – Creighton Ben Speas – North Carolina Chandler Hoffman – UCLA Dylan Remick – Brown
Sean Rosa – Brown T. J. Beaulieu – Charlotte Jennings Rex – Charlotte Ashton Bennett – Coastal Carolina Teejay East – Coastal Carolina Tony Cascio – Connecticut Chris Thomas – Elon Nikita Kotlov – Indiana Nick DeLeon – Louisville Colin Rolfe – Louisville Billy Schuler – North Carolina Tom Mohoric – Saint Mary's Trevor Newquist – Saint Mary's Scott Caldwell – Akron Aodhan Quinn – Akron Patrick Chin – Boston College Keegan Balle – Bradley Scott Davis – Bradley Bryan Gaul – Bradley Jochen Graf – Bradley Aidan Leonard – Brown T. J. Popolizio – Brown Evan James – Charlotte
Cyprian Hedrick – Coastal Carolina Steven Miller – Colgate Matt Schuber – Colgate Carlos Alvarez – Connecticut Jose Gomez – Creighton Andrew Ribeiro – Creighton Nick Palodichuk – Duke Chris Tweed-Kent – Duke James Carroll – Elon Jake Zuniga – Fairfield Martin Ontiveros – Furman Tim Wylie – Indiana Christian McLaughlin – James Madison Jimmy Simpson – James Madison Daniel Keller – Louisville Michael Roman – Louisville Kenney Walker – Louisville Andrew Raymonds – Loyola-Chicago Jordan Cyrus – Maryland Matt Oduaran – Maryland Matt Jeffery – Monmouth Carson Baldinger – New Mexico Blake Smith – New Mexico Matt Hedges – North Carolina Rob Lovejoy – North Carolina Kirk Urso – North Carolina Isaac Kannah – Northern Illinois Mike Mascitti – Northern Illinois Sean Totsch – Northern Illinois Peter O'Neill – Northwestern Brandon Adler – Providence Anthony Baumann – Providence John Raley – Providence Nate Bourdeau – Rutgers Juan Pablo Correa – Rutgers Ibrahim Kamara – Rutgers Bryant Knibbs – Rutgers Riley Hanley – Saint Mary's Justin Howard – Saint Mary's Tyler Engel – SMU
Arthur Ivo – SMU Chipper Root – South Carolina Wesley Charpie – South Florida Chase Wickham – UAB Miguel Ibarra – UC Irvine Josue Madueno – UC Santa Barbara
David Opoku – UC Santa Barbara Dom Sarle – UC Santa Barbara Luis Silva – UC Santa Barbara
Ben Hunt – UCF Víctor Chavez – UCLA Ryan Hollingshead – UCLA Kelyn Rowe – UCLA Reed Williams – UCLA Ross Tomaselli – Wake Forest Eric Schoenle – West Virginia Jay Williams – West Virginia Gino Depaoli – Xavier