NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s soccer team has earned a bid into the NCAA Championship for the 21st time in program history. The Irish were rewarded with their seventh straight top-16 national seed when the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship draw was unveiled on Monday.
The Irish were awarded the No. 7 seed into the 2018 NCAA tournament, and will host the winner of Michigan and Princeton on Sunday at 5 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Stadium. The first-round matchup between Michigan and Princeton is set to take place on Thursday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
For ticket information for Sunday’s NCAA tournament match at Alumni Stadium, call the Murnane Family Ticket Office at (833) 634-7474, visit UND.com/buytickets, or stop by the ticket office window inside Purcell Pavilion.
Notre Dame (10-6-2) is set to make its first NCAA Championship appearance under first-year head coach Chad Riley. The Irish will be playing in the NCAA Championship for the 17th time in the last 18 seasons. Last season the Irish earned the No. 12 seed in the tournament.
The Irish are 18-18-2 (.500) all-time in NCAA Championship play. Notre Dame has advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 on nine occasions, the national quarterfinals three times (2006, 2007, 2013), and claimed the national championship during the program’s inaugural NCAA College Cup appearance in 2013.
Notre Dame has faced 10 other qualifiers during the regular season, and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship matches, entering 2018 NCAA tournament play. Of the 16 teams to earn national seeds, the Irish have faced seven of the programs.
The ACC tied its own NCAA men’s soccer record by seeing nine affiliate teams earn berths into the 2018 NCAA Championship field. Along with Notre Dame, No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 4 Louisville, No. 5 UNC, No. 6 Duke, No. 10 Virginia, No. 12 Virginia Tech, No. 16 Syracuse and NC State are set to represent the conference on the road toward the NCAA College Cup in Santa Barbara, California.
A total of 19 of the last 20 winners of the NCAA College Cup, dating back to the 1998 season, are included in the field of 48 vying for the 2017 NCAA Championship. Notre Dame (2013), Indiana (1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2012), North Carolina (2001, 2011), Wake Forest (2007), Virginia (2009, 2014), Stanford (2015, 2016, 2017) and Maryland (2005, 2008) are all seeded in this year’s tournament, with recent champions and Akron (2010), UConn (2000) and UCLA (2002) also in the 2018 field.
Michigan earned a home match for the first round of the NCAA Championship on the strength of a 12-5-2 record, most falling to No. 2 seed Indiana in the Big Ten tournament championship by a final score of 3-0.
Princeton (10-5-2) secured the automatic NCAA bid from the Ivy League after going 5-1-1 in the regular season to claim the crown.
Following Thursday’s first round and Sunday’s second round games, the NCAA Championship continues with third round matchups on Nov. 24 or 25 at campus sites. The national quarterfinals will follow on Nov. 30 or Dec. 1 at campus venues. The 2018 NCAA College Cup will be contested on Dec. 7 (national semifinals) and Dec. 9 (national final) at Meredith Field at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, California, live on ESPN2.