2011 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship

2011 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship

Country	USA
Teams	48
Defending champions	Akron Zips
Champions	North Carolina
Runners-up	Charlotte
Matches played	47
Goals scored	127 (2.7 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Casey Townsend (4)
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The 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship 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 championship. Although nationally ranked throughout portions of the regular season, the 49ers entered the tournament through an at-large bid, and were not seeded. Despite that, the 49ers were able to defeat defending champions, the Akron Zips, 1–0 in the third round, before defeating 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 included 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] It was also the first time in the history of the UNC Charlotte Athletics Program that a team reached a national championship. In 1996, Charlotte reached the College Cup before being eliminated.

Qualified Teams

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.

Format

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 remanining 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

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

Schedule

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

Bracket

Regional 1

	First round					Second round					Third round					Quarterfinals
		Elon	3
		Coastal Carolina*	4
							Coastal Carolina	2
						1	North Carolina	3
											1	North Carolina	1/OT
										16	Indiana	0
						16	Indiana	3
							Old Dominion	0
		Liberty	0(4)
		Old Dominion*	0(5)
																1	North Carolina	2
																	Saint Mary's	0
		Fairfield	2
		Brown*	3
							Brown	1
						9	St. John's	0
												Brown	2
											Saint Mary's	3/OT
						8	UC Irvine	1
							Saint Mary's	2/2OT
		Saint Mary's	1
		CSU Baskersfield*	0

Regional 2

	First round					Second round					Third round					Quarterfinals
		Xavier	1
		West Virginia*	2/OT
							West Virginia	0
						5	Maryland	4
											5	Maryland	2
										12	Louisville	4
						12	Louisville	3/2OT
							Bradley
		Loyola-Chicago	1
		Bradley*	2
																12	Louisville	0
																13	UCLA	1/2OT
		Delaware	1/20T
		Virginia*	0
							Delaware	0
						13	UCLA	1
											13	UCLA	3
											Rutgers	0
						4	Boston College	1(3)
							Rutgers	1(4)
		Colgate	2
		Rutgers*	4

Regional 3

	First round					Second round					Third round					Quarterfinals
		Stony Brook	0(4)
		Monmouth*	0(5)
							Monmouth	1
						3	Connecticut	2
											3	Connecticut	3
										14	James Madison	0
						14	James Madison	2
							Wake Forest	0
		Wake Forest	1(4)
		South Carolina*	1(3)
																3	Connecticut	1(2)
																	Charlotte	1(4)
		Furman	1
		Charlotte*	3
							Charlotte	3
						11	UAB	1
												Charlotte*	1
											Akron	0
						6	SMU	2
							Akron	3
		Northwestern	1
		Akron*	3

Regional 4

	First round					Second round					Third round					Quarterfinals
		Florida Gulf Coast	0
		UCF*	1/2OT
							UCF	1
						7	South Florida	2/OT
											7	South Florida	0(6)
										10	New Mexico	0(5)
						10	New Mexico	2/OT
							Duke	1
		Georgia State	0
		Duke*	1
																7	South Florida	0
																2	Creighton	1/OT
		Dartmouth	0
		Providence*	1
							Providence	2
						15	UC Santa Barbara	3
											15	UC Santa Barbara	1
										2	Creighton	2
						2	Creighton	3
							Northern Illinois	0
		Western Illinois	0
		Northern Illinois*	3

College Cup – Regions Park, Hoover, Alabama

	National Semifinals December 9					National Championship December 11
	1	North Carolina	2(3)
	13	UCLA	2(1)
						1	North Carolina	1
							Charlotte	0
		Charlotte	0(4)
	2	Creighton	0(1)

Schedule

Host team, or higher seed, is listed on the right. Away team or lower seed is listed on the left.

First round

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Second round

Numbers represent the seed the team earned in the tournament.

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Third round

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Quarterfinals

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College Cup: Semifinals

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College Cup: Final

Statistics

Top goalscorers

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goals

See also

• NCAA Men's Soccer Championship
• 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season

References