Men's Soccer: WVU Seeded Sixth in Tourney
November 06, 2006 07:11 PM | General
November 6, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - For the second consecutive season the West Virginia University men’s soccer team will host an NCAA tournament match in Morgantown at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m.
“I am happy with the draw we received,” says head coach Marlon LeBlanc. “How can you complain about being seeded sixth in the country? This is undoubtedly one of the greatest days in Mountaineer men’s soccer history.”
West Virginia receives a first round tournament bye and enters the tournament as the No. 6-seed, the highest seeded BIG EAST team in the 2006 field. The Mountaineers were picked fifth in the Blue Division in the conference’s preseason coaches’ poll.
The Mountaineers (15-2-3) will play winner of the Virginia Tech versus UNC-Greensboro match, which takes place on Saturday, Nov. 11.
WVU ranked as high second in the country this year in the Soccer America poll and as high as fourth in the NSCAA/adidas poll before losing in the BIG EAST finals, 1-0, in overtime to St. John’s on Sunday, Nov. 5. The team ranked fifth in today’s final Soccer America poll, meaning it has ranked in the top five of one or more of the four major polls for the last five weeks and has been the highest ranked BIG EAST team the past eight weeks.
This year marks the eighth NCAA tournament berth the Mountaineers have earned since the program began in 1961. WVU is 2-7 all-time in NCAA tournament play.
For the second consecutive season seven BIG EAST teams earned bids into the field of 48. The Mountaineers are joined by Notre Dame, St. John’s, Connecticut, Rutgers, Providence and Cincinnati. West Virginia is one of two conference teams to earn a top 16 seed and a bye. The Fighting Irish were selected 12th and will play the winner of Illinois-Chicago and Western Illinois.
Last season WVU advanced to the second round after defeating Robert Morris, 1-0, in overtime in Morgantown on Nov. 19, 2005. West Virginia lost in the second round of the tournament at Akron, 5-0, on Nov. 23.
