The road to Cary, North Carolina, will run in part through College Park.
Maryland men’s soccer was unveiled Monday as the fourth seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, its highest since 2016.
Due to Maryland’s
impressive record at 12-1-3, the Terps will host three postseason games leading up to the College Cup. Maryland has been dominant at Ludwig Field this season, winning eight of their 10 games.
The Terps are five games away from lifting the program’s fifth national championship. But Maryland’s journey to that point will be anything but straightforward. The Terps earned a first-round bye, and their postseason journey begins Sunday at 1 p.m. against the winner of North Carolina and North Florida Sunday.
With 11 days separating the Terps’ Big Ten Tournament game and their second-round matchup, Maryland will be well-rested heading into the NCAA Tournament. Their opponents, on the other hand, face off Thursday.
The Tar Heels enter postseason play in a bit of a slump, winning just two of their previous five games. North Carolina has only scored one goal in those three defeats, which came in its 2-1 loss to No. 2-seed Virginia in the ACC Tournament.
North Florida secured an automatic bid after squeaking through the Atlantic Sun Tournament. The Ospreys rattled off a pair of extra-time victories during their championship run, including a 3-2 overtime win over top-seed Bellarmine to clinch the title.
No. 13-seed UConn is the other ranked team in Maryland’s portion of the bracket. The two sides would square off in the third round if both handle their business at home.
While the Terps were ranked the best team in the nation heading into the Big Ten Tournament, a 2-0 semifinal defeat at the hands of UCLA dropped Maryland down the seeding. Still, the Bruins’ 5-0 championship victory made the Terps’ loss look slightly better.
Despite holding the seventh-best RPI, Maryland’s five ranked wins — most impressively a 1-0 road victory over No. 7-seed Georgetown and a 3-2 home win over No. 6-seed Indiana — held enough weight to fuel the Terps’ seed selection.
Maryland’s last NCAA Tournament first-round bye came back in 2018, when it secured the No. 11-seed. The Terps went on to win the national championship that year, their third under head coach Sasho Cirovski.
This season, Maryland finished the regular season with an unbeaten record through 15 games — its longest run since 2016, when the Terps’ first loss came in the NCAA Tournament second round.
