2011 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament


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.
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.
With the victory in the national final, the Tar Heels won their second NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship in program history.

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.

Automatic Bids

TeamConferenceLast AppearanceAppearances
Stony BrookAmerica East Conference20093
UNCAtlantic Coast Conference201019
Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun ConferenceN/A1
XavierAtlantic 10 Conference20102
St. John'sBig East Conference200910
LibertyBig South Conference20072
NorthwesternBig Ten Conference2009
UC IrvineBig West Conference2009
DelawareColonial Athletic Association19703
SMUConference USA201023
LoyolaHorizon League20083
DartmouthIvy League201026
FairfieldMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference20084
Northern IllinoisMid-American Conference20064
CreightonMissouri Valley Conference201019
New MexicoMountain Pacific Sports Federation2010
MonmouthNortheast Conference20109
UCLAPac-12 Conference201031
ColgatePatriot League2008
ElonSouthern ConferenceN/A1
Western IllinoisThe Summit League2009
Saint Mary'sWest Coast Conference2009

At-Large Bids

ConferenceTeamLast AppearanceAppearances
ACCDuke2010
ACCVirginia201025
ACCBoston College2010
ACCMaryland201014
ACCWake Forest200915
A10Charlotte2009
Big EastRutgers2006
Big EastLouisville2010
Big EastSouth Florida201016
Big EastConnecticut201032
Big EastProvidence2010
Big EastWest Virginia201013
Big SouthCoastal Carolina2010
Big 10Indiana201036
Big WestUC Santa Barbara201010
CAAJames Madison200513
CAAGeorgia State
CAAOld Dominion201013
Conference USASouth Carolina200519
Conference USAUAB
Conference USACentral Florida2010
Ivy LeagueBrown2010
Mid-AmericanAkron201013
Missouri ValleyBradley2010
Mtn Pac Sports FedCSU Bakersfield
SouthernFurman

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. 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

Schedule

Bracket

Regional 1

Regional 2

Regional 3

Regional 4

College Cup – [Regions Park], [Hoover, Alabama]

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