Louisville Earns No. 4 Seed in NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship
November 14, 2016 | Men's Soccer
Cardinals to host winner of Colgate-UCLA match in a second round contest Sunday at 5 p.m., ET at Lynn Stadium
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville men's soccer team earned a coveted top four seed in the 2016 NCAA Championship as the selection committee tabbed the Cardinals at No. 4 overall, the second highest seed in school history.
Making its ninth NCAA Championship appearance in the last 10 seasons, Louisville (12-5-2) received a first round bye and will host the winner of Thursday's Colgate-UCLA match in a second round contest on Sunday at 5 p.m., ET at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. Tickets for the NCAA second round match, priced at $10 for reserved chairback seats and $5 for general admission/berm seating, will go on sale on Tuesday at 9 a.m., ET and can be purchased online here, by phone at 502-GO-CARDS or in person through the Louisville Cardinals Ticket Office at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
"We're excited to have earned a top four seed, which means home games in the NCAA Championship and is massive for any program," said Louisville head coach Ken Lolla. "We're looking forward to seeing who our opponent will be and getting the NCAA Championship started on the right foot."
The Cardinals, positioned to play at home in each round of the NCAA Championship prior to the College Cup as a result of being one of the top four seeds, were among an NCAA record nine Atlantic Coast Conference schools receiving bids to the 48-team field. While nine of the league's 12 men's soccer programs earned an NCAA Championship berth, seven of those were among the top 16 seeds, including three of the top four. Wake Forest was seeded No. 2 and followed by No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Louisville, No. 8 Syracuse, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 12 Virginia and No. 13 Notre Dame. Boston College and Virginia Tech also earned NCAA Championship bids for the ACC.
Louisville, seeded No. 1 overall in 2010 for the program's highest ever seed, enters this year's NCAA Championship following an overtime loss at Wake Forest in last Wednesday's ACC Championship semifinal in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Cardinals finished second in the ACC Atlantic Division with a 5-2-1 conference mark. Junior Mohamed Thiaw ranks in the top 20 nationally with 11 goals, including an NCAA best seven game-winners. Junior Tim Kubel is eighth in the nation and No. 1 in the ACC with nine assists, while graduate goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland has registered 10 shutouts this season.
Under the guidance of Lolla, who is in his 11th season at the helm, the Cardinals have advanced to the quarterfinal round (elite eight) of the NCAA Championship three times. Sunday's match will mark the sixth time in the last seven seasons and the eighth time in the last 10 years Louisville has hosted at least one NCAA Championship match.
The Cardinals played one of the nation's most grueling schedules in 2016 with 11 of their 19 matches against NCAA Championship qualifiers, including 10 of those against teams earning top 16 seeds. UofL finished with a 4-5-2 record in its 11 outings against NCAA Championship foes with three of the losses coming on the road.
Louisville was 8-2-1 at home this season and has a 21-8-6 record all-time at Lynn Stadium, now in its third season as the team's home facility. The Cardinals enter the 2016 postseason with an 8-3-1 mark all-time in NCAA Championship matches at home, including a 1-1 record at Lynn Stadium.
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