NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship bracket released

+NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship Bracket

INDIANAPOLIS (Via NCAA) — The field and bracket for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship was announced Monday by the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Committee, which awarded the tournament’s No. 1 seed to the University of Maryland, College Park. The Terrapins are looking to add a fourth national championship to the trophies they earned in 1968, 2005 and 2008, and enter the tournament with an 18-0-2 record. Maryland and the University of Denver (17-0-3) both enter the tournament unbeaten.

The 48-team field is made up of the champions of 24 conferences, who qualified automatically, in addition to 24 teams that were selected at-large. The top 16 teams were all seeded and receive first round byes. All first-round games will be played Thursday, November 17, while all second-round action will take place Sunday, November 20. The third round will be played November 26 and 27, while the quarterfinals will be played December 2 and 3. The Men’s College Cup will be held December 9 and 11 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The Atlantic Coast Conference led the way with nine teams in the field, including No. 2 seed Wake Forest University, No. 3 seed Clemson University and No. 4 seed University of Louisville.

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The Big East Conference, Conference USA and Pac-12 Conference each have four teams in the field.

The University of California, Los Angeles is making its 44th tournament appearance, the most of any team in the field and second all-time (Saint Louis University – 48) as it looks for a fifth national championship.

The University at Albany, University of the Pacific and Villanova University are all making their first appearance in the tournament field.

Last season, Stanford University won its first national championship with a 4-0 victory over Clemson in Kansas City.