Michigan Receives NCAA At-Large Bid, Will Host Princeton in First Round
11/12/2018 1:49:00 PM | Men's Soccer
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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Fresh off a second consecutive 12-win campaign, the University of Michigan men's soccer team received one of the 24 at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament on Monday (Nov. 12) and will host Princeton in the first round Thursday (Nov. 15) at U-M Soccer Stadium. First touch is scheduled for 7Â p.m.
Tickets for Thursday's match went on sale at 2 p.m. today. Prices are $8 (reserved), $6 (general admission adults) and $3 (students, groups of 10-plus people). Tickets are available online or by calling the Michigan Athletics Ticket Office at (866) 296-MTIX.
This is the program's seventh NCAA Tournament berth and third under head coach Chaka Daley. The Wolverines have earned bids in back-to-back seasons for the second time in program history (2003-04).
Michigan (12-5-2) finished tied for third in the Big Ten and reached the Big Ten Tournament championship game before losing to No. 2 Indiana, 3-0, yesterday in Westfield, Indiana. The Wolverines got their at-large bid behind a strong RPI (No. 28) and an 8-4-1 record against RPI top-100 teams.
U-M is +18 in goal differential this season (35 GF, 17 GA), led by Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Jack Hallahan (8 goals, 8 assists). Umar Farouk Osman (9G, 3A), Robbie Mertz (2G, 4A) and Marcello Borges (3A) joined Hallahan on the All-Big Ten teams.
Princeton (10-5-2) received an automatic bid by virtue of winning the Ivy League. The Tigers have a stingy defense, allowing only 11 goals and limiting opponents to just eight shots per match. Four players have at least four goals: Sean McSherry (4G, 4A), Kevin O'Toole (4G, 4A), Jeremy Colvin (5G) and Gaby Paniagua (4G, 1A). Goalkeeper Jacob Schachner has started 15 matches and made 37 saves.
This will be the first meeting between the Michigan and Princeton men's soccer programs. The winner of Thursday's match will advance to the second round to face No. 7 seed Notre Dame on Sunday (Nov. 18) in South Bend, Indiana.
