Men's soccer named No. 6 NCAA seed — hosts LIU/Denver winner

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Mustangs Named No. 6 Seed in NCAA Tournament

DALLAS (SMU) -The SMU men's soccer team heard its name called on Selection Monday when the NCAA selection committee announced the Mustangs as the No. 6 overall seed in the 2023 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament.

It's the Mustangs (13-2-2) 35th appearance in the tournament and sixth since Kevin Hudson took over the program in 2015. Additionally, SMU has appeared in the Elite Eight 13 times and the College Cup twice.

The bracket revealed that the No. 6 Mustangs will play host to the winner of Thursday's opening-round match between LIU (10-5-3) from the Northeast and the Summit League's Denver (11-2-5).

LIU won the Northeast Conference Tournament and Denver won the Summit League regular-season title.

SMU enters the NCAA Tournament with a 13-2-2 record overall record and 7-0-1 in the American Athletic Conference. The Mustangs won the outright AAC regular-season title and were No. 2 in the most recent United Soccer Coaches poll.

Three Mustangs were named Preseason All-Americans — Jelldrik Dallmann, Mads Westergren and Jaylinn Mitchell. Westergren was named the AAC Defensive Player of the Year, Bailey Sparks was named Midfielder of the Year, Cole Johnson was named Goalkeeper of the Year and Niv Berkovitz was crowned Rookie of the Year.

SMU's match versus Denver/LIU will be on Sunday, Nov. 19 at Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium with kickoff set for 7 p.m.

Tickets are $8 for adults and SMU students and youth tickets will be priced at $5. More information and ticket link to follow as available.

The top 16 teams were seeded and received first-round byes. All first-round games will be played Thursday, on campus sites, while all second-round action will take place Sunday, Nov. 19. The third round will be played Nov. 25 or Nov. 26, while the quarterfinals will be played Dec. 1 or 2.

[Charleston Pony]

Interesting seed that at least gives us a 1st round bye but then a potential 1st game against Denver, a team that already beat us 3-1 earlier this year

[EastStang]

Hopefully we beat them at home. We have a good draw. If everything goes according to seeding we’d meet future ACC rival UNC on the road in the quarters.

[Charleston Pony]

Kind of like Hudson suggested after losing to Charlotte, the 49ers just wanted it more and played really hard throughout. If our guys aren't highly motivated after losing the AAC title game and then getting a chance to avenge our only regular season loss, then I suppose they just don't have enough will to win because we certainly have the talent to compete with anyone.