Indiana Men’s Soccer Begins NCAA Tournament On Sunday

Indiana will host either Princeton or Akron at Bill Armstrong Stadium.

Tommy Mihalic, shown here in a file shot, scored the second goal for Indiana in the Hoosiers' 2-2 draw against Notre Dame on Thursday. / Indiana athletics

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana men’s soccer journey to try to win its ninth College Cup will begin on Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.

The 48-team men’s soccer NCAA Tournament field was announced on Monday and for the 24th time in school history, the Hoosiers earned a national seed.

The No. 14-seeded Hoosiers (10-4-5) get a bye into the second round and will host either Princeton or Akron on Sunday at Bill Armstrong Field. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET.

Tickets will cost $10 for adults, $5 for kids aged 3-18 and for college students. Admission is free for those aged 2 and under and for Indiana students who would need to show their Crimson Card at the ticket window on match day.

Princeton and Akron will play each other in the first round on Thursday in Akron, Ohio.

The bracket is SET 🙌⚽#NCAASoccer pic.twitter.com/wkGc28tXPV

— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) November 18, 2024

Indiana was drawn into Region 3 of the four-region tournament field. If Indiana wins on Sunday, it would play one of Denver, Oregon State or Gardner-Webb. Denver is the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament field and hosts the Oregon State-Gardner-Webb winner on Sunday.

If there are no upsets, Denver would host the Hoosiers in the third round. If there are, Indiana would host in the third round.

The seeded teams on the other side of the Region 3 bracket are No. 6 Penn and No. 11 Virginia. West Virginia-North Florida and Massachusetts-Evansville are the first round matches on that side of the region.

Indiana is one of 16 programs to receive a national seed and it was the Hoosiers’ 10th in 11 seasons.

The other national seeds are No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Pittsburgh, No. 4 Georgetown, No. 5 Dayton, No. 7 Hofstra, No. 8 Wake Forest, No. 9 Clemson, No. 10 Duke, No. 12 SMU, No. 13 Marshall, No. 15 Missouri State and No. 16 Stanford. Indiana went 2-4-3 against teams in the NCAA Tournament field.

In addition to Indiana and Ohio State, the Big Ten is represented in the field by Maryland, Michigan, UCLA and Washington.

Indiana shook off a 2-3-4 start to the season to capture its second straight Big Ten regular season championship. Indiana was on a 10-game unbeaten run until it was defeated 1-0 by Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament.

Tommy Mihalic leads Indiana with 10 goals and was the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Sam Sarver paces the Hoosiers with eight assists.

Eight Hoosiers – Mihalic, Justin Weiss (6 goals), Sarver (5 goals), Charlie Heuer (4 goals), Michael Nesci (4 goals), Collins Oduro (3 goals), Quinton Elliot (3 goals), Patrick McDonald (2 goals) have scored more than once for Indiana this season. Mihalic, Sarver, McDonald and Elliot were All-Big Ten first team selections.

Goalkeeper JT Harms had has four clean sheets and concedes 1.17 goals per game.

The tournament will finish in the NCAA College Cup, set to return to WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. from Dec. 13-16.