Nov. 17, 2014
2014 NCAA Tournament Bracket (PDF) | 2014 NCAA Tournament Bracket (Interactive)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's soccer team will play in its 32nd NCAA Tournament on Thursday as the 48-team bracket was revealed. The Nittany Lions (12-5-1) will host Sun Belt champion Hartwick (6-9-4) on Jeffrey Field at 7 p.m.
"This is a great achievement and I'm happy our body of work has earned us a spot in the tournament," head coach Bob Warming said at the watch party held in Penn State's HUB Robeson Center. "We look forward to hosting Hartwick, who has been a hot team as of late, and playing once again at Jeffrey Field in front of our great fans."
The Nittany Lions make back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2009 and 2010 editions were contested. Each of the past two NCAA Tournaments for Penn State has resulted in a run to the Sweet 16.
Penn State earned one of 24 at-large bids and will host a game at Jeffrey Field in the first round for the second straight year. Last season, the Nittany Lions beat St. Francis Brooklyn, 1-0, before heading to No. 10 seed UC Santa Barbara, where Penn State would go on to be victorious. This time around, should the Nittany Lions win they'll travel north to ninth-seeded Syracuse, who has a bye into the second round, on Sunday.
The Nittany Lions will face the Hartwick Hawks who won the Sun Belt Conference to earn their 24th NCAA Tournament appearance, the first since 2005. Penn State is 10-13-4 all-time against the Hawks with the last meeting taking place Aug. 27, 2006 at Columbus, Ohio, a 2-1 win for the Nittany Lions. Thursday's match will represent the first meeting between the two teams in tournament play.
Hartwick finished the season on a three-game winning streak by defeating Howard (5-0) to complete the regular season, Appalachian State (2-0) in the Sun Belt Semifinals and host Georgia Southern (1-0) in the Sun Belt Final. The Hawks have gone 6-3-0 since a 0-6-4 start tot eh season.
TICKET INFORMATION
Parking is free for this event. Game tickets are $8.00 for adult, $5.00 for student/youth and $3.00 for groups of 20 or more and will be sold in advance at the Athletic Ticket Office in the Bryce Jordan Center beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 19. Tickets will be sold at the Bryce Jordan Center until Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and then they will be available at Jeffrey Field beginning at 6:00 p.m.