INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The 2022 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer tournament champions, University of St. Thomas, will make the program’s first ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship Tournament as the Celts take on Chapman in the opening round. NCAA Release | NCAA Bracket
St. Thomas (14-1-3) earned the SCAC automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs by virtue of winning its second-straight league tournament titles with its 3-1 victory over Trinity yesterday afternoon.
The Celts will travel to Belton, Texas, for its opening round contest against Chapman University, the automatic qualifier out of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) on Saturday. While this will be the first meeting between the two programs in the NCAA Tournament, the SCAC holds a 6-2 record all-time against SCIAC foes.
On the other side of the bracket, Pacific Lutheran (16-3-0), an at-large selection from the Northwest Conference, takes on the American Southwest Conference champion and host of the weekend’s matches, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (11-2-2).
The winners of Saturday's matches play on Sunday with a trip to the sectionals on the line.
St. Thomas got strong performances this season from SCAC Tournament Offensive MVP Daniel Castro and Taty Aleman as the duo combined for 32 of the Celts’ 59 goals and dished out nine assists for 73 total points. On the defensive side, SCAC Tournament Defensive MVP Ivan Leon and Hamilton Estrada lead a Celts defense that allowed just 15 goals on the year and posted a 0.83 goals against average.
Forty-three conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the championship. One team will be selected from Pool B. The other 20 berths were reserved for Pool C with, which includes institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that did not win their conference championship and any remaining Pool B teams.
All tournament games leading up to the national semifinals will be played on the campuses of the competing institutions. Sixteen sites will host four teams for first-and second-round competition Nov. 11-12 or 12-13.
Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites Nov. 18-19 or 19-20. Winners of the four sectionals will advance to the national semifinals, which take place Dec. 1 at Kerr Soccer Stadium in Salem, Virginia, with Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the City of Salem serving as hosts. The national championship game will be played Dec. 3.
