NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament Bracket Announcement
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's soccer team has earned its 11th bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, as an at-large selection and will host the opening round against Elon on Thursday, Nov. 20.
UNCG (12-4-4, 3-2-0 SoCon) fell in double overtime to Furman, 1-0, in The 2025 Southern Conference (SoCon) Championship final on Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina. This will be the first NCAA Tournament game that the Spartans will host since 2022, when they hosted No. 13 Indiana in the Elite Eight.
This is the 20th time appearing in an NCAA Tournament since the program started, with seven appearances at the Division III level and two at the Division II level. This will be the third time under Head Coach Chris Rich, a two-time SoCon Coach of the Year.
The Spartans faced the ninth toughest schedule by RPI in the nation, going up against fellow tournament selections in High Point, Virginia, NC State and their first-round opponent in Elon in the regular season. The Spartans and the Phoenix matched up on Sept. 30 this season with the contest ending in a scoreless draw. Elon won the Coastal Athletic Association, defeating Stony Brooke 3-0 to clinch the Championship.
UNCG boasts nine All-SoCon nominations and has one of the more potent offensive units in the nation. The Spartans are nationally ranked fourth in total goals (43), 11th in scoring offense (2.26), 11th in total points (123), 18th in points per game (6.47) and 27th in total assists (37).
The Spartans are led by the trio of strikers in Arnaud Tattevin (12g, 2a), Enzo Dovlo (10g, 8a) and Steven Hernandez (5g, 5a), who each have contributed over 15 points this season and combined to score 27 out of the 43 goals scored.
Prior to the SoCon Championship, the Spartans entered the match ranked 18th in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and 26th in the NCAA RPI rankings. UNCG also ranked 21st in the TopDrawerSoccer and 22nd College Soccer News Division I polls.
The 48-team field is made up of champions from 23 conferences, who qualified automatically, in addition to 25 teams that were selected at-large. The top 16 teams were seeded and received first-round byes. All first-round games will be played Thursday, Nov. 20, on campus sites, while all second-round action will take place Sunday, Nov. 23. The third round will be played Nov. 29 and 30, while the quarterfinals will be played Dec. 5 and 6.
ESPNU will provide live coverage of all three games at the Men's College Cup on Dec. 12 and 15 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. This will be 11th time overall the Men's College Cup has been at Cary with Maryland (2005), Virginia (2009, 2014), Wake Forest (2007), Georgetown (2019), Marshall (2020), Clemson (2021), Syracuse (2022) and Vermont (2024) winning previously at WakeMed Soccer Park.
The winner of this matchup will face the fourth-seeded Virginia Cavaliers on Sunday, Nov. 23 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
