HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University men's soccer team earned the highest national seed in school history, receiving the No. 10 seed and a first round bye in the Division I Men's Soccer NCAA Tournament. The Panthers learned their fate on Monday afternoon surrounded by family, friends, and staff when it was announced on the NCAA Selection Show.
The 11-time Big South Conference champions will host for the first time since 2018 and second time in program history when the winner of West Virginia vs. St. John's comes to Vert Stadium on Sunday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m. It'll be the second NCAA Tournament match played on HPU's campus — the last one coming when men's soccer received an at-large bid in 2018 and hosted James Madison — and the fifth overall NCAA Tournament appearance for the Panthers.
Head Coach Zach Haines: "I think we need to make sure that we do take a second to really celebrate this and have a lot of pride in this. We just got a Top-10 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That's nearly impossible to do for anybody who isn't ACC, Big Ten, and Big East. So, it's a big moment for the program, the university and the athletic department. It's a huge milestone; it's incredibly tough to do. You have to be nearly perfect and virtually perfect in your conference play, and then you have to play a monster non-conference slate, and then you have to be near perfect in that and this group achieved that. And so, to get the reward on the other end with two trophies and a top-10 seed and a bye in the first round, it is a huge step forward. We've been trying to reach new heights and milestones in every year in the last seven, and this is another one, and it's a very big one."
Division I Men's Soccer NCAA Tournament
First Round Bye | Round of 32 Host
#10 High Point (13-1-4) vs. West Virginia (12-4-3) or St. John's (9-5-4)
Sunday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m.
High Point, N.C. | Vert Stadium
NCAA Bracket | Watch Live on
ESPN+
Tickets | All HPU students, faculty & staff are free with valid ID
The Panthers, who have been ranked in every regular-season national poll this year, have been dominant and their record backs it up. HPU was unbeaten through 10 games before dropping its lone match in the 11th game of the season to NCAA Tournament squad UNC Greensboro. High Point capped a perfect league season, sweeping the Big South regular-season and tournament championships for an undefeated 9-0 conference record and an overall 13-1-4 mark. The Panthers played one of the toughest schedules in the country, sitting at No. 9 in RPI at the conclusion of the regular season with wins over No. 14/25 Georgetown and draws versus No. 10 Marshall and West Virginia.
All three of those ranked teams are in the NCAA Tournament as the Panthers have a potential rematch against the Mountaineers, who they tied 2-2 on Sept. 23, in the Round of 32 while the St. John's match would be the first ever.
In either matchup, High Point — who is the only team in the nation with a top-5 scoring offense (2.50 goals per game), top-6 defense (.611 goals against average) and top-10 RPI — feels confident in its odds due to the team togetherness on and off the field.
"It's a great step for us, but we want to accomplish more," HPU Senior
Jefferson Amaya said. "We want to make a run and we have the team to make a deep run and win a national championship this year. It's a special team and a team that maybe may go down as arguably the best team to play at this school. We have a great group of guys, and I think we know the potential we have. I don't think there's even a little bit of satisfaction in the team and everybody's just hungry to win more and get deep in the tournament. I think that's been part of our success. Any team could've been satisfied with getting results against Georgetown, Marshall, and West Virginia but that doesn't mean much if you don't go out and win trophies, and that's what we did. It's the mentality of the team."
Behind one of the nation's best goal scorers
Daniel Lugo and shot stoppers in
Josh Caron, the Panthers look to take their talented and deep roster far into the NCAA Tournament. High Point hasn't shied away from the big-time regular-season matches and won't turn a blind eye moving forward.
From here on,
the Panthers stay together as they did coming into the season and it begins at home against a highly-touted team alike the regular-season opener. This time, it's for all the marbles and High Point will have the support as it has the entire journey so far.
"Hosting an NCAA Tournament game at High Point University — it's only happened once in 2018 when men's soccer hosted James Madison — it's really, really special for the community, the university, and everybody that is a part of this," Haines said, "because there's so many people that put in an incredible amount of work into elevating this university and this athletic department. We were able to play the Big South final in front of our fans and they showed out and was a huge difference for us in that game. They've really been a massive part of our success, every single home game and for the entirety of the season."
#GoHPU
HIGH POINT MEN'S SOCCER NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY (Five Appearances)
-Nov. 15, 2018
vs James Madison, L, 0-3*^ (First Round)
-May 2, 2021 (2020-2021 spring season)
vs #2 Georgetown, L, 0-2 (Second Round)
-Nov. 17, 2022
vs. North Carolina, W, 2-0 (First Round)
Nov. 20, 2022
vs. #5 Stanford, L, 2-6 (Second Round)
-Nov. 16, 2023
Vs. Charlotte, L, 0-1 (First Round)
Nov. 23, 2025^
Vs. West Virginia/St. John's (Second Round)
*At-Large | ^Host
