The Big Dance

[deiscanton]

New to this part of the boards, can anybody shed some light to me on how sectional locations are picked?

1.). Try to avoid as many flights as possible.  Teams over 500 miles from a sectional site usually have to fly to the location, which the NCAA must pay for the flight.

2.) If all teams are within 500 miles, the team with the highest regional ranking will usually get the host site.  If 2 or more teams are tied with the highest regional ranking, then the team with the better resume usually gets it.

3.) Check the pre-tournament handbook to find out who has priority between women and men for the second weekend. It may turn out that one school has a high enough regional ranking to host sectionals in both tournaments, in which case the handbook will determine who has priority.

For example, Chicago and Mary Hardin Baylor are both ranked #2 in their respective regions-- Central and West, respectively.  Calvin and Emory are also in that sectional.  Calvin is ranked at #4 in the Central, while Emory is #6 in South Atlantic.  Calvin can bus to Chicago, while the other teams have to fly to either Chicago or Texas.  Chicago probably gets that sectional, since only 2 teams will have to fly to that host site vs 3 flights to Texas.

Update-- NCAA has released their men's sectional host sites on the printable bracket.

NCAA has picked North Park, Chicago, Messiah, and Tufts as the sectional site hosts on the men's side for next weekend.

[NEsoccerfan]

That's 6 straight sweet 16 appearances for Brandeis. I'm curious who else has this long (or longer) of a streak going. Calvin? Amherst?

[blooter442]

That's 6 straight sweet 16 appearances for Brandeis. I'm curious who else has this long (or longer) of a streak going. Calvin? Amherst?

Amherst has 8, including this year. No idea about Calvin.

[firstplaceloser]

i will say this, I feel bad for Trinity. they are a class program and their coach is an amazing guy. Back when the Final Four was in Texas, the Trinity coach opened his field and equipment and let us practice at their stadium when we got there. He also showed up to the Loras game with a box of Under Armour and Gloves and let us use whatever we wanted. they deserve the continued success they have every year and their coach is teaching them the right way to do things

[Shooter McGavin]

this years tournament is upset city! down goes loras, oneonta, cortland, LYCOMING, rowan. and amherst getting away with another one

I can't say anybody saw this coming. Wow.

[Shooter McGavin]

Loras
Kenyon
John Carroll
Lynchburg
Trinity
Rowan
Lycoming
Newark
Cortland
Oneonta

What a list to not  be going to the Sweet 16 

[rudy]

Loras
Kenyon
John Carroll
Lynchburg
Trinity
Rowan
Lycoming
Newark
Cortland
Oneonta

What a list to not  be going to the Sweet 16 

Biggest surprises in the sweet 16? Stevens institute? M Hardin Baylor? They must be solid teams to win 2 rounds.

Biggest cakewalk to sweet 16...NPU for sure. Only blowout in 2nd round. 12 out of 16 games decided by 1 goal or pk shootout.

[NESCAC43]

Was anyone else not that impressed w/ Lycoming throughout the season? Saw them 3 times and each time I thought the same thing; solid team with great athleticism but ZERO discipline. Although CWRU is a good side and is probably the best team in the country that is never ranked, that loss against them showed me what I had been thinking the whole time was in fact correct. I have been far from perfect with my predictions for the tournament, specifically with Rowan, but to me, this Lycoming side never had a shot.

[NESCAC43]

After the opening weekend of the tournament, my favorites to win the tournament have to be Tufts and then whoever wins the Chicago/Calvin game. Both Chicago and Calvin looked sharp this weekend and those two pitted against each other in the Sweet 16 is a championship-caliber game in itself. Tufts and JHU, battle of the Carolina blues, should be a great matchup as well.

[firstplaceloser]

Loras
Kenyon
John Carroll
Lynchburg
Trinity
Rowan
Lycoming
Newark
Cortland
Oneonta

What a list to not  be going to the Sweet 16 

Biggest surprises in the sweet 16? Stevens institute? M Hardin Baylor? They must be solid teams to win 2 rounds.

Biggest cakewalk to sweet 16...NPU for sure. Only blowout in 2nd round. 12 out of 16 games decided by 1 goal or pk shootout.

MH-Baylor actually played very well against Trinity. and Stevens in the sweet 16 is crazy.. messiah is probably ecstatic.

[firstplaceloser]

I would rate next week games as followed:

chicago vs calvin
tufts vs JH
North Park vs WL
drew vs brandeis
rochester Vs amherst
st. thomas vs Otterbein
Messiah vs stevens
emory vs MHB

3-6 could go either way

[lastguyoffthebench]

I'm guessing North Park, Chicago, Tufts, Messiah will be hosting?


Messiah women are at TCNJ

[Gregory Sager]

I'm guessing North Park, Chicago, Tufts, Messiah will be hosting?

Allen has already reported this:

NCAA has picked North Park, Chicago, Messiah, and Tufts as the sectional site hosts on the men's side for next weekend.

You can see the host sites when clicking on each round-of-16 match on the ncaa.com interactive bracket.

[Hopkins92]

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/soccer-men_d3_2017.pdf

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Was anyone else not that impressed w/ Lycoming throughout the season? Saw them 3 times and each time I thought the same thing; solid team with great athleticism but ZERO discipline. Although CWRU is a good side and is probably the best team in the country that is never ranked, that loss against them showed me what I had been thinking the whole time was in fact correct. I have been far from perfect with my predictions for the tournament, specifically with Rowan, but to me, this Lycoming side never had a shot.

It is easy to come out and say this after the fact isn't it? Where were you when they knocked off the #1 team in the country last weekend? I didn't see any posts about them being bad then...

I think they were a capable team and worthy of the rankings they had. I watched them multiple times this season and they are as good as anybody else I have watched. They need a few more pieces to be a special team but they by no means were they not impressive this year.