The Wisconsin Badgers women’s soccer team will host the University of Maine in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Friday.
The NCAA announced the 64-team bracket on Monday which includes nine other Big Ten teams. Teams from 30 conferences were given automatic entry to the tournament as winners from their respective conference championships. For the Big Ten, conference champion UCLA was granted entry and seeded second.
USC is seeded first, going undefeated in conference play. Another notable Big Ten opponent in the tournament is Ohio State, who defeated the Badgers in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
Despite the presence of other Big Ten teams, no teams in the same conference are allowed to play one another in the first two rounds of competition, according to the NCAA.
The competing schools will host the first and second rounds. Whichever team is seeded the highest in their matchup hosts the game.
Wisconsin is seeded fifth in their quarter of the bracket and will host Maine at the McClimon Soccer Complex. Should the Badgers take the win over Maine to move on to the second round, and if they are seeded higher than their opponent, they will host that team at home as well.
Wisconsin’s first-round opponent, Maine, received automatic qualification as the winner of their conference tournament. The Black Bears have a 13-1-3 overall regular season record and won the America East Championship game 3-0 against University of New Hampshire. This game will be the first time Wisconsin and Maine meet in program history.
The Badgers and the Black Bears will face off on Friday at 7 p.m. at the McClimon Soccer Complex.
Gabriella Hartlaub is the former arts editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has also written state politics and campus news. She currently is a summer reporting intern with Raleigh News and Observer. Follow her on Twitter at @gabihartlaub.
