Indiana University Athletics
HOOSIERS TO HOST AKRON IN FIRST ROUND OF NCAA TOURNAMENT
11/16/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Bloomington, Ind. ­­ The Indiana men's soccer team, who had been ranked in the top four in the nation all season, and No. 1 for a good portion of the year, were a little shocked when they found out where they were placed in this year's NCAA Tournament.
The Hoosiers enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed and will face Akron in a first round match this Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
"I'm not shocked but I am surprised," Indiana head coach Jerry Yeagley said. "I told our players this had nothing to do with anything that was under our control. The objective measures and the formulas that are used in determining seeds and bids every team rank teams 1-5 and then they come up with your strength of schedule. And our strength of schedule must have really hurt us. Teams like Wisconsin are usually a No. 1 but this year they were a 5 and we played other teams like this during the season."
Indiana finished the regular season as the Big Ten Tournament and regular season champions and are 18-2. Akron won the Mid-American Conference and is 17-2-1. The teams are ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the Great Lakes Region.
"Akron is the team everyone is talking about this season in our region as perhaps the most improved and the most dangerous," Yeagley said. "It's a little surprising that the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the region have to meet each other in the first round of the tournament."
If the Hoosiers were to advance they would play the winner of the Butler-Cincinnati game, two teams that did not have as good of records as Indiana or Akron. "They were rated lower and their records were not as good as ours or Akron but yet they play each other," Yeagley said. "Again the committee does the pairings. But Akron is the most difficult team in our region that we could have faced.
Clemson is the tournament's top seed and could be a possible opponent in the national quarterfinals.
"I was hoping for a top four seeding," Yeagley said. "The polls haven't had us out of the top four all season long. To have us paired with Clemson this early in the tournament doesn't make enough sense as perhaps coaches or media would have done."
Tickets of the first round are priced at $7 for adults and $5 for students and are available by calling the Indiana Athletic Ticket Office at 812.855.4006 or 1.800.447.4648.
© Indiana University Athletics, 1998
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