NCAA men’s soccer tournament: What you need to know

The Charlotte 49ers face Georgia State in the first round of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament at 7 p.m. Thursday at TransAmerica Field. Here are five things to know about the 49ers-Panthers game and this year’s tournament:

▪ Although the 49ers (14-4-1) didn’t make the field in 2017, the national tournament is familiar territory for the program. This is the seventh time in the eight seasons Charlotte has played in the tournament and the 13th time overall. The 49ers have advanced to the College Cup (scheduled for Dec. 7 and 9 in Santa Barbara, Calif.) twice, and play for the national championship in 2011 (a 1-0 loss to North Carolina in Birmingham, Ala.).

▪ The 49ers became a little less formidable on their home field last week, falling 1-0 to Kentucky in the Conference USA tournament championship game. Charlotte entered the league tournament unbeaten and unscored on at TransAmerica Field this season. After a 1-0 quarterfinals victory against Ala.-Birmingham, the 49ers beat Old Dominion 4-2 in the semifinals before allowing another goal against the Wildcats in the final.

▪ Charlotte freshman striker Preston Popp (Mooresville High) had a breakout performance in the C-USA tournament, scoring the winning goal against UAB and opening the scoring in the semifinals against ODU. Popp’s five goals tie him for the team lead with senior striker Daniel Bruce and sophomore defender Patrick Hogan.

▪ Georgia State (11-6-2) upset fourth-ranked Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt tournament semifinals, then beat Georgia Southern 4-2 to win the championship. Senior midfielder Hanns Burmeister, who hadn’t scored a goal all season to that point, had three goals against the Eagles.

▪ The tournament’s top seed is Wake Forest, which will play the winner of Thursday’s New Hampshire-Colgate game on Saturday in Winston-Salem. The Deacons are one of nine ACC teams in the tournament (North Carolina, Duke, Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Notre Dame and N.C. State). Other Carolinas teams in the field are Campbell, UNC Wilmington, High Point and Furman.

Stanford, which has won the last three championships and is coached by former Charlotte coach Jeremy Gunn, is seeded ninth and plays the winner of the UC Irvine-Grand Canyon game Saturday.

This story was originally published November 14, 2018 at 11:26 PM with the headline "NCAA men’s soccer tournament: What you need to know."