MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia men’s soccer team will travel to Butler for the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday in Indianapolis.
The Mountaineers (9-8-2) learned their fate during Monday’s men’s soccer selection show. Kickoff at Butler’s Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl is set for 6 p.m.
WVU qualified for the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season, and 14th time in program history, after winning the MAC tournament.
“(I’ve said along the way that) we weren’t far off,” WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “We were playing well but just kept scoring on ourselves and getting assists for opponents and missing some key players. We never really felt like we were far off. So, there wasn’t a whole lot of panic, ever. Usually, when you go on streaks in the negative direction, you can very quickly lose your team. That never happened in our locker room. I think it was because we were playing well but just struggling to get results. So, is it remarkable from the outside looking in? I’d say, ‘Yeah.’ From in-house, we’re a good team and have known we’re a good team.”
WVU is making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 2010-11.
The Mountaineers are making their sixth NCAA tournament appearance under LeBlanc. The team also qualified in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2018. Last year, the squad reached the second round before falling to Georgetown 1-0.
Butler (11-6-2) is playing in the NCAA tournament for the ninth time in program history and first since 2017.
The winner between WVU and Butler will advance to the second round to face No. 11-seeded Marshall (15-2-3) on Sunday in Huntington.
