BYU women’s soccer gets No. 12 seed, first round-bye for NCAA Tournament

PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s soccer got the No. 12 seed and a first-round bye for the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament. The Cougars will face the winner of the Virginia and Southern Illinois Edwardsville matchup on Saturday, May 1 at 7 p.m. ET in Cary, North Carolina.

The first four rounds will be streamed on NCAA.com.

“We’re really excited for the draw that we got and for being a 12th seed,” said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood. “We’ve worked really hard this season and went out of our way to play some very competitive games. I think we’ve played more games than most teams this spring, and so it paid off. Hopefully we can go out there and enjoy our experience while playing our best soccer of the season and getting some great results.”

This marks BYU women’s soccer’s eighth tourney bid in the last nine seasons, and BYU has now made the NCAA Tournament in 21 of its 25 seasons as a program. In 2019, the Cougars were ranked No. 2 overall and lost to No. 1 Stanford in the quarterfinal. The other most successful tournament runs were when BYU reached the quarterfinal in 2003 and 2012.

BYU ended the 2020-21 regular season with a 11-3-1 overall record, while going 7-1-1 in West Coast Conference play. The Cougars’ only conference loss was against Santa Clara, who is No. 11 in the tournament.

The Cougars and Virginia have only met once, which was on October 4, 2001, with the Cougars losing 3-2 in overtime. The Cavaliers finished their season with an overall record of 10-4-2.

BYU and SIUE have not faced each other in the history of the two programs. The SIUE Cougars finished their season with an overall record of 8-2-2 in the Mid-American Conference.

Virginia and SIUE will play Wednesday, April 28 at 7 p.m. ET with streaming on NCAA.com.

The tournament includes 48 teams and will be held in Cary, North Carolina and the surrounding areas. Games will be held on campus at Campbell, East Carolina and the North Carolina Wilmington, in addition to Bryan Park (Greensboro), J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex (Wilson), Sportsplex (Matthews) and WakeMed Soccer Park (Cary).

The Division I Women’s Soccer committee intends to provide some opportunity for family and friends to attend the championships. They will follow the NCAA Medical Advisory Group guidelines, and the maximum allowable capacity will be 25 percent.

More information and the entire bracket can be found on the NCAA website.