NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament Bracket Selection: Can Pitt earn an at-large bid?

Photo courtesy Pitt Athletics

The 2024 NCAA DI women’s soccer tournament is almost here — with the 64-team bracket, including 30 auto-bids and 34 at-large selections, being announced on Monday afternoon, November 11, at 4 p.m. on NCAA.com.

🚨 Women's Soccer Selection Show 🚨

⏰ 4:00 PM ET
💻 https://t.co/mPxwMOjZ3G#NCAASoccer pic.twitter.com/muQcu09y6O

— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) November 11, 2024

Pitt women’s soccer team, who did not qualify for the ACC tournament, are still hoping to get in the field with an at-large invitation.

The Panthers, who posted a 9-6-3 overall record and managed a 3-5-2 mark in the ACC, finished 11th in the 18-team conference. It didn’t help matters that the Panthers lost three matches in a row to end the regular season concluding with a 3-2 loss at No. 13 Notre Dame.

Because of this, the Panthers appear to be on the bubble.

We are talented enough to be in and make a good run in the NCAA tournament…and I hope our body of work warrants our name being called today,” Ben Waldrum, Pitt’s Associate Head Coach, told Pittsburgh Soccer Now on Monday.

The Panthers have earned at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in each of the past two years, having success in the early rounds each year, finishing 2023 campaign with an Elite Eight loss to eventual National Champions, Florida State, and the same exact result came in the tournament’s Sweet Sixteen in 2022.

After Sunday’s conference championship matches were played, the Panthers sit 40th in the all-important Ratings Percentage Index rankings.

Looking behind the list of the 30 teams who earned Automatic Bids, by order of the RPI, if the committee goes strictly by this rating index, the Panthers would be one of the last four teams in the field.

Below you’ll find the list that includes all of the teams that have qualified due to winning conference tournament(s) and/or regular season title.   The remaining list includes the next 40 schools in order of the RPI standing.

RPI	School	Auto Qualifier (AC)
6	Florida St.	AC
14	UCLA	AC
17	Utah St.	AC
18	Texas	AC
24	Western Mich.	AC
25	Saint Louis	AC
27	Kansas	AC
37	Princeton	AC
42	Fairfield	AC
44	Santa Clara	AC
	Missouri St	AC
	Howard	AC
	Morehead St	AC
	Boston U	AC
	Samford	AC
	SFA	AC
	Southern	AC
	S Dakota St	AC
	Cal Baptist	AC
	Milwaukee	AC
	FIU	AC
	Stony Brook	AC
	UC Santa Barbara	AC
	USC Upstate	AC
	Sacramento State	AC
	Lipscomb	AC
	Maine	AC
	East Carolina	AC
48	UConn	AC
49	James Madison	AC
RPI	AT LARGE FIELD IN ORDER OF RPI	CONFERENCE
1	Duke	ACC	1
2	North Carolina	ACC	2
4	Mississippi St.	SEC	3
5	Southern California	Big Ten	4
6	Arkansas	SEC	5
7	Wake Forest	ACC	6
8	Penn St.	Big Ten	7
10	Virginia	ACC	8
11	Iowa	Big Ten	9
12	Notre Dame	ACC	10
13	Stanford	ACC	11
14	South Carolina	SEC	12
15	TCU	Big 12	13
18	Ohio St.	Big Ten	14
19	Georgetown	Big East	15
22	Michigan St.	Big Ten	16
23	Auburn	SEC	17
24	Kentucky	SEC	18
25	Vanderbilt	SEC	19
26	BYU	Big 12	20
28	Wisconsin	Big Ten	21
29	Minnesota	Big Ten	22
30	West Virginia	Big 12	23
31	Oklahoma St.	Big 12	24
32	Virginia Tech	ACC	25
33	Rutgers	Big Ten	26
35	Xavier	Big East	27
37	Georgia	SEC	28
38	UConn	Big East	29
39	Pepperdine	WCC	30
40	Pittsburgh	ACC	31
41	Texas Tech	Big 12	32
42	Massachusetts	Atlantic 10	33
44	South Fla.	The American	34
45	Tennessee	SEC
46	Oklahoma	SEC
47	Liberty	CUSA
49	California	ACC
50	Washington	Big Ten
51	LSU	SEC