NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament: For first time ever, two Pittsburgh DI schools (Pitt and Robert Morris) likely in field of 48

Photo courtesy Robert Morris men's soccer

For the first time ever, it’s all but a foregone conclusion that two Pittsburgh area Division I men’s college soccer programs will be entered into the field of the NCAA Men’s Soccer tournament, when the Men’s Soccer Committee announces the brackets on Monday (1 pm ET) on NCAA.com..

All 22 conference champions — including Robert Morris, have locked in their spot at the 2024 NCAA DI men’s soccer 48-team tournament.

The full field, consisting of these 22 auto-bids and 26 at-large selections, among which Pitt are likely to have their name called, will begin play starting this coming Thursday, November 21.

Robert Morris is already in the field, as the Colonials won the Horizon League Championship game on Saturday, with an exhilarating 1-0 victory to beat top-seed Oakland, for their first Conference title and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament since 2005.

Pitt (12-5-0 overall, 8-3 vs ACC) on the other hand, are a sure bet to get an at-large invite to the tournament, as the Panthers sit very high in the Rating Percentage Index (4th among all NCAA DI programs as of November 17) and were last ranked 9th in the United Soccer Coaches poll (last released on November 3).  Pitt also earned the ACC regular season championship, but have lost two matches in a row, including to Syracuse on the road, then losing in the conference tournament quarterfinal, 2-0, to Virginia.

Due to its success in the regular season, it’s very likely that Pitt will still earn a top 16 seed despite these two losses. This would put them in position to earn a first-round bye, as they’ll wait to host a match on Sunday.  By comparison, two schools that made it to the ACC Championship Game on Sunday, Clemson and Wake Forest, who finished behind Pitt in the regular season standings, are currently sitting 8th and 12th in the RPI, respectively. The ACC, as it always does, could have up to eight or nine teams invited to the tournament, in addition to the automatic bid (Wake Forest earned for beating Clemson in a PK shootout on Sunday).

Robert Morris (9-6-3 overall), on the other hand, are playing very well, with two impressive, hard-fought, wins at the Horizon League tournament, after earning the No. seed for a solid regular season campaign.

The seeding committee typically will do its best to keep first and second round matches within regional areas, leaving a very good possibility that if Pitt draws a first round bye, that they could play a winner of a first round match that features Robert Morris.

Another Pennsylvania school that earned an automatic bid in winning their conference tournament is Bucknell, winners of the Patriot League, who are coached by former Riverhounds gaffer, Dave Brandt.

Thus, it could also be very likely that we could see a rematch between Bucknell and Robert Morris in the first round — with the winner taking on Pitt.

Way back in August, in the home opener for Robert Morris in August, Bucknell came away with the win when the teams faced each other.

Dave Brandt’s Bucknell Bison shut out Robert Morris, 2-0, in season opener

In its first tournament appearance in nearly 50 years, Pitt hosted a Patriot League winner in the first round (Lehigh in 2019).

Then as a high seed, Pitt faced NEC winner Monmouth (in 2020 when tournament was played at neutral site in Cary, NC), hosted Horizon League’s Cleveland State (2021) and MVC’s Northern Illinois (2022).  Last year, Pitt had to host a first round match, losing to Sun Belt Conference’s James Madison, 3-2.

Speaking of the Sun Belt Conference, down the road, West Virginia, who made it to the College Cup last season, earned an automatic bid by virtue of its Sun Belt Conference title win against in-state rival, Marshall, also in a match that went to penalty kicks, on Sunday.

Look for more coverage to come, including NCAA tournament bracket release updates and reaction plus coverage all Pitt and RMU matches to come from Pittsburgh Soccer Now.

2024 NCAA DI men’s soccer tournament schedule

• Selection show: 1 p.m. ET Monday, Nov. 18 on NCAA.com
• First round: Thursday, Nov. 21
• Second round: Sunday, Nov. 24
• Third round:  Saturday, Nov. 30 or Sunday, Dec 1
• Quarterfinals: Friday, Dec. 6 or Saturday, Dec. 7
• Men’s College Cup: 
  • Semifinals: Friday, Dec. 13 | 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU
  • National championship: Monday, Dec. 16 | 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU

Pitt and Robert Morris in the NCAA Tournament

• Pitt in the NCAA Tournament
  • The Panthers have appeared in seven NCAA tournaments, posting a 10-6-1 record.
  • Under Jay Vidovich, the Panthers have made five consecutive appearances (2019-2023)
    • College Cup twice (2020 & 2022)
    • Elite Eight three times (2020, 2021, 2023)
    • Previous two appearances came in 1965 and 1967
• Robert Morris in the NCAA Tournament
• • • • The Colonials are 1-3 overall with three appearances – 1993, 1994, 2005
      • 1993 — Lost in first round to Penn State, 3-0 (Head Coach – John Kowalski)
      • 1994 — Defeated Lafayette, 1-0; lost in second round to Penn State, 3-0 (Head Coach – John Kowalski)
      • 2005 — Lost in first round to West Virginia, 1-0 (Head Coach – Bill Denniston)