Nov. 16, 2011
NORFOLK, Va. - The Old Dominion University men's soccer team will open the 2011 NCAA Tournament on Thursday night against Liberty at 7 p.m. at ODU Soccer Complex. The Monarchs made the tournament as at-large qualifier for the second consecutive season. Admission to the game is $5 for adults and $4 for youth tickets.
The Monarchs are 12-5-1 overall this season and are one of four CAA teams in the 48-team field in 2011. ODU is second in the NCAA in scoring offense as they average 2.67 goals per contest. Liberty is 11-6-2 and earned the Big South's automatic bid with a 3-1 victory over Gardner-Webb in the conference championship game on Sunday. The two teams have split their all-time meetings with Liberty winning in 2000 and ODU winning in 2001.
"We are excited to get a first round game at home," said head coach Alan Dawson, who has led ODU to the NCAA Tournament in eight of the last 10 seasons. "This team has worked extremely hard this season and we look forward to a great match on Thursday night."
Old Dominion is 7-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. In 2010, the Monarchs defeated Virginia in the opening round, 1-0, before falling to Penn State in the second round, 4-1.
The winner of the contest will face the tournament's No. 16 seed, the Indiana Hoosiers, Sunday at Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, Ind.
NCAA Tournament game programs can be found here. The game will also be streamed live and free of charge through ODUSports.com and the link can be found here.