ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced the 2022 Big Ten Women’s Soccer Tournament bracket on Sunday, with Michigan State earning the tournament’s No. 1 seed after clinching the outright Big Ten Championship on Oct. 20.
Winners of their first Big Ten title with 28 points, the Spartans (14-1-3, 9-0-1 Big Ten) will play host to No. 8 seed Minnesota (8-7-3, 4-4-2) in a conference tournament quarterfinal match at 4 p.m. (ET) Oct. 30 live on Big Ten Network and the FOX Sports app. Michigan State is the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament for the second time in program history, having previously earned that seed in 1994 after finishing with the conference’s best regular season record (from 1994-96, the Big Ten women’s soccer title was awarded to the winner of the tournament, rather than the highest finisher in the regular season).
Michigan State, which is seeking its first Big Ten Tournament title, will be facing a Minnesota side that has won three Big Ten Tournament championships in program history, most recently in 2018. Michigan State and Minnesota did not face one another during the 2022 regular season, with their most recent meeting coming on Sept. 26, 2021 (won by MSU, 2-1 in East Lansing, Mich.).
Northwestern (13-3-2, 7-2-1) posted its best Big Ten regular season finish since 2017, when it tied for second place, while this year’s 22 points tied for the second-best conference total in program history behind only the Wildcats’ 24 points in 2016, the year they shared the Big Ten title with Minnesota and Penn State. Northwestern is the Big Ten Tournament’s No. 2 seed, having matched its highest-ever seed in the event with its similar No. 2 position in 2017, with that seed resulting in the most recent of Northwestern’s two Big Ten Tournament finals appearances.
The Wildcats will play host to seventh-seeded Rutgers (13-3-2, 5-3-2) in a tournament quarterfinal on Oct. 30 (kickoff time TBD) that will be streamed live on B1G+ (details at bigtenplus.com). The Scarlet Knights finished in a four-way tie with Nebraska, Ohio State and Penn State for fourth place in the Big Ten standings on 17 points, receiving the No. 7 seed based on tiebreakers. Like Northwestern, Rutgers is seeking its first Big Ten Tournament title. The two squads did match up earlier this season, playing to a 1-1 tie on Sept. 29 in Evanston, Ill.
Wisconsin (11-4-3, 6-3-1) finished third in the Big Ten with 19 points and earned the No. 3…
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