The 2022 DI men’s soccer postseason has arrived, with a few conference tournaments already underway and the rest of the pack to follow this weekend. Next week will be jam-packed with high-stakes matches and teams looking to secure a spot in the DI men’s soccer championship with an automatic bid.
CHAMPS SEASON: Tournament schedules, AQ tracker
Looking ahead to the heart-stopping knockout soccer coming our way, here are four storylines around the country that we should keep an eye on as conference tournament champions are crowned and the national championship tournament field takes shape.
An ultra-competitive American
Coming into this season, I did not have the American penned as a wide-open conference. In fact, it looked like No. 12 Tulsa’s to lose. Going into the final day of the regular season, the Golden Hurricane were in play for a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament — along with FIU, SMU and South Florida.
By the final whistle on its 3-2 loss to SMU in the finale, Tulsa was saddled with a No. 4 seed. The win propelled the Mustangs into a top-2 seed that granted them a first-round bye along with FIU.
The latest Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) slots three AAC teams in the top 20 — Tulsa (10), SMU (12) and FIU (17) — that are joined in the conference tournament by three teams in and around the top 50. Looking back on the regular season, Tulsa holds a 2-3 record over the five teams in the tournament field, while FIU and South Florida enjoyed the most success, with just one loss each against the field.
Would any of the top four seeds winning the tournament be a surprise at this point?
The resurgent Hoyas
No. 17 Georgetown is 9-0-1 in which goalkeeper Ryan Schewe plays the full 90 minutes.
This current No. 17 Georgetown team that is riding a 10-game unbeaten streak into the Big East tournament is a far cry from the alarming state the Hoyas were in back in September. With one win in their first seven games and a free fall from the national spotlight, Georgetown has turned into one of the hottest teams in the country.
So where did this turnaround come from? It’s impossible to break it down to one change, but since junior goalkeeper Ryan Schewe won the…
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