INDIANAPOLIS – Earning its fourth-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Missouri State men’s soccer team will travel to Omaha, Neb. to face off against Creighton in a first-round rematch on Thursday, Nov. 17, as the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Committee announced the 48-team field on Monday.
This is the second-straight year the teams will face each other in a first-round game, after the Bears hosted the Bluejays at Allison South Stadium in 2021, ending in a 1-0 win in favor of the visiting team.
The Bears, who captured both the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships for the third-straight year, will make their seventh overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament after previous trips in 1997, 1999, 2009, 2019, Spring 2021 and 2021.
MSU boasts a 12-1-4 overall record and will head into the NCAA tournament with the sixth-best winning percentage in the nation (.824). The Bears are coming off a 1-0 win over Evansville in the MVC tournament title game, recording the team’s 12th shutout of the season setting a program record.
Creighton (9-4-6, 3-3-4 Big East) will make its 26th NCAA tournament appearance after winning the Big East tournament with a 3-0 victory over Seton Hall. The Bluejays finished sixth in their conference with a 3-3-4 mark and currently boast an RPI of 30.
The Bears NCAA tournament mark sits at 2-6-0 after the team’s loss to the Bluejays last season in front of a home crowd. MSU made its first-ever Sweet 16 appearance in Spring 2021 with a come-from-behind win over Maryland.
The 48-team field is made up of champions from 23 conferences, who qualified automatically, in addition to 25 teams that were selected at-large.
The first-round matchup is set for Thursday, Nov. 17, at Morrison Stadium and tentatively scheduled for a 4 p.m. kickoff time. The game will broadcast on ESPN3 or ESPN+.
