UNC, Duke, NC State get bids to NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship

League champion North Carolina, Duke, and N.C. State were among the eight ACC teams that received bids Monday to the 36th annual NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship, which kicks off this weekend.

UNC defeated Duke 1-0 on Sunday for its 21st ACC tournament championship, and both teams were rewarded with No. 1 seeds. The other No. 1 seeds were Stanford and South Carolina.

From the ACC, Clemson, Florida State, Notre Dame, Virginia, and Wake Forest also made the field. It marked the 19th consecutive year that the ACC earned at least six spots in the 64-team bracket. The eight bids fell one shy of the NCAA-record nine the ACC garnered in 2011 and 2012. UNC, the only school to have played in all 36 NCAA tournaments, will be aiming for its 22nd NCAA title but its first since 2012.

Duke and N.C. State are making their 23rd and 13th appearances in the NCAA tournament, respectively. Neither has ever won the title, although Duke has played in the championship game three times, most recently in 2015. The Wolfpack, which reached the third round last year in its first NCAA appearance in 20 years and made the final in 1988, will host a first-round game for the first time since 1995.

North Carolina

Record: 15-2-2

Seed: 1 (ACC champion)

Opponent: High Point (13-7-1, Big South champion)

Site: WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary

Time: 1 p.m. Saturday

Duke

Record: 19-2-0

Seed: 1 (at-large pick)

Opponent: UNC Greensboro (11-7-3, Southern champion)

Site: Koskinen Stadium, Durham

Time: 7 p.m. Saturday

N.C. State

Record: 14-5-1

Seed: Unseeded (at-large pick)

Opponent: Arkansas (11-10-2, at-large pick)

Site: Dail Soccer Stadium, Raleigh

Time: 1 p.m. Saturday

This story was originally published November 6, 2017 at 5:46 PM with the headline "UNC, Duke, NC State get bids to NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship."