NC will host the 2021 NCAA soccer tournaments due to COVID-19. Here’s when and where.
While Indiana became the sole home for this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, North Carolina gets the nod for men’s and women’s soccer.
The NCAA announced Thursday the tournaments to determine the Division I national champions will be played entirely in the state, with the champions being crowned at Cary’s WakeMed Soccer Park.
The move, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, brings 48 women’s and 36 men’s teams to North Carolina for games between April 27 and May 17. The NCAA usually crowns its soccer champions in December, but it postponed the tournaments last fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is a major announcement and an incredible opportunity for the Town of Cary and the entire state of North Carolina,” Scott Dupree, executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance said in a statement. “Cary has clearly established itself as the collegiate soccer capital of the U.S., and North Carolina is known nationally as a premier state for college sports, so it all came together perfectly.”
Just as Indianapolis and San Antonio became the primary sites for men’s and women’s basketball tournament games to be played, North Carolina will be the lone home for soccer is to limit travel and condense the amount of time to play the games, according to an NCAA news release.
The one-state plan also keeps teams in close proximity to help maintain health and safety standards through COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, the NCAA said.
Although attendance plans are not finalized, the NCAA intends “to provide some opportunity for family and friends to attend the championships.” The maximum capacity will be 25 percent, meaning 2,500 spectators could attend games at WakeMed Soccer Park’s 10,000-seat Sahlen’s Stadium.
In addition to WakeMed Soccer Park, games will be played throughout the state at both campus and off-campus sites, including Campbell, East Carolina, UNC Wilmington, UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest as well as Greensboro’s Bryan Park, the J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex in Wilson and the Sportsplex in Matthews.
“This is obviously a unique situation and a massive undertaking, hosting the men’s and women’s tournaments in their entirety, a format that has never been done before,” Dupree said. “If anyone can pull it off, it’s Cary and all of our North Carolina partners.”
The tournament fields will be selected on April 19. First-round games for the women are April 27-28 while the men begin play on April 29.
The second round dates are April 30-May 1 (women) and May 2 (men). The women will play third-round games on May 5 and the men will play May 6.
The quarterfinals are May 9 for the women and May 10 for the men.
The College Cup, soccer’s equivalent of basketball’s Final Four, will be May 13-17. The women’s semifinals are May 13, with the men playing two games on May 14. The national finals will both played on May 17.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 5:28 PM.