Men's soccer draws No. 4 overall seed in NCAA Tournament

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If it were basketball, the MSU men’s soccer team would be a No. 1 seed going into the NCAA Tournament.

But because only 48 teams are selected for the Big Dance, the Spartans earned a No. 4 seed — which guarantees MSU home field advantage until the semifinals.

The Spartans (13-5-1) will face the winner of the Illinois-Chicago vs. Dayton game at 1 p.m. on Nov. 25 at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field. In his last season as head coach, Joe Baum is thrilled with his team’s success of late and their high ranking in the tournament.

“Our hope was just to make the tournament and now (we are) a No. 4 seed and get a bye and be at home,” Baum said. “It’s like a dream come true.”

The Spartans tournament bid came after they started the season 2-4 and then did a complete 180 and went 11-1-1 down the stretch.

Senior forward Doug DeMartin wasn’t worried with the skid at the beginning of the season and was confident the team would find a way to turn it around.

“I knew we had the talent coming into the season,” DeMartin said. “For whatever reason things weren’t clicking at the beginning of the year and I knew we had to stay positive and keep working.”

Baum said home field advantage will be big for his team, as the Spartans have only lost one game at home all season.

“Anytime you can sleep in your own bed and practice on your own field gets you in a comfort zone,” Baum said. “I think it’s going to be helpful.”

Senior defender Josh Rogers is excited to get the bye in the first round — especially after playing two tough games against Northwestern and Indiana this weekend in the Big Ten Tournament.

“It’s always big,” Rogers said. “You get the extra couple days of rest after a tough tournament and you get to sit at home while the other two teams battle it out.”

MSU played Illinois-Chicago at home Oct. 15 and finished with a 3-1 victory. The Spartans didn’t face Dayton this season.

Rogers is confident his team will find a way to beat Illinois-Chicago if it wins its first round game.

“I like our chances,” Rogers said. “UIC is a team we know pretty well. We have gotten some good results against them.”

Baum is also looking forward to scouting Dayton throughout the this week see what his team might be up against.

“We really don’t know much about Dayton,” Baum said. “But they’ve had a fine season.”

This year’s NCAA Tournament features five of the seven Big Ten men’s soccer programs.

Baum wasn’t surprised to see the Big Ten so well represented, as he credits it as being the best conference in the country.

“I think that’s a real tribute to the conference when you get five of the seven teams that go to the tournament,” Baum said. “And Indiana and Michigan and ourselves were all first round byes. I think that speaks very highly of the conference.”

DeMartin said he is ready to get the tournament started and see how his team fares against the best squads in the country.

“We are excited about what we are going to do in the tournament and our hopes our high,” DeMartin said. “We will see what happens.”

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