The A-10 had no trouble in men’s soccer this season, however. Four teams, including the A-10 tournament champion Dayton Flyers, heard their names called during the selection show Monday.
“This year was arguably the best year for the A-10,” Dayton coach Dennis Currier said Monday. “We had so many good teams. To see that rewarded is phenomenal. We started kind of an RPI model probably four or five years ago. Over the last three years, it’s been close, and this year, finally, it came to fruition. Having four teams representing our conferences is really strong.”
Dayton (13-2-3), which rose to No. 2 in the Top Drawer Soccer top-25 poll on Monday behind Ohio State, earned the No. 5 overall seed. That means the Flyers have a first-round bye in the 48-team bracket. The Flyers will play Michigan (8-4-7) or Robert Morris (9-6-3) at 7 p.m. Sunday at Baujan Field. Robert Morris plays at Michigan in the first round on Thursday.
In other games involving A-10 teams:
• Massachusetts (10-3-5) will play at Evansville at 1 p.m. Thursday in its first NCAA tournament game since 2021.
• Saint Louis (8-4-8) will play a home game at 8 p.m. Thursday against Kansas City. The Billikens, who lost 3-0 at Dayton in the A-10 championship game Sunday, will make their third NCAA tournament appearance in the last four years.
• Fordham (8-5-5) will play at Cornell at 5 p.m. Thursday. It’s the first NCAA appearance for the Rams since 2021.
This is the first time four A-10 teams have made the field since 2012 when the group was Saint Louis, Virginia Commonwealth, Charlotte and Xavier.
Dayton was the only A-10 team to play in the NCAA tournament in 2023. The A-10 was also a one-bid league in 2022 and 2021 when Saint Louis represented the conference. Saint Louis was the No. 10 overall seed in 2021 and won two games before losing to No. 2 seed Washington in the quarterfinals.
The last time before this season the A-10 sent multiple teams to the tournament was 2020 (Fordham and UMass).
Saint Louis has the strongest soccer tradition in the A-10. It has won more NCAA championships than any Division I program, though all of them came between 1959 and 1973. Saint Louis last reached the Final Four in 1997.
Dayton is 1-5 in five NCAA tournament appearances. It is 1-0 at home with a victory against Oakland in 2015. That’s important because the Flyers will play at home again in the third round on Nov. 30 if they win Sunday and could stay at home in the quarterfinals if No. 4 seed Georgetown loses in the first two rounds.
The Flyers are 6-2 at Baujan Field this season.
“It’s unbelievable,” Currier said. “Baujan Field has been great to us. We’ve been very successful there. We have great fan support, especially in these last handful of games with a packed house. Last year, when we made the run in the A-10 tournament, we were on the road, so it literally feels like you’re gone for a month. This year, we’ve been at home for quite some time, and then we’re going to continue that. So to have that opportunity to play an NCAA tournament game at home is really just an amazing feeling.”
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