BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford soccer team will play at South Carolina in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament, it was announced Monday afternoon.
Samford's first-round match with the Gamecocks will take place this weekend in Columbia, S.C., with a date and time to be announced later. The winner of this first-round match will face the winner of the Notre Dame-Saint Louis match. The other half of the Bulldogs' section of the bracket features No. 3-seed Kansas against Iowa and Virginia Tech against Xavier.
"It's a great feeling," Samford head coach Todd Yelton said. "You go from being one of 330 to one of 64. South Carolina is a great team, they just won the SEC Tournament. I think (head coach) Shelley (Smith) and (associate head coach) Jamie (Smith) do a great job with that team. It will be a big challenge for us, but we've played there before, so at least there is some familiarity. We're just super excited about the opportunity."
Samford advanced to the NCAA Tournament with a 1-0 win over Furman in the championship game of the Southern Conference Tournament Sunday. The Bulldogs posted a record of 13-3-5 overall and 7-1-1 in SoCon play this season, winning at least a share of the SoCon regular season title for the sixth-straight season.
South Carolina went 16-1-3 overall and 7-0-3 in SEC play this season. The Gamecocks won the SEC Tournament title with a 1-0 win over Arkansas Sunday.
This marks Samford's fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament and first since 2016. Samford and South Carolina have met once in soccer, with the Gamecocks taking a 2-0 win in a regular-season match on Aug. 24, 2014.
Tickets for the first-round match, which go on sale Tue., Nov. 12, at 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT, are $8 for adults and $5 for students and children (17 and under). Fans can call the South Carolina ticket office at 803-777-4274 or order and print tickets online. Tickets will also be available on the day of the game at the gate, where only cash will be accepted.
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