Men's soccer doesn't get first round bye

After eight straight seasons of certainty, the No. 5 Terrapin men's soccer team's place in the second round of this year's NCAA Tournament won't be guaranteed.

Monday night, the Terps officially — and unsurprisingly — found their way into the bracket of college soccer's ultimate showdown for the 15th straight time. But it was where they stood in the 48-team tournament that had usually talkative coach Sasho Cirovski searching for words.

The Terps will open their NCAA Tournament slate Thursday with a first-round game against Loyola (Md.) at Ludwig Field. It's the first time since 2001 that the Terps have not earned a top-16 seed, which guarantees a first-round bye and at least one home game.

"Well, you know," Cirovski said, pausing for several seconds as he gathered his thoughts, "it's a little surprising. But we're anxious to play, to be honest. … I think we're excited to play and looking forward to playing and getting on with the tournament."

Cirovski said he knew the Terps were on the "borderline" between the field's seeded and non-seeded teams as Monday's selection show approached, but few signs pointed toward a possible Terp exclusion from the top 16 spots.

The Terps never dropped below No. 11 in the NSCAA/adidas poll this season, and on Monday they were ranked No. 12 in Soccer America's updated top 25. Before last week's ACC Tournament, they were also rated No. 16 in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), which measures a team's success given their strength of schedule.

By comparison, the Terps (12-5-2) finished with fewer losses than No. 14-seeded Michigan State, No. 15-seeded N.C. State and No. 16-seeded U.C. Irvine, but it still wasn't enough to warrant a first-round bye.

"It's been nice to have a little break, but you can always have a break that's too long," said Cirovski, whose Terps last played six days ago. "We're looking forward to playing."

Ultimately, it was what happened in the first round of the ACC Tournament last Wednesday that probably killed the Terps' chances of avoiding the first round of the NCAA Tournament this Thursday. Against eventual champion Virginia, the Terps battled to 87 minutes of scoreless action before Cavalier midfielder Tony Tchani broke through with a last-minute goal.

While last year's ACC tournament title sprung the Terps to a top seed in the NCAA tournament, their early exit last week likely had the opposite effect. Virginia, meanwhile, used its championship weekend to move from a consensus top-10 team to the No. 2 overall seed.

"Especially in the power conferences, I think doing well in the tournament really helps," Cirovski said. "A lot of teams that moved up did well in the tournaments."

Loyola earned its third straight NCAA Tournament berth with a 1-0 double-overtime victory against Niagara in the MAAC Championship on Sunday. The Greyhounds (11-7-3) and Terps last met in 2007, when the Terps ended Loyola's season in the NCAA Tournament while advancing on penalty kicks in the second round.

A win Thursday would send the Terps to Happy Valley, Penn., for a Sunday date with Big 10 runner-up Penn State. The Nittany Lions earned the No. 7 seed in the tournament despite an equal amount of wins and two more losses than the Terps.

"I don't know where the RPI ended up," Cirovski said. "All I know is that we have a very good team and we're getting ready to play."

shaffer@umdbk.com