2006 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament Bracket Announced

Oct. 30, 2006

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Atlantic Coast Conference kicks off the 2006 ACC Men's Soccer Championship at the Maryland Soccerplex on Tuesday, October 31. The University of Maryland will serve as the four-day host for the tournament, which opens the competition with eighth-seeded Virginia Tech facing ninth-seeded NC State. Ranked fourth in the latest Soccer America poll, the Duke Blue Devils finished the season as co-regular season conference champions with Wake Forest and captured the No. 1 seed in the 2006 Men's Soccer Championship after winning the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Duke head coach John Rennie is now the winningest coach in ACC men's soccer history. He holds the records for most wins at an ACC school with 394, and for most wins in the conference with 91. Rennie overtook former Clemson coach I.M. Ibrahim in both categories. For Division I Men's Soccer coaches, Rennie is in fifth place with 438 overall wins. Rennie will put his winning record on the line as the Blue Devils open their tournament play on Wednesday, Nov. 1 against the winner of the Virginia Tech versus NC State game in a 2:30 p.m. ET game.

To open first-round action on Wednesday, second-seeded Wake Forest battles No. 7 North Carolina. The Demon Deacons are riding a five-game winning streak and nine-game unbeaten streak. After beating then-third ranked Virginia last Friday night to close out the regular season, Wake Forest took the top spot in both national polls, ColllegeSoccerNews.com and Soccer America. Carolina looks to return to the finals for the second consecutive year as the Tar Heels battle the Deacs at noon.

For the second year in a row, the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers and No. 6 Clemson Tigers will meet in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. Clemson eliminated Virginia in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 ACC tournament, 4-1. The two teams will face at the Maryland Soccerplex on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

To wrap up the first-round action, No. 4 seed and host Maryland will face No. 5 Boston College. The Eagles defeated the Terrapins, 3-1, earlier in the season and will rematch on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Last year, Duke captured just its second men's soccer title and first since 1999.

Semifinals action will continue on Friday, Nov. 3 with games slated at 5:30 and 8 p.m. The championship game will kickoff at 1:10 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5. All games throughout the tournament are available online through ACCSelect.com, while the championship game will be broadcast nationally on Fox Net. The ACC men's soccer awards ceremony will be immediately following the title game.

For complete results, please visit TheACC.com and make sure to check out the 2006 ACC Men's Soccer Championship page.