Bracket
 
INDIANAPOLIS – Georgia State is headed to Charlotte, N.C., to take on the 49ers in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship.
 
Georgia State (11-6-2, 2-0-2 Sun Belt) and Charlotte (14-4-1, 6-2 Conference USA) meet on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 6:00 p.m. CT at Transamerica Field as a part of the 48-team bracket. The Georgia State-Charlotte winner takes on No. 12 seed Virginia Tech (10-6-3, 3-4-1 Atlantic Coast) in the second round on Saturday, Nov. 17.
 
The Panthers are making their second NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship appearance as a program, the first coming in 2011, and their first as a Sun Belt Conference member. Ironically, Charlotte was a member of the Sun Belt in men’s soccer from 1977-90, overlapping with Georgia State in its first stint as a Sun Belt member from 1976-80.

Georgia State advanced to the postseason after winning its first Sun Belt regular-season and tournament titles, capped by a 4-2 victory over Georgia Southern in the conference championship title match.
 
Sun Belt teams are 3-4 (.429) in NCAA Tournament appearances since the conference reinstated men’s soccer in 2014. The conference’s representative in the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship has won games in each of the past two seasons – Coastal Carolina in 2016 and 2017. The Chanticleers advanced to the Round 16 last year, pulling off a second-round upset at eighth-seeded Clemson before falling in the third round to eventual national champion and ninth-seeded Stanford.