Men's tourney field out; Team of the Week

Opening Statement: While 16 programs will sit the first match out, the other 32 offer some tasty early matchups.

Men's DI tournament bracket

Here's a look at a few:

Akron vs. Northwestern: We start with the defending national champions. The Zips are working with a younger squad this season and may have shown some chinks in their armor but obviously can't be overlooked. Their opponent shouldn't be either, though. Northwestern comes in with an 11-match unbeaten streak and every reason to believe they're capable of advancing to round two.

Furman vs. Charlotte: Ok, ok, so I only started keeping tabs on Furman when they nabbed a killer recruiting class in the offseason; better to be a Johnny-come-lately than a Billy-never-showed-up-at-all ... uhh, right? Anyway, the Paladins had kind of a soft schedule and now is the their chance to prove themselves against a solid 49ers group.

Old Dominion vs. Liberty: Liberty has one of the more balanced offenses in the country, while Old Dominion has Yannick Smith. He set the competition on fire with 16 goals this season and it'll be an interesting contrast to watch the way the two programs approach their attack.

GK: Tyler Miller, NorthwesternD: Diogo de Almeida, SMUD: Patrick Watson, Saint MarysD: Andrew Duran, CreightonD: Kyle Venter, New MexicoD: Adar Cohen, XavierM: Ben Speas, North CarolinaM: Jack Bennett St. JohnsM: Vincent Mediate, DelawareM: Nick Millington, ElonF: Miguel Ibarra, UC Irvine

Player of the Week: Tyler Miller, Northwestern

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