The College of Charleston men’s soccer team received an at-large bid to the NCAA 2010 Men’s Soccer Championship on Monday evening. The Cougars also received the opportunity to host the opening-round match and will take on East Tennessee State University at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 18 at Patriots Point.

The Cougars gathered at Patriots Point on Monday afternoon to watch the Selection Show as a team and didn’t have to wait long as College of Charleston appeared on the first bracket revealed in the program.

With an opening-round win over ETSU, the Cougars would advance to face tournament No. 1 seed Louisville on Sunday, Nov. 21.

“We feel great about the game on Thursday night and hosting a very good East Tennessee State University team,” said head coach Ralph Lundy. “The key is that we maintained quality soccer throughout the entire season, played a very tough schedule and got good results. Because of that, we established a very high RPI that kept us in the running.”

The Cougars opened the season with a pair of hard-fought, 1-0 losses to top-15 programs in Ohio State and Penn State but then began garnering national attention by stringing together 10 wins and going unbeaten in twelve matches, including a statement win over then-ranked No. 19 Wake Forest.

The Cougars climbed as high No. 25 in the NASCA Coach’s Poll and No. 10 in NCAA RPI this season and are excited about the opportunity to overcome a three-match season-ending winless streak which left a bad taste in their mouths.

“I think the boys were very disappointed in how we finished out the regular season and the conference and I see unbelievable energy in them right now to be able to take care of things on Thursday,” said Lundy. “We love our home stadium and all season we’ve had a tremendous following. It is a very big plus to have this game here at Patriots Point, our first ever in the NCAA Tournament.”