NU Gets No. 1 Seed in Big Ten Tourney

(BigTen.org)After winning the Big Ten Championship on Saturday, Northwestern earned the No. 1 seed and an automatic spot in the semifinals of the 2011 Big Ten Men?s Soccer Tournament. The tournament will be held on Michigan's campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., with opening-round matchups played on Wednesday. The tournament winner will earn the Big Ten?s automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.

The Wildcats went undefeated in six conference games this season, posting a 4-0-2 mark. The title marks Northwestern?s first Big Ten Championship.

Ohio State, which owned the head-to-head tiebreaker over Wisconsin, earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament after ending the season with a 4-2 conference record. The Buckeyes will face No. 7 Penn State at approximately 3:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday in the tournament?s second game.

Wisconsin earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament after finishing 4-2 in conference play. The Badgers will face No. 6 Michigan at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET in Wednesday?s final game.

Indiana earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will face No. 5 seed Michigan State in the tournament?s opening game at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The two teams faced off on Oct. 23, which ended in a 2-2 tie.

The top-seeded Wildcats will face the winner of the matchup between Indiana and Michigan State at 1 p.m. ET on Friday. The second semifinal will pit the winner of the Ohio State-Penn State and Wisconsin-Michigan games at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET. The tournament championship game will be held at Noon ET on Sunday. The semifinals and final will be televised live on BTN.