USF's men's soccer team got the news it was hoping for Monday afternoon, as the Bulls earned a top-eight national seed -- and potentially two more home games -- as the No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which starts this week.

"That's a credit to the schedule we played and the conference we play in," coach George Kiefer said, moments after the team watched the NCAA selection show together in the Selmon Athletic Center. "The crazy thing in soccer, the 7 seed, the 1 seed, the 4 seed, the 8 seed, it guarantees you one thing. It guarantees one home game. We look forward to that one game on Sunday at 6 o'clock."

The Bulls (12-3-3) have a first-round bye, then will host the winner of Central Florida and Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday at 6 p.m. at Corbett Soccer Stadium. With a win there, the Bulls would stay home again, likely facing No. 10 New Mexico, which did not lose this season.

If USF faces UCF on Sunday, it will be a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament, when the Knights eliminated the Bulls in Orlando. USF held onto the top-eight seed despite getting upset at home by Villanova in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. In all, seven Big East teams earned spots in the NCAA field, including No. 3-seeded Connecticut, USF, No. 9 St. John's and No. 12 Louisville.