COLUMBUS, Ohio - Fresh off winning the Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships, the Ohio State men's soccer team earned the fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament, announced Monday on ESPNews. With its highest seed in program history, the Buckeyes receive a bye in the first round and will face the winner of Drake vs. Western Illinois at 1 p.m. Sunday.

"To get a top seed is recognition of the season we have had and the run we had at the end of the season," head coach John Bluem said. "With winning the Big Ten regular season and tournament championships, beating the teams that we did at the end of the season, the RPI just kept get better and better."

On the opposite side of the bracket, Boston College and Dartmouth face off in the first round and then take on 13th-seeded St. John's, winner of the Big East Tournament.

Undefeated Akron earned the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament, followed by Virginia and Wake Forest with the second and third spots, respectively. With a Top 4 seed, teams earn the right to host through the first four rounds of competition as long as it keeps winning.

The Buckeyes are on a four-game winning streak, including two wins as the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament against Indiana and Penn State. With the semifinal win over the Hoosiers, they became the first team to beat IU on its home field twice in one season after having done so just 12 days earlier. Also included in the winning streak of late was a regular-season finale victory against Michigan to clinch the Big Ten Championship.

"I'm dumbfounded right now," senior captain Doug Verhoff said. "It's unbelievable how in the middle of the year we were talking about hopefully making the tournament and jumping back on the right track with things. I think a lot of teams -- we had this my sophomore year when we had that run -- a big loss gets to you, and I think our Northwestern loss and our Wisconsin loss kind of got under our skin a little bit and woke us up and since then we've been on the right track."

Bluem echoed Verhoff's sentiments on the Wisconsin loss.

"We lost that game at Wisconsin and then we won four-straight games against the best teams on our schedule," Bluem said. "The team has found a nice rhythm and the wins have just improved the confidence and belief that the team has in itself to a very good level. At the same time, we are working with them to keep their heads on straight and take it one game at a time."

This is the third-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and seventh overall for the Ohio State men's soccer program, all of which have come under Bluem's reign. As the No. 5 seed, the Buckeyes advanced to the College Cup final in 2007 before falling to Wake Forest. The previous best finish was a trip to the third round in 2004 where they fell to eventual semifinalist Duke.

Tickets for all rounds of NCAA competition hosted by Ohio State will be $5 for adults and $3 for children 18 and younger.  Stay tuned to OhioStateBuckeyes.com for the second-round game time.