LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego women's soccer team received an at-large bid into the 2011 NCAA Soccer Championship field of 48, it was announced Monday. The top-seeded Tritons received a bye for the First Round and will host the winner of No. 4 Cal State Stanislaus and No. 5 Chico State in the Second Round of the West Subregional.
The Wildcats and Warriors will square off Friday night in the opening round. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m. Sunday's match between UCSD and the CSUS-CSUC winner will take place at noon. Both matches will be played at Triton Soccer Field.
Third-seeded Seattle Pacific (16-2-0) will take on No. 6 Grand Canyon in the other West Subregional in Los Angeles, with second-seeded Cal State L.A. (12-4-3) awaiting the winner.
The winners of the West Subregionals will advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals, Nov. 18-20 at a site still to be determined.
Ranked No. 2 for three weeks, the Tritons posted a 13-1-4 overall record during the regular season and finished atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association South Division with a 12-1-3 conference mark. UCSD earned the No. 1 seed for the CCAA Championship Tournament, but was ousted in the semifinals for the third consecutive year by way of a 2-1 loss to Cal State Stanislaus on November 4.
UCSD was ranked in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) top 10 every week of the regular season and spent the entire year as the West Region's No. 1 team.
Cal State Stanislaus (11-4-5) received an automatic spot in the tournament after capturing its first-ever CCAA Championship on Sunday. The Warriors defeated the Tritons in the CCAA semifinals before pounding Chico State 4-0 in the championship match. UCSD is 0-1-1 this season against CSUS, having previously battled to a scoreless tie on October 9 in Turlock. The Warriors will be making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Chico State enters Friday's contest at 11-6-3 overall after losing big to CSUS in the CCAA Championship on November 6. The Wildcats won the CCAA North Division at 10-4-2. UCSD battled CSUC to a 0-0 tie on October 7 in Chico. The last time the Tritons and Wildcats met in the NCAA Tournament was in 2008, when UCSD topped CSUC 2-1 in the first round in La Jolla.
UCSD has qualified for the NCAA Tournament 25 out of the last 26 years and has won seven national titles during that span. The Tritons' last national championship came in 2001, when UCSD won back-to-back titles in the program's first two seasons at the Division II level.
In 2010, UCSD made its first appearance in the national championship game in nine years. After a 3-1 win over San Francisco State in the First Round, the Tritons shutout four consecutive opponents to set up a title match with defending national champion Grand Valley State. GVSU topped UCSD 4-0 to take its second-straight national title.
The NCAA Finals will feature the final four teams of the field of 48 and will take place December 1-3 at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in Pensacola, Fla.
To view the entire field of 48, click here.
Courtesy: Jimmy Gekas/Sideline Studios
