LA JOLLA, Calif. - Less than 24 hours after a hard-fought win over Chico State, the UC San Diego women's soccer team ended up victorious once again Sunday, in a different but albeit important style.
Roughly 100 miles up Interstate 5 in Los Angeles, fourth-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills stunned the top-seeded Cal State L.A. squad, knocking off the Golden Eagles 2-1. As the highest-seeded team still alive in the West Region bracket, UCSD will play host to two more rounds of NCAA Division II National Championship play.
On Friday, the top two squads in the South Central, the West Texas A&M Lady Buffs (15-2-3) and the St. Edward's Hilltoppers (15-3-1), will face each other at 4:30 p.m. at Triton Soccer Field to decide their regional title. A 7 p.m. match that same day will pit the Tritons (15-5-1) against the Toros of CSUDH (15-8-1), the fourth and final 2009 meeting between the two rival California Collegiate Athletic Association squads. Fortunately for UCSD, the Toros will be without their top scorer, Jessica Murphy, who was assigned a red card in the 80th minute of Sunday's match with the Golden Eagles.
The winner of the Friday matches will return to the La Jolla pitch Sunday at 12 p.m. in quarterfinal action. Beyond that, the semifinal and championship rounds will be played in Tampa, Fla., from Dec. 3-5.
Both the Lady Buffs and Hilltoppers were featured in the final regular season National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll. The No. 13 Lady Buffs are advancing to the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history after defeating Truman State 1-0 on Sunday. The No. 22 Hilltoppers clinched a spot in the third round with a 1-0 win Sunday over Incarnate Word, a program that the Tritons defeated in 2001 en route to their second straight national title. If UCSD does advance to this year's quarterfinal, it would be the first time facing either team.
The postseason saga of the Tritons versus Toros matchup will continue Friday, in what will be the fourth NCAA postseason meeting between the two squads. In 2003 the Tritons advanced past the Toros in the second round in a penalty kick shootout and then picked up a first-round victory over the Toros in 2005. CSUDH got revenge in 2007, knocking out the Tritons in the opening round with a 2-1 overtime win. More recently, the two teams traded 2-1 road wins during the 2009 regular season before the Tritons and Toros, in the first round of the CCAA tournament, played to a 1-1 draw through 110 minutes, after which CSUDH came out on top in penalty kicks to advance.
UCSD earned its berth into the Sweet 16 on Saturday, topping Chico State 2-1 behind two scores from sophomore forward Sarah McTigue, including the game winner in the 86th minute.
Courtesy: Jimmy Gekas/Sideline Studios