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        • NCAA Tournament bracket

NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament -- West Regional
1st & 2nd Rounds at Triton Stadium; La Jolla, Calif.
(hosted by UC San Diego)
 
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 –
 First Round -- (6) Seattle Pacific vs. (3) Chico State, 12:00 pm PST
 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 –
Region Semifinal – First round winner vs. (2) UC San Diego, 7:00 pm PST

• LiveStats for first two rounds: 
http://www.ucsdtritons.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml
 
 
SPU Tournament History
This marks the 33rd playoff berth for SPU, which has a 38-23-9 record in all-time postseason games. The Falcons have five national championships to their credit (1978, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1993). They reached the championship game on 10 occasions and were national semifinalists 14 times. Last year in Phoenix, Ariz., SPU tied Cal State L.A. 1-1 through two overtimes before being eliminated by a 5-4 count in the penalty kick tiebreaker. The Falcons reached the regional semifinal in 2011, losing 3-2 to Cal State L.A.
 


Tournament Format
The NCAA Division II Tournament is a single-elimination playoff starting with a 35-team field divided into four super regions. Cal State L.A. (14-1-5) drew the top seed in the West Region and will await the first-round winner between No. 4 Simon Fraser (14-2-1) and No. 5 California Baptist (10-6-1) in Los Angeles, Calif. The two winning second-round teams from the West Region will meet at the site of the higher seed for a regional championship clash on Nov. 21 with the victor advancing to the Nov. 23 quarterfinals. The semifinals and title game are scheduled for Dec. 5 and 7 at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Ga. Simon Fraser was the West Region champion last year and Lynn won the 2012 national championship, but did not make this year's tournament field.
 
Scouting Seattle Pacific (12-3-3, 10-1-3 GNAC)
All three losses  came against NCAA Tournament teams for SPU, which outscored opponents 29-14. Three players are tied for top scoring honors with four goals apiece; Stephen MacDonald, Sean Russell and Bryson Pavel. First-team All-GNAC goalkeeper Cody Lang led the league with eight shutouts and has a 0.74 goals against average. Defenders Pavel and Davis Karaica, along with midfielder Anthony Mohammed, were also first-team all-conference selections.
 
Throw-Ins
Seattle Pacific won all 12 games this season in which it scored the first goal. When the opponent netted the opening score the Falcons were winless with an 0-3-3 record ... SPU is also undefeated (9-0-3) when attempting more shots than opponents in a game ... All three goals this season by Danny Olivas were game-winning strikes ... Nineteen of SPU's 29 goals were scored by underclassmen and 10 by juniors and seniors.
 
Falcons vs. the Field
Seattle Pacific played four games this season against opponents from the 35-team NCAA Tournament field, posting a 1-3-0 record in those games. The Falcons won 2-1 at home against then No. 1-ranked Simon Fraser (Oct. 3). They lost 1-0 at home to Chico State (Sept. 7), lost 1-0 in double overtime at Simon Fraser (Nov. 2) and fell 3-0 at California Baptist (Nov. 6).
 
Scouting Chico State (13-4-2)
The Wildcats dropped their last two games immediately following a 10-game unbeaten streak that featured eight wins and two ties. Octavio Guzman leads a balanced attack with five goals and six assists for Chico, which outscored opponents by a 27-13 margin. The goalkeeping tandem of Sam Evans and James Stroud combined for nine shutouts and a 0.67 goals against average. Evans was a teammate of SPU defender Davis Karaica at Mt. Si High School in Snoqualmie, Wash. The teams met in Seattle on Sept. 7 in SPU's season opener and the Wildcats won 1-0 on a 33rd-minute goal by Justin Walmsley. SPU won last year's meeting 3-1 in Chico, Calif. and leads the series 19-17-2.
 
Scouting UC San Diego (14-3-3)
The 17th-ranked Tritons lost 1-0 to West Region top seed Cal State L.A. on Sunday in the CCAA Tournament championship game. That halted a seven-game undefeated streak. The UCSD attack features the 10-goal output of leading scorer Andisheh Bagheri. Goalkeeper Josh Cohen compiled 10 shutouts and a 0.48 goals against average.  SPU leads the all-time series 3-2 despite losses in the last two encounters. The Tritons were 5-0 victors at home on Oct. 25, 2008 in the last meeting.
 
Coach Collings
Fifth-year coach Mark Collings is the third head coach in the 46-year history of Seattle Pacific men's soccer. He has a 64-31-18 record with the Falcons. Collings was named the GNAC Coach of the Month for October 2013 after directing the squad to a 6-0-2 in that period, including a 2-1 win over No. 1 Simon Fraser on Oct. 3 in Seattle. Collings led SPU to three consecutive postseason appearances and this year's squad established a new school-record unbeaten streak of 14 games. In 2012, the Falcons matched the best start in school history with six season-opening wins. A 7-3-4 GNAC record put SPU in third place. They tied Cal State L.A. 1-1 in the first round of the playoffs, but lost the penalty-kick tiebreaker 5-4. In 2011, Collings directed SPU to a 14-4-2 record capped by its first playoff appearance in five years. The Falcons earned the top seed in the West and advanced to the regional championship game. Collings was named the 2010 GNAC Co-Coach of the Year after leading SPU to a 10-6-2 overall record and a second-place league mark of 7-2-1. The Falcons were 11-5-3 in 2009, finishing third with a 4-3-1 league ledger. In his first season, SPU was 6-10-3 with a second-place GNAC finish (4-4) in 2008. Collings replaced Cliff McCrath, who compiled a 512-190-87 mark in 38 seasons (1970-2007). Arnie Aizstrauts was 1-14-1 from 1968-69. The co-captain of SPU's 1998 Final Four team, Collings was a five-year assistant coach. He avoided a first-year Falcon curse as his predecessors were winless in their inaugural seasons.
 
Fastest to Fifty
Mark Collings registered his 50th victory on Oct. 11, 2012 in his 88th game as head coach. That is the fastest to the 50-win mark for any Falcons coach. Legendary SPU coach Cliff McCrath (1970-2007) got his 50th win in game No. 94. At 64-31-18, Collings ranks No. 2 in all-time SPU coaching wins. McCrath was 512-190-87 at SPU.
 
Record Streak
The Falcons school-record unbeaten streak was halted at 14 games by a 1-0 double-overtime loss at Simon Fraser on Nov. 2. That was their first defeat since a 1-0 home setback against Chico State in the Sept. 7 season opener. SPU compiled a stretch of 11 wins and three ties to eclipse the program's previous best streak of 13 games without a loss established by the 1987 squad (10-0-3) and equaled in 1991 (12-0-1).
 
2013 Preview
Youth will be served this season as 18 underclassmen fill the 25-man roster. Nine freshmen and nine sophomores seek to grow up quickly under the leadership of three seniors and four juniors. The first goal of a third consecutive playoff berth was accomplished. Four starters return from last year's team, including leading scorer Blaine Carver. The All-GNAC forward netted eight goals with a league-leading five game-winning strikes. Carver, Kodiac Gamble and honorable mention All-GNAC pick Anthony Mohammed are the lone seniors. Sophomore forward Ian Adams was an honorable mention all-league performer in 2012.
 
2013 All-Conference Honors
Four Seattle Pacific players were named to the first team, including red-shirt freshman goalkeeper Cody Lang who led the league with eight shutouts, when the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer squad was announced on Tuesday. A product of Lewis & Clark High School in Spokane, Wash., Lang played every minute this season. He amassed 63 saves and surrendered just 0.74 goals per game. Joining Lang on the league's first team were two of his defensive players, sophomore Bryson Pavel (Boise, Idaho) and red-shirt freshman Davis Karaica (Snoqualmie, Wash./Mt. Si HS) along with senior holding midfielder Anthony Mohammed (Litchfield Park, Ariz.). Pavel pushed forward from the back line to tie for the team lead with four goals. A quartet of Falcons offensive players received honorable mention accolades: seniors Sean Russell (Seattle, Wash./Garfield HS) and Blaine Carver (Soldotna, Alaska), sophomore Danny Olivas (Phoenix, Ariz.) and freshman Stephen MacDonald (Phoenix Ariz.) Alan Koch, who directed Simon Fraser to its fourth straight league crown, was named the GNAC Coach of the Year. Clan players Chris Bargholz and Alex Rowley received the Player and Defender of the Year awards, respectively. Their teammate Magnus Kristensen was the Freshman of the Year. For the second straight season the Newcomer of the Year honor went to a player from Northwest Nazarene, this time going to Fredy Razo whose 16 goals led the league.