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NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament -- West Regional
1st & 2nd Rounds at Interbay Stadium; Seattle, Wash. (hosted by Seattle Pacific)
• Webcast:  http://portal.stretchinternet.com/spu/
• LiveStats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/spu/msoc/
 
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12 –
Game 1: (6) Fresno Pacific vs. (3) Cal State Dominguez Hills, 3:00 pm PST
 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14 –
Game 2: Region Semifinal – Game 1 winner vs. (2) Seattle Pacific, 7:00 pm PST
 
Seventh-ranked Seattle Pacific parlayed its second straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer championship into the home field advantage for the 38-team NCAA Division II Tournament. The No. 2 seed Falcons (14-1-3) will conduct the first two rounds of the playoffs at Interbay Stadium. They enjoy a bye while hosting an opening-round encounter between No. 3 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills (14-2-3) and No. 6 Fresno Pacific (14-2-2) on Thursday at 3 p.m. The winner of that game advances to a regional semifinal matchup with SPU on Saturday at 7 p.m. All three teams were regular-season league champions and are nationally ranked: No. 7 SPU, No. 10 FPU and No. 23 CSUDH.
 
Ticket Talk
Tickets for NCAA Tournament games can be purchased at the gate on game day and are $7 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Interbay Stadium is located just off the Dravus Street exit of 15th Avenue, at 3027 17th Ave. W., Seattle 98119. For more information please contact the SPU Ticket Office at: (206) 281-2085.
 


Quoting Coach Mark Collings
"We've worked really hard this year and only lost one game. So to have our performance and the consistency that our guys have shown rewarded with a high seed, a host and a bye is really nice to see. When you can advance in the tournament without playing a game that's a really nice advantage to have. We have tournament experience. Our seniors were knocked out in penalty kicks and they've been knocked out in overtime. So they've kind of seen it all at this point. We've won some games, we've lost games. That experience is something we can draw upon and they can share with the younger guys."
 
SPU Tournament History
This is the fifth consecutive and 35th overall playoff berth for SPU, which has a 39-25-9 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 Seattle, SPU notched a 2-1 second-round win over Northwest Nazarene before suffering a 1-0 double-overtime setback against Cal State L.A. in the West Region championship game.
 
Tournament Format
The NCAA Division II Tournament is a single-elimination playoff starting with a 38-team field divided into four super regions. Cal Poly Pomona (13-2-3) drew the top seed in the West Region and will await the first-round winner between No. 4 Cal State L.A. (12-4-2) and No. 5 Stanislaus State (15-4-2). The two winning second-round teams from the West Region will meet at the site of the highest South Central seed for a regional championship clash on Nov. 19 with the victor advancing to the Nov. 21 quarterfinals at the same venue. The 2015 NCAA semifinals and championship game are scheduled for Dec. 3 and 5 at UWF Soccer Complex in Pensacola, Fla. Lynn, the 2014 national champion, did not qualify for this year's playoffs.
 
Ranking Report
The Falcons stayed at No. 7, in this week's national rankings. They were listed No. 8 in the preseason poll and as high as No. 3, on Sept. 22. The SPU men polled as high as second in 2014. Their last No. 1 ranking came Sept. 20, 1994.

 

Scouting Seattle Pacific (14-1-3)
The seventh-ranked Falcons bring a nine-game unbeaten streak into their fifth consecutive postseason appearance. Their lone loss was a 1-0 decision at Simon Fraser on Oct. 3. SPU blanked 11 opponents this season and ranks second nationally with a 0.43 goals against average led by junior goalkeeper Cody Lang, who started all but one game. The Falcons are outscoring opponents by a lopsided 32-8 margin. Seniors Ian Adams and Danny Olivas pace the offense, each of them with five-goal, four-assist ledgers. Junior forward Stephen MacDonald returned Saturday after an eight-game injury absence. He led SPU with nine goals and eight assists in 2014.
 
Scouting Fresno Pacific (14-2-2)
The 10th-ranked Sunbirds bring a seven-game winning streak into their first NCAA Tournament. They claimed the PacWest championship with an 11-1-1 record. A pair of double-digit scorers lead an offense that scored 57 times, including three outbursts of seven-or-more goals. Jorge Chedraui tops the team with 13 goals and Joey Belzil has 10. The defense surrendered 22 goals while compiling five shutouts. Goalkeeper Andrew Luis has a 1.09 goals against average. SPU has a 2-1-1 edge in the all-time series, including a 10-0 triumph on Sept. 11, 1976 at Interbay Field in the first meeting. The last encounter, on Aug. 27, 2005 in Chico, Calif., resulted in a 2-2 draw.
 
Scouting Cal State Dominguez Hills (14-2-3)
The 23rd-ranked Toros won the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular-season title with a 9-1-2 mark. They produced a 16-game unbeaten streak before losing (2-0) and tying Stanislaus State (1-1) in the last two outings. Dominguez is outscoring opponents 41-16 led by the nine-goal output of Mike Dias. Goalkeeper Chase Gentry has six shutouts and a 0.80 goals against average. The Toros won the 2008 NCAA Division II national title. SPU won the last meeting 2-1 in an overtime thriller on Nov. 10, 2011 in Seattle. That was an NCAA first-round matchup that Dominguez trailed for 81 minutes before Jordan Rover equalized with four seconds left in regulation (89:56). SPU answered with a golden goal by Chris Morris 1:19 into overtime. That victory halted the Falcons eight-game losing streak in the series that CSUDH leads 10-5-1.
 
Dynamic Defense
SPU has allowed just eight goals in 18 games this season.  Junior goalkeeper Cody Lang compiled nine clean sheets and a 0.47 goals against average that leads the GNAC and ranks No. 4 nationally. The Falcons defense registered 11 shutouts, limiting their 18 opponents to 171 shots overall (9.5 per game) and just 62 attempts directly on goal (3.4 per game).

 

Cody's Clean Sheets
Cody Lang blanked nine opponents this year, increasing his career total to 27 shutouts. That figure ranks him fourth among SPU career leaders. He needs five more shutouts to tie for the No. 3 spot with Jeff Storrs (32 from 1985-88). The school record is a lofty total of 46 compiled by former Premier League keeper Marcus Hahnemann, who minded the Falcons nets from 1990-93.
 
Spectacular Start
SPU started the season 6-0-2, going deeper into the campaign without a loss than all but three previous SPU squads. The school record is 15 games without a loss to start the season, established last year (14-0-1 in 2014).
 
Speedy Scores
The Falcons tied a 26-year-old school record for the shortest time between goals when Ian Adams and Mori Tsuchiya scored 0:13 apart in a 3-1 win at Montana State Billings on Oct. 8. They matched the 13-second feat of former Falcons Doug Morrill and Vasco Rubio, who netted swift successive scores during a win over Jacksonville on Sept. 1, 1989 in Las Vegas. That mark tied for 10th on the list of quickest back-to-back goals among NCAA Division II men's teams.
 
Coach Collings
Eighth-year coach Mark Collings is the third head coach in the 48-year history of Seattle Pacific men's soccer. He has a 94-35-23 record with the Falcons, including school-record streaks of 13 consecutive victories and 15 games unbeaten established in 2014. Collings collected his second GNAC Co-Coach of the Year award (also 2010) after directing SPU to a 16-2-2 record in 2014 and the team's fourth straight NCAA Division II playoff berth. They won the GNAC championship with a 12-1-1 record and advanced to the West Region championship game. The Falcons were 12-4-3 in 2013 with a second-place league mark of 10-1-3. In 2012, Collings coached SPU to a 11-3-5 record and in 2011 a 14-4-2 record was capped by the first playoff appearance in five years. He led SPU to a 10-6-2 mark in 2010 after records of 11-5-3 in 2009 and 6-10-3 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.
 
SPU Visits Spain
The Seattle Pacific men had the unique opportunity to travel to Spain from August 6-16 and stay in Madrid where they visited the Real Madrid training complex and Bernabéu Stadium. The Falcons played four games, winning two of them. Ian Adams compiled three goals and an assist during the trip, Stephen MacDonald tallied two goals and an assist and Keenan dePinna scored twice. They also visited museums and toured the historic Spanish cities of Segovia and Toledo.