NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament -- Super Regional 4
1st & 2nd Rounds at University Stadium; Los Angeles, Calif. (hosted by Cal State LA)
• Webcast:  https://ccaanetwork.com/csula/
• LiveStats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/csula/msoc/
 
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Game 1: (9) Seattle Pacific vs. (8) Colorado State Pueblo, 6:00 pm PST
 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20
Game 2: Second round – Game 1 winner vs. (1) Cal State LA, 6:00 pm PST
 
A five-decade fixture in the NCAA Division II Tournament, the Falcons are back in the men's soccer playoffs for the first time in five seasons. Seattle Pacific begins its 2021 postseason journey in Los Angeles. The 22nd-ranked Falcons received the ninth seed of Super Region 4 for the 40-team tournament field that was announced Monday. The Falcons (12-3-2) earned an NCAA berth by virtue of winning their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship since 2015.
 
First & Second Rounds
SPU and No. 8 seed Colorado State Pueblo (14-5-2) meet in the first round on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 6:00 p.m. That game will be contested at University Stadium on the Cal State LA campus where the host and top-seeded Golden Eagles play the winner on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 6:00 p.m. Pueblo was the runner-up of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. The No. 24 Thunderwolves embark on their NCAA playoff debut while SPU makes its Division II-leading 36th appearance. Cal State LA (14-2-2), ranked No. 6 nationally, won both the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular season and tournament titles. Saturday's second-round victor meets the winner of a second-round matchup between No. 4 Colorado Mesa (16-3-1) and No. 5 Colorado School of Mines (14-4-1).
 
Throw-Ins
• SPU reached the 12-win mark for the first time since the 2015 team finished with a 14-1-4 record
 
• Alex Mejia ranks No. 9 nationally with 14 goals and is No. 2 with 2.47 shots on goal per game
 
• The Falcons have a 10-1-1 record when scoring more than 1 goal and are 5-1-0 when leading at halftime
 
• SPU tallied the first goal in 11 of 17 games this season with a 9-1-1 record in those outings
 
• The Falcons surrendered more than one goal just once in their last nine outings, including 3 shutouts
 
SPU Tournament History
A five-year postseason absence ends when SPU makes its 36th overall playoff berth. The Falcons have a 39-25-10 record in all-time postseason games. They tied Cal State Dominguez Hills 1-1 in their last NCAA contest, on Nov. 12, 2015 in Seattle, but lost the penalty kick tiebreaker 3-2. 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.

TITUS GRANT INTERVIEW

Quoting Coach Kevin Sakuda
"The boys are excited about this. They worked hard all year and now it's just about trying to be our best going into Thursday and continuing to do the things that we've been good at all year long. At this point everyone we play is going to be a challenge. You get into the tournament because you've shown quality throughout the year. I was fully aware when I stepped into this how much tradition there is in this program. You have a deep alumni base who has done some pretty impressive things and deeply care about the success of the program. We try not to put too much pressure on ourselves, but we're fully aware every time we step on a field what wearing an SPU jersey represents."
 
 

Magnificent Mejia
SPU senior Alex Mejia has 14 goals to rank No. 9 nationally and lead the GNAC. That is the highest single-season scoring output by a Falcon since Tyler Schultz netted 16 goals in 2011. Mejia notched at least one goal in 11 of his 17 outings this season. The senior forward registered the first hat trick by a Falcon since 2018 with three goals versus Saint Martin's on Oct. 9. Mejia has produced 24 career goals.
 
Scouting Seattle Pacific (12-3-2, No. 9 seed)
The 22nd-ranked Falcons are outscoring opponents by a 37-18 margin paced by the 14 goals of GNAC Player of the Year Alex Mejia, who ranks ninth nationally in scoring. His frontline mate Alden Massey contributed six goals and midfielder Tyler Speer tops the team with five assists. The defense surrendered just over one goal per game (1.06) backed by goalkeeper Lars Helleren, whose six shutouts and 1.04 goals against average earned him GNAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. SPU won its first GNAC championship since 2015 with a 6-2-2 record. The hot-starting Falcons were 10-1-0 over their first 11 games, but are just 2-2-2 since then. SPU, which was not shut out and generated multiple goals in 10 of the first 11 games, netted more than one goal just once in the final six and was blanked twice.
 
Scouting Colorado State Pueblo (14-5-2, No. 8 seed)
The 24th-ranked Thunderwolves make their NCAA Tournament debut after surviving the rugged Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference that has three teams perched in the national top-25. Pueblo had a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) halted by a 3-1 loss at No. 11 Colorado Mesa in the RMAC Tournament final. CSUP allowed just 15 goals in 21 games with 12 clean sheets as primary goalkeeper Garret Wild compiled nine shutouts and a 0.69 goals against average. Vincent Zingel leads the attack with nine goals and five assists. Thursday marks the first ever meeting between SPU and Pueblo. The Falcons played two RMAC opponents this season, both in Seattle. They defeated Regis 2-0 on Sept. 16 before losing 3-2 in overtime versus Colorado Mines on Sept. 18.
 
Scouting Cal State LA (14-2-2, No. 1 seed)
The Golden Eagles, seeded No. 1, are the defending NCAA Super Region 4 champions. Cal State LA became the first CCAA program since 2016 to capture both the conference regular-season and tournament titles in the same year and will carry a 13-match unbeaten streak into Saturday's contest. CSULA, which captured the Super Region title in 2019 on its way to the national championship game, is making its 15th NCAA appearance and its ninth in the past 10 seasons. The sixth-ranked Eagles outscored opponents 36-11 with a balanced attack paced by the six goals of Morten Bjoershol and nine assists from David Elizaga. Goalkeeper Alvaro Unanua has 10 shutouts and a 0.58 goals against average. CSULA is unbeaten in the last seven meetings with SPU (5-0-2) to even the all-time series at 6-6-2. The last three encounters came in the NCAA playoffs, including the Eagles 1-0 third-round overtime win in Seattle on Nov. 20, 2014.
 
Tournament Format
The NCAA Division II Tournament is a single-elimination playoff starting with a 40-team field divided into four super regions. Midwestern State (16-2-1) drew the No. 2 seed in the Region 4 and will await the first-round winner between No. 7 Cal Poly Pomona (12-4-3) and No. 10 Biola (11-6-0) in Wichita Falls, Texas. That second-round winner clashes with the team that advances from a second-round encounter between No. 3 Azusa Pacific (12-2-2) and No. 6 West Texas A&M (13-4-0). The third round will be played on Dec. 2 and the quarterfinals on Dec. 4 at the site of the highest remaining seed and pits the Cal State LA bracket winner versus the Midwestern State bracket victor. The 2021 NCAA semifinals and championship game are scheduled for Dec. 9 and 11 at Switchbacks FC Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Charleston, the 2021 national champion, is the No. 2 seed in Super Region 1. No NCAA Tournament was conducted last season due to the pandemic.
 
Meet the Interim Coach
 

GNAC Coach of the Year Kevin Sakuda is in his inaugural season at the helm, acting as the men's interim head coach after serving six seasons as the SPU women's assistant coach. He had a nine-year professional playing career, including six seasons with the USL version of the Seattle Sounders. A product of Mission San Jose (Calif.) High School, Sakuda lettered four years on the Duke University squad before graduating in 2002 with a psychology degree. He was selected by San Jose in the third round of the 2002 MLS SuperDraft, the 39th pick overall. Sakuda made 148 appearances as a defender with the USL from 2003-08. He played with the Montreal Impact in 2009 and the Austin Aztex in 2009-10. He also played in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 2002-05 with the San Diego Sockers. Sakuda is the fourth head coach in the 54-year history of SPU men's soccer. He replaced Mark Collings, who compiled a 129-68-32 record in 13 seasons (2008-20) before departing to become an assistant at the University of Washington. Cliff McCrath coached the Falcons to a 512-190-87 mark over 38 seasons (1970-2007) and Arnie Aizstrauts was 1-14-1 from 1968-69.