UCLA, UC Irvine and UC Riverside make NCAA men’s soccer tournament
UCLA, UC Irvine and UC Riverside on Monday all made the 48-team NCAA men’s soccer tournament field, one that will include Pac-12 winner Stanford chasing a fourth consecutive national title.
UCLA (10-8), which won an at-large invitation, will travel to Portland (11-3-3) for a first-round game Thursday. The Bruins, who will be making their 45th appearance in the NCAA championships, are one of four Pac-12 teams in the tournament.
Irvine (11-5-3), making its sixth tournament appearance, will play its opener Thursday at home against Grand Canyon at 7 p.m. Irvine was an at-large tournament selection while Grand Canyon (12-8) is champion of the Western Athletic Conference.
The winner will play Stanford (11-3-4) in the second round.
Riverside earned its invitation by winning its first Big West title last weekend, beating UC Davis in the penalty shootout after the teams played 120 minutes to a scoreless draw. The Highlanders began the season 0-7-1 but went 7-2-2 over the final 11 games to finish 7-9-3.
Riverside will open its first NCAA tournament Thursday at Pacific (11-4-2), another at-large selection.
Pacific beat Riverside 3-1 in a September match.
In the Division II tournament, fifth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona rode shutout wins over Fresno Pacific and top-seeded Simon Fraser to advance to the West Region final Thursday with Azusa Pacific.
Azusa (17-1-1) beat No. 3 seed Cal State Los Angeles and will host Pomona (15-6) at 7 p.m. It will be Pomona’s fourth West Region title game.
kevin.baxter@latimes.com | Twitter: @kbaxter11
