Top-seeded UCSD Hosts Women's Soccer Subregional

The women’s soccer team received an at-large bid into the 2011 NCAA Soccer Championship field of 48, it was announced Monday. The top-seeded Tritons received a bye for the First Round and will host the winner of No. 4 Cal State Stanislaus and No. 5 Chico State in the Second Round of the West Subregional.

The Wildcats and Warriors will square off Friday night in the opening round. Match time is set for 7 p.m. Sunday’s match between UCSD and the CSUS-CSUC winner will take place at noon. Both matches will be played at Triton Soccer Field.

Third-seeded Seattle Pacific (16-2-0) will take on No. 6 Grand Canyon in the other West Subregional in Los Angeles, with second-seeded Cal State L.A. (12-4-3) awaiting the winner.

The winners of the West Subregionals will advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals, Nov. 18-20 at a site still to be determined.

Ranked No. 2 for three weeks, the Tritons posted a 13-1-4 overall record during the regular season and finished atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association South Division with a 12-1-3 conference mark. UCSD earned the No. 1 seed for the CCAA Championship Tournament, but was ousted in the semifinals for the third consecutive year by way of a 2-1 loss to Cal State Stanislaus on Nov. 4.

UCSD was ranked in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) top 10 every week of the regular season and spent the entire year as the West Region’s No. 1 team.

Cal State Stanislaus (11-4-5) received an automatic spot in the tournament after capturing its first-ever CCAA Championship on Sunday. The Warriors defeated the Tritons in the CCAA semifinals before pounding Chico State 4-0 in the championship match. UCSD is 0-1-1 this season against CSUS, having previously battled to a scoreless tie on October 9 in Turlock. The Warriors will be making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Chico State enters Friday’s contest at 11-6-3 overall after losing big to CSUS in the CCAA Championship on November 6. The Wildcats won the CCAA North Division at 10-4-2. UCSD battled CSUC to a 0-0 tie on October 7 in Chico. The last time the Tritons and Wildcats met in the NCAA Tournament was in 2008, when UCSD topped CSUC 2-1 in the first round in La Jolla.

UCSD has qualified for the NCAA Tournament 25 out of the last 26 years and has won seven national titles during that span. The Tritons’ last national championship came in 2001, when UCSD won back-to-back titles in the program’s first two seasons at the Division II level.

In 2010, UCSD made its first appearance in the national championship game in nine years. After a 3-1 win over San Francisco State in the First Round, the Tritons shutout four consecutive opponents to set up a title match with defending national champion Grand Valley State. GVSU topped UCSD 4-0 to take its second-straight national title.

The NCAA Finals will feature the final four teams of the field of 48 and will take place Dec. 1-3 at the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in Pensacola, FL.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Christian Hatch scored a game-high 18 points and Matt Bailey finished with 10, but it wasn't enough as the UC San Diego men's basketball team suffered a 78-68 defeat at the hands of Western Washington on the second day of the Disney West Coast Tip-Off Classic on Saturday afternoon at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Rico Wilkins scored 17 points to lead five players in double figures for WWU, which won its second consecutive game in Anaheim. The Vikings shot 47.5% (28-59) from the field and drained 10-of-22 from the three-point line, 45.5% to hand the Tritons their first loss of the young season.

UCSD, which defeated Chestnut Hill College 102-74 to open the tournament on Friday, shot just 43 percent (26-60) from the floor and finished with 18 turnovers. The Tritons held a 42-31 rebounding advantage and outscored the Vikings 30-18 in the paint, but couldn't find an answer for the WWU offense, particularly from the outside.

"Western Washington's a very good team and they played well today," head coach Chris Carlson said. "We weren't great defensively and we didn't do a very good job of responding when they came out and took it to us early on. We were playing catch up the whole game and we were never really able to climb back into it."

CROSS COUNTRY

The UC San Diego cross country teams saw their season come to a close on Saturday after neither squad was able to qualify for the NCAA National Championships.

The Triton women finished eighth out of 24 teams, while the men placed ninth in a 17-team field at the NCAA Division II West Regional Championships at Plantes Ferry Regional Park in Spokane. The top four teams and two top individuals on non-qualifying teams in each race will return to Spokane for the national meet on Nov. 19.

After finishing seventh at the CCAA Championships in Santa Rosa two weeks ago, sophomore Chia Chang had another tremendous outing on Saturday, placing eighth overall to lead the way for UCSD in the women's race. The Yorba Linda native clocked in with a final time of 21:46 on the 6k course and earned All-West Region accolades with her performance.

Chang just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships on the same course in two weeks as she was the third individual from a non-qualifying team to complete the course.

Freshman Michelle Le Roux was the next runner to cross the finish line for the Tritons, placing 29th overall at 22:28. Dani Brabender, Alia Bales and Aaryn Kobayashi were the final three scorers for UCSD on the day, finishing in 44th, 72nd and 77th place, respectively. Brabender posted a final time of 22:57, while Bales came in at 23:40 and Kobayashi finished in 23:47.

"Our women made a huge improvement from last year's meet, moving up six places in the standings," head coach Nate Garcia said. "Chia put together a complete performance and just missed qualifying for nationals and for Michelle to finish in the top-30 as a freshman was a tremendous accomplishment."

On the men's side, junior Matt Lenehan paced the Tritons once again, finishing 39th overall with a 10k time of 32:37. Lenehan finished two spots in front of teammate Kellen Levy, who wrapped up at 32:41 to claim 41st place.

John Svet posted the next-best finish for UCSD, placing 53rd at 32:55, while Alex Corliss and Ben Rich rounded out the scoring for the Tritons with respective times of 33:14 and 33:46. Corliss' time was good enough for 59th place, while Rich was the 73rd runner across the line on the day.

"We saw some good individual improvement from last year in the men's race as several of our guys were able to move up within the region," Garcia continued. "We ran well today, but we didn't perform well enough to finish higher in a very competitive West Regional field."

Alaska Anchorage won both the men's and women's team titles.

MEN'S WATER POLO

No. 1 UCLA limited the No. 11 UC San Diego men’s water polo team to a single goal in each quarter of play as the Bruins topped the Tritons 9-4 on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Canyonview Pool.

UCSD drops to 14-8 overall while UCLA improves to 17-3 on the year. Sunday’s contest was the first time the Tritons had played the No. 1 team in the nation since 2006.

“I thought we put forward a pretty good effort, much better than the last time we had a top team here,” said UCSD head coach Denny Harper. “I thought we really made UCLA work throughout the entire game. They knew they couldn’t really let their guard down and I’m pleased that we competed.”

Prior to first sprint, four UCSD seniors- William Brown, Matt Kerchner, Saber and Morton- were honored for their years of service to the Triton water polo program. Morton will leave La Jolla as UCSD’s all-time career saves leader. He has stopped 1,021 shots throughout his career.

The Tritons will have their last regular season contest of the season on Wednesday at No. 6 UC Irvine. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

“We’ll use the Irvine game as a preparation game to help us catapult into the WWPA (Championships),” said Harper.

Sunday won’t be the last time UCSD plays in Canyonview Pool this season. The 2011 Western Water Polo Association Championships will take place on campus Nov. 17-20. It is likely UCSD will be the No. 2 seed for the tournament.

VOLLEYBALL

The UC San Diego women's volleyball team was firing on all cylinders for a majority of Saturday's match against Humboldt State, enough so that the 17th-ranked Tritons swept the Lumberjacks for their ninth straight win.

Scores were 26-24, 25-14 and 29-27 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) match at RIMAC Arena.

UCSD moved to 19-4 overall and 15-4 in the CCAA, while HSU fell to 8-16 and 5-15. The win enabled the Tritons to pick up more ground on Sonoma State, which they defeated in straight sets Friday. In second place in the CCAA, the Seawolves lost against undefeated Cal State San Bernardino Saturday, putting their league record at 16-4, just a half match ahead of the Tritons.

It's the second time the Tritons have won nine consecutive matches as they opened the 2011 season with nine straight, one short of the school record.

UCSD hit .269 (52-13-145), its third-highest attack percentage of the season, and held Humboldt State to a .154 (43-18-162) attack. The Tritons were relentless on defense, out-digging the Lumberjacks 93-71.

SWIMMING AND DIVING

UC San Diego swimmers and divers posted several winning performances at Division I UC Santa Barbara Friday, but the Tritons ended up falling, 327-267, to the Gauchos at Campus Pool.

On the men's side, UCSD kept it close but was ultimately defeated, 154-140. The women compiled 127 points to Santa Barbara's 173. UCSD won eight events, five on the men's side, plus swept the podium positions in diving.

I'm very happy with how the team performed today," said first-year UCSD co-head coach Matt Macedo. "We had many in-season best times and the men almost beat a tough Pac-12 squad. Today showed us that we're in great shape as our times stack up with the rest of the country."

The Triton women compete at the University of San Diego on Nov. 12 before the entire team travels to Long Beach for the Arena Invitational Nov. 17-19.

—Compiled from press releases issued by the UCSD sports information office