Men's And Women's Soccer Qualify For NCAA Championships

The men's and women's soccer teams qualified for the NCAA Championships in the same year for the first time with wins in their respective SCIAC Tournaments on Saturday and Monday they found out they will have the same first round opponent - UC Santa Cruz.

The Athenas will host an NCAA game for the first time in school history.  They will play UC Santa Cruz at 11:00 am on Saturday, November 14 on Pritzlaff Field.  University of Puget Sound will face Hardin-Simmons University 30 minutes after the CMS-UCSC game ends.  The winners of the Saturday games will play at CMS at 1:00 pm on Sunday, November 15 with the winner of that game advancing to the sectional.

The Stags will play at UC Santa Cruz at 11:00 am on Saturday, November 14.  Chapman University will play Whitworth University following the CMS-UCSC game with the Saturday winners meeting at 1:00 pm on Sunday at Santa Cruz.

Both CMS teams have played UC Santa Cruz this season.  The Stags and Banana Slugs tied 1-1 (2ot) on October 8 at CMS.  The Athenas beat the Slugs 3-2 on October 30.

Three of the four women's teams were in the same bracket last year.  CMS advanced past Hardin-Simmons on penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie and then defeated UC Santa Cruz 4-0 in the second round.  All four teams have faced each other in the NCAA's before.  UPS beat Santa Cruz 1-0 in 1999, beat CMS 4-0 in 2002 and beat Hardin-Simmons 2-0 in 2004.  Hardin-Simmons advanced past UPS on penalty kicks after a 2-2 game in 2006 and also advanced past Santa Cruz in the same year after a 0-0 game.  Also in 2006, Santa Cruz beat CMS 3-0.

CMS has faced both UC Santa Cruz and Chapman previously in the NCAA's.  They beat Chapman 2-1 in 1999 and beat UC Santa Cruz 2-1 in 2000.  There have not been any other playoff matchups between the four men's teams.