USC, UCLA set to open women’s NCAA soccer tournament at home
Fourth-ranked USC and No. 9 UCLA will open the NCAA women’s soccer tournament at home, with the Trojans meeting Sacramento State on Sunday at Dignity Health Sports Park and the Bruins hosting Western Athletic Conference champion Cal Baptist on Friday.
Both Southern California teams claimed championships in their first seasons in the Big Ten, with USC beating UCLA for the regular-season conference title while the Bruins won the postseason conference tournament by beating Rutgers on Sunday.
The Trojans win their first outright conference title as Maile Hayes scores the game’s only goal in the 36th minute Sunday at Dignity Health Sports Park.
USC (15-1-3) is seeded No. 1 in its NCAA bracket, while UCLA (16-3-3) is a No. 2 seed in its regional behind Duke, the nation’s top-ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches’ poll.
No. 22 Pepperdine (12-3-5), which shared the West Coast Conference championship with Santa Clara, also made the tournament and will host Cal (12-5-2) in its opener Saturday in Malibu, while UC Santa Barbara (8-5-9) will go on the road Friday to play No. 14 Stanford (13-4-1).
In the NCAA Division III women’s soccer tournament, defending champion Cal Lutheran (12-3-4) will face Trinity, Texas (16-1-2) and Pomona-Pitzer (15-2-2), the region’s top-ranked team, will meet UC Santa Cruz (10-2-5) at Saturday at Pomona-Pitzer while SCIAC winner Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (13-3-3) will travel to Cambridge, Mass., to face Colby (11-4-3), also Saturday.
In the Division III men’s tournament, conference champion Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (13-3-3) will play Oglethorpe (9-2-6) Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo.
