Stanford, UCLA men's soccer selected for NCAA Tournament

SAN FRANCISCO - STANFORD and UCLA were selected to participate in the NCAA Divison I Men’s Soccer Championship, as announced by the NCAA committee today. The teams will vie for a trip to play in the 2015 NCAA College Cup, to be held December 11 and 13 in Kansas City, Kan. 

Stanford earned the No. 8 seed and a first-round bye in its third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Cardinal will host either Cal State Fullerton or Santa Clara on Sunday, November 22 at 5 p.m. PT. It marks Stanford’s 14th overall NCAA tournament appearance.

Stanford claimed the Pac-12 title outright for the second-straight year with a 7-1-2 Conference record. It finished the season with an overall record of 14-2-2, including an 8-0-2 record at home. The Cardinal set a program record for Pac-12 wins and its seven-point cushion atop of the league standings is the third-largest margin in Conference history. Stanford claims one of the nation’s toughest defenses, with a goals against average of 0.64, led by defender Brandon Vincent and goalkeeper Andrew Epstein.

UCLA earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and hosts the Cal Poly Mustangs on Thursday, November 19 at 7 p.m. PT. The game will be a rematch from earlier this season, where the Bruins were victorious, 4-1, over the Mustangs on Sept. 18. 

The Bruins earned their 33rd-consecutive trip to the postseason and 43rd overall in team history. UCLA owns a 72-39 overall NCAA Tournament record, including four national championships, 14 College Cup sand nine NCAA Championship game appearances. This season, UCLA finished second in the Pac-12 standings with an overall record of 10-8-1 and 5-4-1 in league play. The Bruins claim one of the top offenses in the nation as they are tied for second nationally in goals per game (2.37) and have three 20+ point scorers in Seyi Adekoya, Abu Danladi and Jose Hernandez.