ESPN

Women's Professional Soccer follows Major League Soccer's lead and will stage its college-player draft Friday morning in Kansas City, Mo.

Here are seven local players angling to go to one of the five remaining clubs in America's top women's league:

Colleen Boyd (Oregon State): Goalkeeper from La Cañada Flintridge (La Cañada HS) was pivotal in the Beavers rise to regional power, an All-American who posted 27 shutouts and a 0.81 goals-against average in four seasons.

Judy Christopher (UC Irvine): Holding midfielder from Ontario (Upland HS) doesn't have sparkly numbers, but she's been the best defense-oriented midfielder in the Big West Conference for three seasons, critical to UC Irvine's conference title runs the past two years.

Sarah Devine (UC Irvine): Central defender from San Diego is coming out early -- she's a junior athletically after an injury redshirt her first year but eligible for selection. Sometimes overshadowed by her more celebrated teammate (below), but she's a solid, steady backline presence.

CoCo Goodson (UC Irvine): Central defender from Ramona (San Diego County) is a two-time All-American who, her coach says admiringly, plays the game like a man. She's got a rocket shot and is versatile enough to play anywhere on the field, but she's a force at the back.

Shawna Gordon (Long Beach State): Central midfielder from Rancho Cucamonga (Los Osos HS) is absolutely unflappable, a technical player who keeps things simple and expertly regulates the game's flow. She shared the 49ers' assists lead this year, with 10, despite taking a deeper stance in midfield, one of the maneuvers key to Long Beach State's run to the NCAA quarterfinals.

Sydney Leroux (UCLA): Forward from Vancouver, British Columbia (by way of Phoenix) is the big fish in this draft pool, a rising U.S. national-teamer and three-time All-American who scored 16 goals as a senior and 57 in four seasons with the Bruins while starring for the U.S. under-20 national team. Fast, intense, athletic.

Camille Levin (Stanford): Outside back from Newport Coast (Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School) might be the most impactful player in the draft. The first-team All-American is smooth, incredibly versatile and reminds some of another So Cal outside back from The Farm, WPS star Ali Riley.

Counting down the 11 biggest 2011 stories in Southern California soccer ...

UCLA's soccer programs might be forgiven for thinking of NCAA College Cup appearances as some sort of birthright. The Bruins' programs have long been among the nation's best, with the men winning four national championships and the women making it to final four eight times in 10 years through 2009.

But the men hadn't been to championship weekend since 2006, when they were upset in the title game by UC Santa Barbara despite talent that begged for trophies. They were stopped one game short the past two seasons.

2011 was a return to normalcy, perhaps. With a startling amount of ability returning from last year's quarterfinalists and a refined scheme, emphasizing a beautiful possession game, directed by head coach Jorge Salcedo, the Bruins absorbed early lessons, built momentum en route to the Pacific 12 Conference title, then sprinted through the postseason, shutting out every foe, en route to the program's 13th College Cup appearance.

Chandler Hoffman, with a terrific support group led by returning All-American Kelyn Rowe, midfield general Andy Rose and a defense anchored by top goalkeeper Brian Rowe, was responsible for the goals, 18 in all, as the Bruins took an eight-game shutout streak to Birmingham, Ala., the junior striker's hometown.

The Bruins (18-4-2) got no further -- they conceded equalizers twice and lost on penalties following a 2-2 draw in the semifinals with North Carolina, which won the championship -- but laid groundwork for return trips. They expect to be back in 2012.

UCLA's men highlighted a outstanding fall for local college sides.

(Read full post)

UCLA's Chandler Hoffman scored goals by the bunches on a quest to go home. Nadia Link netted nearly as many to take Long Beach State to unprecedented heights. Christian Ramirez dazzled for Concordia. And Fabiola da Silva prodded Cal Baptist to a national championship.

They're ESPN Los Angeles College Players of the Year after superb fall campaigns on local fields.

We selected men's and women's teams, one for players from 10 local NCAA Division I institutions and another for players from 24 NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and unaffiliated schools.

Our coaches of the year in Division I are Junior Gonzalez, who led the remarkable turnaround by UC Riverside's men, and Tim Ward, whose Pepperdine women were a top-five team during the regular season. In the lower divisions, it's Ralph Perez, who took Redlands' men to 20 wins and NCAA Division III third-round berth, and Kristen St. Clair, who presided over a superb transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II, with the Pacific West Conference title and National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association Division I national crown.

The freshmen of the year: Cal State Northridge's Edwin Rivas and UCLA's Abby Dahlkemper in D1, Cal Baptist's Michael Salazar and Cal Lutheran's Taylor Will in D2/D3/NAIA.

Here are our inaugural postseason all-star teams:

(Read full post)

UCLA striker Chandler Hoffman has signed as expected with Major League Soccer's Generation adidas program.

Hoffman had a phenomental junior season, winning All-America honors after scoring 18 goals to lead UCLA to its first NCAA College Cup men's soccer final four in five years.

It had been assumed the forward from Birmingham, Ala., would sign with MLS, and he said following the Bruins' loss on penalty kicks to North Carolina in the NCAA semifinals that he planned to discuss his options “with my family the next few days, talk to the [UCLA] coaching staff and see what the opportunities are in MLS.”

UCLA sophomore Kelyn Rowe also is expected to sign a Generation adidas pact, which is offered to the best players retaining college eligibility. Players in the program do not count against MLS clubs' salary caps nor roster sizes and tend to dominate the initial selections in the first round of the SuperDraft.

“I’m thrilled to be included in the Generation adidas list,” Hoffman told the league's website. “When you just look at the players that have come through this program, it’s basically every big-name American player. To have that opportunity to come into MLS and be a professional athlete, which has been my goal, is a major accomplishment and something I’m very proud of.

“I also see it as a new beginning and a time to prove myself once again, because coming to UCLA from Alabama, a lot of people didn’t believe I could do it, and I’m sure that at the next level there are going to be people who think I can’t do it. So it’s just added motivation to me to prove myself, because I definitely do think I’m good enough to be a goalscorer at the highest level.”

(Read full post)

Counting down the top 11 personalities of 2011 in Southern California soccer ...

Nadia Link's story is compelling enough.

The forward from Rowland Heights discovered she was pregnant right out of high school, was booted from the family home, abandoned a UC Irvine scholarship and took up residence for a time in her car.

It has provided a fascinating foundation for one of Southern California's breakout stars of the college season, and Link (Walnut HS) broke out big.

The junior attacker scored 16 goals, assisted 10 more and did so with stunning aplomb to lead surprising Long Beach State, which had never won an NCAA tournament match, to the Division I quarterfinals.

Link's superb skill provided highlight-reel goals, the biggest (and maybe the best) a corkscrewing blast off her lesser right foot that curled inside the far post to beat No. 7 Pepperdine in overtime in an NCAA opener.

“All I heard was Mauricio [Ingrassia, the 49ers' head coach] saying, 'Take it down the line!' And I remember thinking, 'That's a long way.' ... It went in, and I don't even remember celebrating. I was too busy crying.”

Link's biggest fan is Adrianna, who turns 3 next month. Her arrival after so much turmoil served to unify the family, which rallied around the former prep and club soccer star as she worked feverishly to regain fitness and touch following her pregnancy.

Ingrassia proved savior, offering a scholarship -- contingent on Link's passing a grueling fitness test before her second season on the team. She did so to rabid cheers from her teammates (“It was a great moment for us and a great moment for her,” Ingrassia said), had a fine sophomore campaign, then arrived last summer in the best shape of her life.

It showed all fall, led to a call-up to the U.S. women's national team and was rewarded with the 49ers' elite-eight run and a spot on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's All-America team.

“I would do it all over again,” Link says. “I would live in a car again. I would bounce around ... to see her now and where I am now and how close my family is, I wouldn't trade anything for the world.”

Long Beach State's unprecedented run through the NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament came to its conclusion against a faster, stronger, better team. That didn't make it any easier to accept.

The 49ers bowed in a quarterfinal Friday night to Duke, which claimed a College Cup berth with a 2-0 victory in Durham, N.C., capping its dominance with two fine second-half goals to reach the final four the first time since 1992.

Long Beach (18-6-1) stayed level until the 67th minute, but its failure to create much of an attack -- with just three shots (to Duke's 15) and none on frame -- meant it was going to take something very special to add to NCAA victories over Pepperdine, Miami and San Diego with an upset of the third-ranked Blue Devils (21-3-1).

“They were very athletic, more so than my kids,” 49ers coach Mauricio Ingrassia told ESPN Los Angeles afterward. “Normally, we get to the ball quicker or we hang in the air higher. They just had some beastly athletes -- and good soccer players. End of the day, we did very well to give ourselves a shot.”

Duke will meet Wake Forest (18-3-4), a 3-0 winner over Central Florida, in a semifinal next Friday in Kennesaw, Ga. A third Atlantic Coast Conference team, Florida State (18-6-1), routed ACC rival Virginia, 3-0, and will face top-ranked Stanford (23-0-1), which beat Oklahoma State, 2-1, in overtime.

Duke was explosive on the flanks, especially through Mollie Pathman on the left, and moved the ball impressively, but Long Beach stayed in the game by surviving Kelly Cobb's blast off the crossbar in the 22nd minute and through strong play by center backs Jordan Nelson (Garden Grove/Pacifica HS and Loyola Marymount) and Alex Balcer and goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gustaves (Long Beach/Wilson HS).

(Read full post)

As he prepared his Long Beach State women's soccer team for something truly historic, Mauricio Ingrassia figured what better way to illustrate what the 49ers have accomplished -- and what remains in their reach -- than to show off a little living history.

So off they went, upon flying into North Carolina for Friday's NCAA Division I quarterfinal at thid-ranked Duke, to visit Anson Dorrance, architect of the most dominant dynasty in American sports history.

Dorrance, with a nearly never-ending stream of legends -- Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, April Heinrichs, Carla Overbeck, Tisha Venturini, Lorrie Fair, Lindsay Tarpley, Lori Chalupny, Heather O'Reilly, Tobin Heath -- has guided North Carolina to 21 national championships and fueled the U.S. women's national team's dominance in the women's game.

“Four our girls, that's history,” said Ingrassia, whose 49ers (18-5-1) have won eight in a row, seven by shutout, en route to the Big West Conference tournament title, a first-round NCAA “upset” of No. 7 Pepperdine, victories over Miami and San Diego and to a wholly unexpected spot in the elite eight. “If you ask [female] college players around the country if they ever thought about playing at North Carolina, you'd see a lot of hands, and our program isn't any different.”

So Ingrassia's charges oohed and ahhed at all the silverware and championship banners and mementos of those icons, checked out the facilities and spend a little time with Dorrance, the winningest coach in the American game, any level, anywhere.

Now they head into a battle with a Duke team that's 20-3-1, has a vibrant attack led by freshman Kelly Cobb and sophomores Kaitlyn Kerr and Mollie Pathman and an outstanding backline anchored by sophomore Natasha Anasi. The smart money has the Blue Devils in the Dec. 4 final against No. 1 Stanford.

Nothing is expected of Long Beach State, which hadn't won in two previous NCAA appearances. Now they sit one very difficult win from a College Cup final appearance.

“The goal for the team was to get to the sweet 16 or better,” said Ingrassia, whose team has advanced further than North Carolina, defending champion Notre Dame and perennial powers Santa Clara, Portland, UCLA and Florida. “Once we got to the sweet 16, we got the team together and said, 'Define what 'better' means to you. They came up with some pretty good and pretty powerful answers, so we redefined our goal.”

(Read full post)

UC Irvine rallied late to force overtime, but the seventh-ranked Anteaters couldn't stop St. Mary's at the end, dropping a 2-1 decision in their NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament opener Sunday night.

Justin Howard's header nearly 13 minutes into overtime lifted the Gaels (10-6-5) into a third-round clash at Brown (12-4-3), which upset ninth-seeded St. John's.

Riley Hanley scored from a deflected corner kick in the 58th minute to provide a lead for St. Mary's, the West Coast Conference champion. Big West Conference titlist Irvine (16-6-1), which had a first-round bye, pulled even on a finish by Miguel Ibarra (Lancaster/Lancaster HS) in the 84th, his team-best ninth goal of the season.

The decisive goal followed a cleared corner kick that was sent back into the Anteaters' box and was headed about a half-dozen times between the sides before falling to Howard, who nodded it home.

In other men's action:

• Chandler Hoffman scored in the 83rd minute, his 16th of the season, and goalkeeper Brian Rowe posted his sixth straight shutout to lead No. 4 UCLA (16-4-1) to an NCAA Division I second-round victory over visiting Delaware. The Bruins will be home next Sunday evening at 5 against Rutgers (10-6-4), which toppled fourth-seeded Boston College on penalties.

(Read full post)

UCLA rallied for an early deficit and stood one kick from victory, but it wasn't enough Friday night in the second round of the NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament.

The second-ranked Bruins' miscues from the penalty spot were deadly, and West Coast Conference co-champion San Diego took advantage to advance to the sweet 16, by a 3-2 tally, following a 1-1 draw.

UCLA (16-1-4) had won 30 successive NCAA tournament home games.

Long Beach State (17-5-1) will be the Toreros' foe in Sunday's third-round clash at UCLA's Drake Field after a 1-0 triumph over Miami in Friday's opener.

Freshman Mariah Butera gave San Diego (12-7-2) a lead less than a minute and a half into the game, and it held off the Bruins until the final minutes. Jenna Richmond's shot off the post in the 80th minute forced overtime, and penalty kicks followed 20 minutes of scoreless soccer.

Both teams missed their first two shots, but Sam Mewis and Charney Burk (Tustin/Foothill HS) connected to give UCLA a 2-1 advantage after four of five shootout rounds. Caprice Dydasco, with a chance to send the Bruins through, missed to start the fifth round, and Stephanie Ochs pulled USD even.

UCLA's Chelsea Stewart missed on the next shot, and the Toreros prevailed when Elissa Magracia converted.

Long Beach State, which last weekend at Pepperdine notched its first NCAA women's soccer victory, won on sophomore left back Kelsey Wilson's 40-yard blast inside the far post with about 10 minutes to go. Miami, which also won its first NCAA game last week, finished 10-8-1.

In other women's action:

• Cal State L.A. (13-4-4) watched its season end on penalties after another defensive battle with California Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Chico State (12-6-5), which won, 4-3, on the eighth round of the shootout following a 0-0 draw. The Wildcats, who beat Cal State L.A. in the CCAA tournament, on Sunday takes on Abilene Christian (20-1-1), which in the first game rallied from a halftime deficit for a 2-1 victory over Dallas Baptist (16-6-1). Ashley Holton's goal six minutes into overtime was the difference.

(Read full post)

As the college soccer season hits its stretch drive, let's take a look at some of the most dominant players in Southern California this year, no matter the division.

Here are 10 who enjoyed marvelous campaigns:

• LUIS GONZALEZ

Cal Poly Pomona
Who is he? Senior striker from Long Beach (Millikan HS), the national JC Player of the Year at Cerritos College and soon-to-be two-time All-American in two seasons with the Broncos.
What has he done? Scored 14 goals this year and 26 in two seasons at Cal Poly Pomona, winning the California Collegiate Athletic Association's Most Valuable Offensive Player award this fall.
Coachspeak: “I equate Luis Gonzalez to Magic Johnson,” Broncos coach Lance Thompson said, “and I do that because a heard a story about Magic where he was playing for his youth basketball team and they were winning and he was jumping for joy and excited and couldn't figure out why his teammates were so depressed. Well, if the team scored 70 points, he scored 68, and he learned a valuable lesson of giving and getting others involved so they could contribute, and he became one of the best assist guys ever. That's Luis. Luis takes more pride and has more joy in getting teammates involved than he does in scoring. And the more he gave, the more he received. That's what sets him apart over any other student-athlete I've coached.”

• COCO GOODSON

UC Irvine
Who is she? Senior center back from Ramona (San Diego County), a University of Texas transfer expected to repeat as a Division I All-American.
What has she done? Set the standard at the back to lead the Anteaters to back-to-back Big West Conference titles, an NCAA sweet 16 appearance last year, and a return to the NCAA tournament this fall.
Coachspeak: “Coco's unique,” Anteaters coach Scott Juniper said. “She is the strongest player that I've seen in women's soccer. She strikes a ball better than many of the male players I've worked with, and she is just a relentless competitor. She's totally unique, and there isn't another player out there like her.”

(Read full post)

Redlands' dominance of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in men's soccer extended into the NCAA Division III tournament. The Bulldogs advanced to the sweet 16 Sunday evening with a 3-0 rout of rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, their third victory in four meetings this season.

Nick Eary converted a third-minute penalty kick, Charles Izydorek (Redlands/Arrowhead Christian Academy) doubled the lead in the 30th, and Gabe Ramirez (Pasadena/Crescenta Valley HS) added a late goal as Redlands (20-3-1) extended its unbeaten streak to 19 games.

The Bulldogs will face Calvin (17-5-1), of Grand Rapids, Mich., which reached the round of 16 for third year in a row with a 4-0 romp at No. 12 Loras. The game will be paired with another -- Randolph (19-5-0) vs. No. 22 Texas-Tyler (17-2-2) -- and the site will be announced Monday.

The tournament appears wide open after four schools among the top seven in the Division III rankings -- No. 1 Messiah, No. 3 Christopher Newport, No. 5 Trinity, Texas, and No. 7 St. Olaf -- lost in their NCAA openers. No. 8 Dominican, Ill., fell in its second-round game.

The Stags (14-6-2) held Redlands to a 1-1 draw in their meeting eight days ago, then prevailed on penalties to win the SCIAC tournament.

(Read full post)

MALIBU -- Nadia Link has netted some wonderful goals this season, but few as sweet -- and none as important -- as her bending blast Saturday afternoon at Pepperdine.

Link fired into the far corner of the net with 13 seconds to go in the first overtime period to lift Long Beach State to a 1-0 triumph over the seventh-ranked Waves in an NCAA Division I tournament opener.

It was the first NCAA victory in 49ers history, and the first over a top-10 opponent, and it was product on Link's twisting shot and five big saves by goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gustaves.

“That's seven years of work -- seven and a half years ...,” said Long Beach State coach Mauricio Ingrassia, who has the 49ers in the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years. “We had a couple of injuries [when we lost in the first round to San Diego] in '08. And last year we played our best game of the year against Santa Clara, but [their goalkeeper] had the game of her life. This year we felt we had the experience. It would have been very painful to be 0-3 in the tournament without scoring a goal.”

The goal was a beauty. Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) received a pass from midfielder Sidney Garza (Ventura /Buena HS), took the ball up the left flank, then cut inside along the top of the Waves box, where she found uncommon space.

She's a left-footer, but the shot was on her right, and it twisted away -- “corkscrewed,” is how Pepperdine coach Tim Ward put it -- toward the upper-right. Waves goalkeeper Roxanne Barker (Irvine/Woodbridge HS) never had a chance.

“The team was asking why did I wait so long,” said Link, who tied the school record with her 16th goal of the season. “I saw the pass coming from Sidney Garza, and all I heard was Mauricio saying, 'Take it down the line!' And I remember thinking, 'That's a long way.' ... It went in, and I don't even remember celebrating. I was too busy crying.”

Said Ward: “A moment was going to decide the game, and that moment [belonged to] Nadia Link. ... A great player scored a great goal to beat us.”

Link described the odd path of her shot as “the unpredictability of my right foot.”

The strike brought a dramatic end to a tight, thrilling clash marked by superb defense in the boxes, with Long Beach State's backline -- especially center back Jordan Nelson (Garden Grove/Pacifica HS and Loyola Marymount) -- doing well to get in the way of shots by Lynn Williams and Laura Cole (Whittier/La Habra HS).

Gustaves (Long Beach/Wilson HS) came up big five times, including a double-save, the second with her foot, on Amanda LeCave after an uncharacteristic giveaway by defender Alex Balcer. The goalkeeper followed up by snagging a long shot by right back Michelle Pao, Pepperdine's most dangerous attacker, then made two diving saves on Williams in the second half.

Long Beach advances to a second-round clash Friday against Miami (10-7-1), a 3-2 winner over Alabama, at UCLA's Drake Stadium.

In other women's action:

• Freshman Kylie McCarthy knocked home a 65th-minute rebound as No. 2 UCLA (16-1-3) scored a 1-0 victory over visiting New Mexico (12-5-4) in an NCAA Division I first-round game. The Bruins limited the Mountain West Conference champion to three shots, just two on target, in a dominant performance en route to a second-round clash Friday in Westwood against San Diego.

(Read full post)

Here's a rundown of the 11 local schools that have qualified for NCAA soccer tournaments:

• DIVISION I WOMEN

LONG BEACH STATE
Coach: Mauricio Ingrassia
Record: 15-5-1 (Big West runner-up and tournament champion)
Ranking: Receiving votes
Home field: George Allen Field (Long Beach)
Three players to watch: M Shawna Gordon (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos HS), F Nicole Hubbard (Lakewood/Mayfair HS), F Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS)
NCAA opener: Saturday at Pepperdine, 1:30 p.m.
Quick look: Throw out one tough weekend, while the 49ers were engulfed in the Seal Beach tragedy, and Long Beach might be top 20 with just three losses and a Big West double. Link has 15 goals, 10 assists, and Gordon might be the smoothest center midfielder in Southern California.

PEPPERDINE
Coach: Tim Ward
Record: 15-1-4 (WCC co-champion)

(Read full post)

College all-conference teams are starting to show up, and several local players (and one coach) are winning awards.

All four players of the year in the Big West Conference are with local schools. Long Beach State's Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) is the Offensive Player of the Year and Shawna Gordon (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos HS) is Midfielder of the Year.

All-American CoCo Goodson of UC Irvine is the Defensive Player of the Year, and Cal State Northridge's Cynthia Jacobo (Arleta/Granada Hills HS) is Goalkeeper of the Year.

West Coast Conference co-champion Pepperdine was honored with the conference's Coach of the Year, for Tim Ward, and Freshman of the Year, for Lynn Williams.

The Most Valuable Offensive Player in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, for NCAA Division II programs, is Cal State Dominguez Hills' Jessica Murphy (Torrance/West Torrance HS). Cal Poly Pomona's Christina Carriaga (Walnut/Walnut HS and Mt. San Antonio College) is the Newcomer of the Year.

In the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, for NCAA Division III schools, Cal Lutheran swept the top awards, with Sinead Vaughn (Simi Valley/Royal HS, Moorpark College and Cal State Northridge) voted Athlete of the Year and Taylor Will selected Newcomer of the Year.

Here are full lists from the Big West, WCC, CCAA and SCIAC:

(Read full post)

The new format for the NCAA's Division I women's soccer tournament has its benefits and disadvantages, as the locals discovered when the 64-team pairings were unveiled Monday.

Three schools -- No. 4 UCLA, No. 8 Pepperdine and No. 24 UC Irvine -- were awarded first-round home games. But only one Southern California side can get to the quarterfinals.

The biggest matchup, from our perspective, pits Big West Conference tournament champion Long Beach State (15-5-1) at West Coast Conference co-champion Pepperdine (15-1-4), one of four national No. 3 seeds. Kickoff is Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Pacific 12 runner-up UCLA (15-1-3), which is seeded second in the same bracket, will be home Saturday night against New Mexico (12-4-4), and Big West regular-season titlist UC Irvine (14-4-2) is home against WCC co-champ San Diego (12-7-0) on Friday at 7 p.m.

The format this season calls for 32 opening-round home games, with the winners advancing into eight second- and third-round quartets. Previously, the tournament opened with 16 first- and second-round quartets.

The winners of the three SoCal matchups will join Miami (9-7-1) and Alabama (10-8-3) in a quartet Nov. 18 and 20, likely at UCLA if the Bruins win.

Receiving No. 1 seedings are top-ranked Stanford (19-0-1) and three Atlantic Coast Conference teams, none of them North Carolina -- it's Duke (17-3-1), Wake Forest (14-3-4) and Florida State (14-6-1). The Tar Heels (11-5-1), winners of 21 of 30 top-tier national titles, are a No. 3 seed.

There are two Pac-12 vs. WCC matchups: Cal at Santa Clara and Portland at Oregon State.

DIVISION III: Redlands' men and Cal Lutheran's women will stage first-round quartets in the D3 tournament. Redlands' features thee SoCal schools.

The Bulldogs (18-3-1), 15th in the D3 poll, take on No. 20 Pacific Lutheran (15-3-0) in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday, with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (14-5-1) taking on Chapman (11-4-3) in the second game. The winners meet Sunday.

Cal Lutheran (20-1-1) will open Saturday against UC Santa Cruz (7-6-2), which it's beaten twice this year. The winner faces the Puget Sound (14-3-2)-Concordia Morehead (12-3-5) victor Sunday.

The Division II men's and women's rankings will be out later Monday afternoon.