UCLA Men's Soccer to Host Cal Baptist in 1st Round of NCAA Tournament
For the second year in a row, the Bruins will open up their postseason slate at home.
UCLA men's soccer (10-6-1, 4-4-1 Pac-12) earned an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament during Monday's selection show. The Bruins were matched up with Cal Baptist (11-6-3, 4-3-2 WAC) in the first round, and the game will take place at Wallis Annenberg Stadium.
The winner of UCLA-Cal Baptist will face No. 6 seed Clemson in the second round on Sunday. The rest of their section of the bracket features Vermont, Quinnipiac and No. 11 seed SMU.
This marks the first time since 2015-2016 that the Bruins have made the tournament in back-to-back seasons. They are one of four Pac-12 teams in the field, but the other three are all seeded and received byes to the second round.
UCLA was 1-5-1 against teams that made it into the field of 48 this season, with the only win coming at Rutgers on Oct. 29. The Bruins lost to Portland on the road, got swept by Washington, dropped its only game against Oregon State and picked up a loss and a draw versus Stanford.
Because of how the bracket came together, however, the only one of those teams UCLA could face before the College Cup is Rutgers in the national quarterfinals.
But before the Bruins can worry about the road ahead, they'll have to take on the Lancers.
Cal Baptist is in its first season competing at the Division I level – finally earning active status from the NCAA Board of Directors in August after five years of waiting – and it opened things up by winning the MAC tournament. After beating top-seeded Air Force 2-0, the Lancers beat San Jose State in penalty kicks to punch their ticket to the tournament.
Ryan Jorden got his first head coaching gig at Cal Baptist, where he won back-to-back National Christian College Athletic Association championships in 2011 and 2012. After spending five years at Pacific, Jorden arrived in Westwood, and has since stabilized a program that was muddled in controversy and disappointing finishes at the tail end of Jorge Salcedo's tenure.
While UCLA did not face Jorden's old team this season, they did play other teams from the MAC. The Bruins tied UNLV 0-0 in a preseason exhibition on Aug. 20 and getting upset 3-2 by Grand Canyon at home on Sept. 5.
UCLA is 74-42 all-time in the NCAA tournament, including a 15-6 record in the first round. The Bruins picked up their first postseason win in five years when they beat UC Santa Barbara 2-1 in double overtime last season, but they followed that up with a 2-1 loss on the road against No. 7 seed Duke.
UCLA and Cal Baptist will kick off their first round matchup Thursday at 5 p.m.. The showdown will be televised on ESPN+.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF SCOTT CHANDLER/UCLA ATHLETICS