UCSD Soccer Teams Hope to Extend Unbeaten Seasons in NCAA Playoffs
Although the UC San Diego athletic department did not become an NCAA Division III member until 1980, its teams have won six national titles and finished second or third 20 times.
Understandably, it’s difficult for one team to break new ground. But the men’s and women’s soccer teams have managed to add a twist . . . the undefeated regular season.
In more than 20 years of competition at assorted levels, no UCSD team had gone through a regular season unbeaten until the men’s soccer team defeated Menlo College, 3-0, on Oct. 30 to finish 18-0-2.
Less than 24 hours later, the women’s team tied Cal Poly Pomona, 0-0, to close at 17-0-2.
One thing that is familiar to these teams is the playoffs. The men will play host to the Far West-Midwest Regional Saturday and Sunday for the second consecutive year, and the women will travel to St. Paul, Minn., for the women’s regional.
The men’s team, ranked fourth nationally, is making its sixth consecutive postseason appearance. The women, ranked third, are in their third in a row.
The top-seeded men will play Macalester (10-1-4) in the first round Saturday at 1 p.m. at UCSD’s Warren Field. Claremont-Mudd (15-3-2) and Cal State Stanislaus (12-4-2) will meet at 11 a.m. in the other semifinal. The winners will play Sunday at 1 p.m.
The women are the top seed for the second year but will again travel to St. Paul. In NCAA Division III, the location of participating schools is a big factor in choosing sites for regionals because of travel costs; two teams in the Tritons’ region are from Minnesota. The women received a bye in the first round last year and then were upset, 1-0, in the second round by St. Thomas, their opening opponent this year.
Two of the UCSD women’s top 3 scorers are freshmen and didn’t experience last year’s upset. But they heard about it from returning players.
“They said (the seed) means nothing,” said leading scorer Katy Dulock, a freshman from San Gorgonio High School.
Dulock received scholarship offers from NCAA Division I and II schools such as UC Santa Barbara, California and Cal Poly Pomona. But she chose UCSD.
“I knew I wanted to play soccer,” Dulock said. “I didn’t want to go where there would be school and soccer pressure. That’s the way it is at Division I schools. Here it’s a lot more fun. I had no concept of how good (UCSD) was or college sports at all.”
One thing Dulock does have a good concept of is where the goal is located. She didn’t enter the season with any particular figure in mind, although she said a friend finally made her tell him how many goals she would score.
The answer was 20. And how many did she score? Exactly 20, along with 5 assists. Dulock was the first woman at UCSD to meet 20 goals.
Dulock’s impact hasn’t been the team’s only surprise. Coach Brian McManus, in his second year, didn’t think the team would be as successful as it has been.
“I was looking for a 14-3-2 record, somewhere in that region,” McManus said. “But this team has withstood pressure a lot better than last year’s team.
“Actually, it’s the young players that have done really well. We’ve had 3 starters from last year only play a couple games because of injuries.”
Heather Mauro, a junior, is second in scoring with 14 goals and 8 assists, and freshman Kalyn Shea has 10 goals and 4 assists.
Another factor has been defense. The Tritons have 15 shutout, all by goalkeeper Julie Freiss, and have allowed more than 1 goal twice--both victories. Freiss, a junior, has allowed just 5 goals.
“We’re at least two or three steps ahead of last year’s team, and we have only one senior on the team,” McManus said.
McManus said he thinks the Tritons have a good chance to win the regional because they played on the St. Paul field last year. It is only 65 yards wide, and UCSD is used to a 75-yard field that is suited to its spread-out style of play.
“We have to put the weather and field out of our heads,” McManus said.
The men won’t have problems with unfamiliar weather or facilities. But they have had to make some adjustments to goalkeeping.
Junior Brian Siljander was starter at the beginning of the year. Coach Derek Armstrong chose Siljander over returning starter Greg Stadler, who promptly quit.
“I was only playing part time, and with my engineering classes . . . for me it wasn’t worth the sacrifice,” Stadler said. “I had no hard feelings toward Derek. He made the decision he felt he had to make.”
Siljander separated his shoulder in a match against Claremont-Mudd, and the Tritons were without a goalkeeper. The scenario was not new to Stadler, who joined the team 8 games into his sophomore season after an injury to the starting keeper.
Once again, he came back.
“I got a standing ovation in the locker room when I came back,” Stadler said.
“The first thing I thought about was 19 or 20 guys playing without a goalkeeper. After playing three years in the program, I couldn’t let the players down.”
Stadler played in 6 matches and had a goals-against average of 0.49. Siljander played in 17 games and had a 0.31 average.
The pair combined for 16 shutouts in 20 games despite a schedule that included 10 games against non-Division III teams. The Tritons were 2-0 against Division I teams, 2-0 against Division II and 6-0 against NAIA schools.
Carrick Brewster leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and 5 assists.