NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament coming to Chico

Wildcats host West Regional this Friday and Sunday

Seventy-two hours of frustration disappeared in a cacophony of jubilation when the Chico State men’s soccer team was named the host of the NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional on an NCAA webcast selection show Monday afternoon. The Wildcats were hunkered down in a classroom, so nervous they couldn’t even finish the pizzas on hand (fortunately their Sports Information Director was there to help out), when the announcement was made.

Jubilation followed. The players screamed, jumped and hugged. And that was before they figured out they were the hosts and top seed.

The Wildcats will face rival Sonoma State, the No. 4 seed, Friday at 7 p.m. No. 2 seed Grand Canyon and No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino will face off in the opening game Friday at 4 p.m.

The championship game is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday.  The winner of the NCAA Championship West Regional will host an NCAA Championship Quarterfinal game on Saturday, Nov. 20, for the right to play in the Final Four in Louisville, Kentucky, Dec. 2-4.

Chico State, 13-6 overall, was 13-4 and ranked No. 13 in the nation less than two weeks ago. But the Wildcats stumbled in their regular season finale at Cal State Stanislaus and then absorbed their toughest loss of the season six days later, 3-0 against Cal State Dominguez Hills in their opening game of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament.

Still, the team’s overall body of work was impressive. The Wildcats wrestled the CCAA North Division title away from Sonoma State for the first time in eight years and earned victories over every team they played that was in contention for a postseason berth outside of Cal State San Bernardino, which they lost to 2-1. In the end, their non-conference victories against Seattle Pacific and Western Washington, which finished second and third in the Great Northwest Conference standings, respectively, may have been what pushed them over the top.