Monday’s NCAA tournament selection show confirmed that Stanford will be the lone Bay Area club in the tournament this season. The Cardinal are the #5 overall seed in the 48-team field and will kick off their tournament run by hosting the winner of the match between North Carolina and High Point on Sunday.
Stanford joins three other Pac-12 schools in the tournament, including #2 Washington, #8 Oregon State, and UCLA.
Stanford (11-2-5, 4-2-4) at Cal (3-8-6, 1-6-3)
Cam Cilley’s goal in the 17th minute was enough for the Cardinal to ensure a sweep of the Big Clasico with a 1-0 win over Cal in the final regular season match for both clubs.
Shane de Flores set up the goal with a long throw-in from near the corner-flag. Keegan Hughes headed it back to Cilley inside the penalty arc and Cilley volleyed it home.
The Cardinal nearly scored a second in the 36th minute, after a multi-player buildup culminated with Jackson Kiil finding Zach Bohane open along the right side. Bohane cut across the middle and fired a rocket that goalkeeper Matthew Westly as able to redirect over the endline.
The Bears pressed forward for the equalizer in the final minute of play, Travasos took a throw-in deep in the Stanford zone. George Abunaw picked up the loose ball and took a shot that went wide. Nonso Adimabua’s shot was blocked as time expired.
Stanford goalkeeper Matt Frank made 3 saves in recording his ninth clean sheet this season.
Saint Mary’s (7-6-5, 2-1-4) at Santa Clara (4-5-6, 1-2-4)
The Gaels and Broncos wrapped up their seasons with a 1-1 draw on Saturday night.
Santa Clara took the lead in the 32nd minute on a header by Eduardo Lopez Perez. Oladayo Thomas fed the ball to Caden Buckley, who crossed it to Lopez Perez for the finish.
The Gaels equalized in the 41st minute on Jude Zamora’s first goal of the season, on a feed from Greg Brighton.
Both teams had decent chances in the scoreless second half. The Gaels’ best chance came in the 67th minute, when Jack Vestberg’s shot sailed just over the crossbar after a feed from Riley Lynch.
The Broncos appeared to have scored in the 78th minute on a header by Jesse Anamoo but the goal was disallowed when his teammate James Redington was whistled for a foul on Luke Lawrence.
USF (7-6-4, 0-5-2)
San Diego clinched the West Coast Conference championship for the first time since 2015 with a 1-0 win at USF on Saturday night. The Toreros open NCAA tournament play at Denver on Thursday.
(PHOTO: Christina Leung, University of San Francisco)
Nicklas Clausen scored the only goal of the match in the 73rd minute, with an assist from Mason Tunbridge.
The Dons recorded six shots in the remaining 18 minutes of the match, but were unable to equalize.
San Diego goalkeeper Jason Dubrovich made 7 saves in keeping his 7th clean sheet of the season.
San Jose State (10-5-3, 5-2-2)
The Spartans came agonizingly close to earning an NCAA tournament bid, but tournament hosts California Baptist won the Western Athletic Conference title, winning a penalty shootout by a score of 3-1.
(PHOTO: Elijah Hickman, California Baptist University)
The fifth-seeded Lancers made the tournament in their inaugural Division 1 season and will take on UCLA on Thursday.
Neither team was able to score in 110 minutes of action. San Jose State goalkeeper David Sweeney was required to make only 1 save, while Lancers’ goalkeeper Nolan Premack made 6. Premack was later named the MVP of the tournament.
Spartans Top Seattle University in Semifinal
The Spartans earned their place in the final with a 4-0 win over third-seeded Seattle University. It was the second meeting between the two clubs in less than a week.
Ryota Nakashima put the Spartans on the board in the 33rd minute, with an assist by Angel Iniguez. He dribbled into the box, trailed by a pair of defenders, and blasted a shot that curled just inside the far post.
Twenty-two seconds later, Eduardo Miranda was taken down in the box and Finlay Wood scored on the penalty kick.
The Spartans closed out the match with a pair of goals from Anthony Guzman, a little over a minute apart.
The first came in the 86th minute, when Redhawks goalkeeper Akili Kasim came out to midfield. Guzman’s intercepted Kasim’s pass and outran the goalkeeper for the easy goal.
Guzman scored a brace when Sweeney sent a goal kick over midfield. A Redhawk defender tried to head it back to Kasim, but Guzman intercepted the pass, dribbled around Kasim, and deposited the ball into the empty net.
