Weekender: SoCal Showdown

by Jac Coyne | MCLA.us

LA CROSSE, Wis. – One team is the three-time defending conference champion. The other is the top-ranked team in the nation. What exactly is going to shake down on Saturday night a bedroom community just north of San Diego?

It’s a good question, and one that all of Division II will have its eyes on when No. 1 UC San Diego visits No. 8 and SLC heavyweight Cal State San Marcos at 7 p.m. The Cougars have won the last five meetings – including three straight conference championship games – with the last Tritons win coming in the 2022 regular season finale.

The familiarity between the two teams means adrenaline is going to be at an all-time high. It is going to be something the players and coaching staffs will have to handle.

“Absolutely there is danger to being too hyped up,” said San Marcos coach Tim Puls. “We tell our guys that we want you to be hyped up and bring the energy, but you still have to stay composed and disciplined at the same time.

"Too much hype can take you out of your game and your game plan and can make you overthink things when you need to focus and prepare. We want the energy and hype, but we tell our guys we can't get too high or get too low as we need to stay as levelheaded as possible, but still stay locked and dialed in at the same time.”

Long-time UCSD coach Albert Man has been preparing for this eventuality.

“We scheduled several top 10 teams this year for exactly this reason: so that when it came to the stretch run, we would know how to handle big games,” he said. “Let's see if it worked. All paths go through the three-time defending conference champions.”

If the Tritons want to break the losing streak, they’ll have to find some answers at the dot.

“James Ventura is a difference-maker at faceoff for San Marcos and he has been for years,” Man said. “When he's controlling draws, it's very difficult to get any momentum against them. Kael Osborne and Colin Dobbins were playing last year's UCSD Summer League when I found out that they were both heading to San Marcos, and we were going to have to deal with their talents for several years. Both are powerful dodgers with great shots.”

Puls sees a lot of similarities with past editions of UC San Diego with the big factor in this year’s undefeated season being the play of rookie goalie Kian Gulbrandsen, who has posted a 65.0 save percentage this spring. The Tritons also have a fearsome attack unit.

“When we go over our scouting report for UCSD, the top two guys listed are Austin Ortel and Alex Franz,” said Puls. “They are both good players with a lot of experience and IQ. They both pose a threat to the defense and we have to be ready when the ball is in their stick. It is always a good matchup when going against these two players.”

With the likelihood of this being a preview of a fourth straight SLC title game, there’s always the question of whether you show everything you have in the playbook or do you hold some things back if the rematch does happen – or perhaps a third meeting in Round Rock?

“I don't think we can hold back against a team of this caliber,” said Man. “They are underrated with their only losses coming very early in their schedule. We also cannot assume we will play them multiple times. It's been a wild regular season in the MCLA. The conference and MCLA playoffs will probably be even wilder. So we will be going all out.”

“There is a little bit of both: playing conservative and letting a bit hang out,” added Puls. “There are pros and cons to both, and that's why you prepare in practice to do both. Then when the game is over and you have the second or third game, you know how to adjust to what worked and what didn't and then prepare in other ways for those next games.”

They’ll just be worrying about tonight for now as UCSD tries to release the Cougars stranglehold on the conference while San Marcos attempts to keep their foot on the neck of the SLC.

Games I’m Following

No. 16 South Carolina v. No. 6 Georgia Tech, 5 p.m. – Friday (GT -1.5 | 24)
The strain of the postseason was just too much for the SELC second seeds to bear, setting up a pair of intra-divisional semifinals. This is the North version, with the Gamecocks hoping to make amends for the stomping they took at the hands of the Yellow Jackets back in late February in Atlanta. South Carolina is undoubtedly a different team than they were then, riding an eight-game heater (likely nine had the High Point game not been canceled). In fact, no one has been within six goals of the Cocks, including the likes of Texas, Arizona and Auburn. The Wreck are 4-3 since playing USC, but have a little bit of energy coming off their UGA beatdown.

No. 9 Florida State v. No. 2 Florida, 7:30 p.m. – Friday (UF -5 | 29)
And here’s your SELC South edition. Outside of Lynchburg, the Gators are the hottest team in the country and are coming off a 21-14 roasting of the Noles a couple of weeks ago. Can FSU make up for the seven-goal differential? A neutral site might pull back a couple of markers and dropping 21 on Georgia is a good sign, but the Seminoles will have to come up with something special to slow down the Florida midfield that has given fits to pretty much everyone.

No. 12 North Dakota State at No. 6 St. Thomas, 7:45 p.m. – Friday (UST -5.5 | 22.5)
I can’t speak for the committee, obviously, but the Bison look like a pretty decent bet to grab a spot in the Round Rock field. A win over the Tommies and the top seed out of the UMLC West will etch that belief in stone. This will eternally be a rematch of the 2018 national championship game – the most exciting champion contest in D-II history – when NDSU struck in double overtime for its only title. The Tommies yawned their way past a couple of LSA luminaries in Missouri, so perhaps they are not at their sharpest. They are playing for seeding though.

No. 14 San Diego State at Chapman, 7 p.m. – Friday (SDSU -1.5 | 22)
Assuming that Arizona State beats Grand Canyon – no certainty, by any means – this is the linchpin in how the SLC playoffs shape up. A Chapman win sends the Panthers to the second seed (again, assuming a GCU loss) and the Aztecs into a three-way tiebreaker. A SDSU win and we’re staring down the barrel of a four-way tiebreaker (Chapman, UA, GCU and SDSU). Wins by Chapman and Grand Canyon clears the table with Arizona being left out in the cold. This should be an excellent game.

No. 1 UC San Diego at No. 8 Cal State San Marcos, 7 p.m. – Friday (UCSD -2 | 24)
A game so nice they are almost certainly going to play it twice. No disrespect to the other teams in the SLC, but scores would indicate this contest will be about who wears the home jerseys in the conference championship game along with seeding placement at nationals. San Marcos has recovered from its 2-2 venture in Denver to slowly climb the ladder to Round Rock. The Tritons tore Boise a new one and never looked back. These are a pair of teams I expect to see (at least) on Tuesday in Texas.

No. 5 Texas at No. 19 Texas Christian, 12 p.m. – Saturday (UT -2.5 | 22)
If you want to get into the comparative scores fallacy – truly a fool’s errand – Texas needed overtime to defeat Southern Methodist white TCU handled the Mustangs with relative ease. If you want to go with straight results (also a dubious endeavor), the Longhorns got worked at South Carolina while the Horned Frogs walked out of Columbia with a win. TCU should be confident in their ability to run with UT, but they’ll have dictate play and let the defense do its thing. Top seed is on the line out of the LSA South, but this could very well be a conference title-game preview.

No. 4 Utah Valley at No. 3 Brigham Young, 1 p.m. – Saturday (BYU -2.5 | 31)
For the fourth time in less than a year, these two warhorses tangle in Provo. The Cougars have won the last three, but the Wolverines may smell blood in the water after BYU got nicked by Colorado and they were able to take down the Buffs. There is so much going on in this contest its difficult to pinpoint one variable. At every level there is fantastic quality for both squads. I expect a ton of goals, but I’m not sure about anything else, as you’d hope with a national championship rematch.

No. 15 College of Idaho at No. 4 Northwest Nazarene, 6:30 p.m. – Saturday (NNU -8 | 31)
This is a nice little ramp up to the PNCLL playoffs where both teams are hoping to see each other in the finals. Ever since they got bundled on their own track by Florida Atlantic and UC San Diego, the Nighthawks have gone on a run, culminating last Saturday with a demolition of a very good Utah State squad. The Yotes managed just four goals against both Montana and Montana State a couple of weeks ago, so another anemic loss would not send a great message to the committee.

Slides & Rides

- Slide on over to the conference tournament clearinghouse. You can find out all the dates, times and matchups for the upcoming conclusion to the season.

- So what are we thinking for at-large distribution? In Division I, the PNCLL and UMLC are one-bid leagues (AQ only). If the favorites play out, as expected, in the CLC (Northeastern), LSA (Texas) and WCLL (Cal Poly), that will be the extent of their participation. That leaves seven at-large bids for the remaining four conferences. I think the SELC has two of them banked while the RMLC and ALC will at least get one. It is dependent on how things shake out, but the SLC could grab one, as well. That leaves two spots open.

It'll come down to the third best team in the ALC (Virginia Tech?), the third best team in the RMLC (Colorado?) and the fourth best team in the SELC (Georgia, South Carolina?). I don’t envy the committee on that one.

In Division II, the CLC, LSA and WCLL are one-bidders. I think you can put the RMLC down for two at-larges (I’m guessing Montana State and Utah State). The SLC and UMLC will certainly get one, as well, leaving three spots left that will be fought over by the UMLC (NDSU?), SELC (FGCU, Kennesaw?), ALC (Wake, Wilmington?) and PNCLL (College of Idaho, Montana?). Any upsets over the presumptive favorites will up-end the entire apple cart, but there will be a really good team staying home regardless.

- St. John’s beat Minn.-Duluth on Thursday night to wrap up the West third seed in the UMLC tournament…Northeastern is the top seed in the CLC tourney after beating UConn. Northeastern faces New Hampshire in one semifinal, UConn battles Boston College…Missouri State beat Drury, 9-7, setting up a rematch in the quarterfinals of the LSA tourney.

- Just two more weeks of awards, so get the PEARL and Warrior nominations to info@mcla.us by noon on Monday. Head coaches only, please. Might not be too early to look at your Player of the Month presented by Lacrosse Specialties candidates and put together a plan.

- As mentioned in the prior, the holiday weekend will make for a truncated Reverb on Monday. Probably do a notebook or something to that effect.