College playoff roundup: UC Merced men want – and get – Marymount in Cal Pac soccer

The UC Merced men’s soccer team wasn’t too upset with its draw.

The road to the California Pacific Conference title unquestionably runs through Marymount California University (12-4-1), so shucking conventional wisdom, the young Bobcats (12-5) weren’t unhappy to take on the challenge sooner rather than later.

Coach Albert Martins’ squad shared the Cal Pac North title with Menlo. The sides split the season series, so Menlo earned the North’s top seed because of goal differential against third-place Simpson. That gave UCM the fourth seed and pits it against host and No. 1 Marymount on Thursday morning. The Mariners handed the Bobcats their only lopsided loss of the season, 6-0 in September.

“It’s one of those times where our youth serves us,” Martins said. “Maybe it’s that freshmen arrogance or ignorance, but the kids were really looking forward to playing Marymount again. We knew if we wanted to win it all and go to the NAIA Tournament that we’d likely have to face them eventually.

“They’re a team of physically imposing and fast grown men, so nobody is expecting us to do anything against them. We’re going in with nothing to lose.”

The UCM women’s soccer team enters the Cal Pac Tournament as one of the favorites. The Bobcats have wins over No. 4 Menlo (11-6-1) and No. 3 Embry-Riddle (9-8-1) and played a 1-1 draw with top-seeded Marymount (10-5-3).

The field looks wide open with all four teams having played each other tough. The Bobcats (10-4-2) will take on an Embry-Riddle squad they split the season series with in two one-goal games.

Menlo will host the tournament, and UCM will kick off at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Men’s water polo

Scott McCall’s Merced College squad will have revenge on its mind as it opens the NorCal Tournament on Friday as the No. 5 seed. The Blue Devils will square off against No. 4 Sierra (13-5), a team it has lost to three times this season, at American River College in Sacramento.

The last was the most competitive as Merced (18-13) fell 7-6 on Nov. 1. Top-seeded Diablo Valley (16-6) awaits the winner in the second round Saturday.

Volleyball

UC Merced isn’t entering the Cal Pac Tournament playing its best volleyball. The Bobcats have dropped three of four but did what they had to with a road win over Simpson last week to secure the league’s final spot in the tournament.

Allen McCreary’s squad will take on top-seeded La Sierra on its home court Thursday night in Riverside. The Golden Eagles (9-16) swept the season series, but the Bobcats (9-17) took them to five sets in Riverside during the regular season.

Cross country

Sofia Rios is no stranger to the NAIA Championships, having qualified for the meet the last two years. This is the first time she’ll attend as a conference champion, however.

The UC Merced junior became the school’s first Cal Pac Conference champion of any kind when she captured the league crown with a personal record of 19 minutes, 11.7 seconds on Nov. 3. She’ll try to improve upon her 233rd-place showing from a year ago.

This story was originally published November 10, 2014 at 9:40 PM with the headline "College playoff roundup: UC Merced men want – and get – Marymount in Cal Pac soccer."