The 2023 SCIAC Men’s Soccer Tournament will begin on Wednesday, Nov. 1 with semifinals matchups between #1 seed Occidental College/#4 California Lutheran University and #2 University of Redlands/#3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, both starting at 7 p.m.
Tournament Central
Occidental earned the top seed after accumulating 27 points on an 8-1-3 record for the Tigers’ first SCIAC regular season title in program history. With the joint-stingiest defense (11 goals allowed) and a second-ranked offense led by Andrew Notter, who tied for third in the conference with seven goals scored, the Tigers suffered only one defeat in a 3-1 decision against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Oct. 11. Two of their three ties came against their opponent, California Lutheran, on Sept. 27 and Oct. 18. Oury Diane also cracked the SCIAC top 10 with five goals while Joey Schwartz tied for the lead with five assists and Riley Nyhan recorded the lowest goals-against average in the league at 0.934, including four shutouts, in over 1,000 minutes between the posts.
Redlands battled the Tigers atop the standings all season but a pair of defeats at the hands of Oxy - their only two of the season - made the difference as the Bulldogs came up a single point shy of the title. UR tied Oxy for the fewest goals allowed in conference play and led all offenses with 31 scored in 12 games thanks to a pair of seven-goal seasons from Jarette Barajas and Spencer Palmer, who punched in a conference-best four game-winners, and a quartet of players tying for fifth with three assists apiece. Goalkeeper Seth Lawrence tied with Nyhan for the highest save percentage (.756) while ranking second in goals-against average (1.010).
The CMS Stags came out ahead of a tight pack in the middle of the conference ladder with 19 points via five wins and four ties. Rookie James Gomez tied for eighth in the SCIAC with 1.17 points per game on six goals and two assists while Rafael Otero was one of four players in the conference to score at least two game-winning goals. The Stags’ lone matchup against the Bulldogs came back on Sept. 20 in a 2-1 defeat, after which CMS went on an eight-match unbeaten run from Sept. 23-Oct. 21.
The Kingsmen reached the SCIAC Tournament also having suffered defeat just three times in 12 conference games, with two of those coming against Redlands. Cal Lutheran tied Oxy on both previous occasions the foes squared off with just one goal allowed over both matchups. Joel Wollin assisted Kai Nemoto on the equalizer in the 71st minute after a first-half Tigers strike in the first battle in Eagle Rock while both defenses held strong in a scoreless tie just two weeks ago.
The winners of each game will meet in the Tournament final on Saturday, Nov. 4 at the campus of the highest remaining seed.
Follow the SCIAC on Instagram (@thesciac), Threads (@theSCIAC) and X - formerly Twitter (@theSCIAC) with hashtags #SCIACtion and #SoCalSoGood. Watch most SCIAC games, matches, and meets online via mobile devices and on OTT apps - Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android - search for 'SCIAC' and download the channel.