Two California teams will play for the NCAA Division I men's soccer national title on Sunday after both the University of California - Los Angeles and the University of California - Santa Barbara earned semifinal victories Saturday at Robert R. Hermann Stadium on the campus of Saint Louis University.
UCLA topped the University of Virginia by a 4-0 score to kick off the 2006 NCAA Men's College Cup, while UCSB needed penalty kicks to advance past Wake Forest in the second match of the doubleheader. Both games were originally scheduled to take place on Friday but were postponed due to severe weather in the Midwest.
Freshman sensation David Estrada led the way for UCLA, finding the net twice in a 67-second span to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead midway through the second half. Chance Myers and Michael Stephens added late goals to knock the Cavaliers out of the tournament.
Neither UCSB nor Wake Forest was able to find the back of the net through 110 minutes of action in the second semifinal and the sides headed into penalty kicks. The Gauchos won the tie-breaker 4-3 when Wake Forest's Zach Schilawski failed to convert in the fifth round. Midfielder Bryan Byrne, who will take part in the 2006 adidas MLS Player Combine, missed his shot for the Gauchos.
With UCSB and UCLA moving on to the national championship match, which will be shown live on ESPN2 Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, Byrne is the sole Combine invitee left in the tournament. UCLA's young side has no seniors that were on Major League Soccer's preliminary list of 58 players that have been invited to participate in this year's Combine, which takes place at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., from Jan. 5-8, 2007.
At the Combine, MLS coaching staffs and general managers for each of the league's 13 clubs will be on hand to scout talent for the 2007 MLS SuperDraft, which will take place in conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention on Jan. 12, 2007, in Indianapolis.
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
