The UCSB men’s soccer team will be taking on a familiar foe when it opens the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday night.
The Gauchos will face Cal-Berkeley in a second-round match at 7 p.m. at Harder Stadium. Cal (11-3-5) advanced to the second round with a 3-0 home victory over the University of San Francisco. UCSB, the 15th seed, received a bye.
This will be the third time the Gauchos and Bears have met in the NCAA Tournament. Their first meeting was in 2002 in Berkeley, where the Gauchos suffered a bitter 2-1 defeat. The two teams met again in the 2003 playoffs at Harder Stadium and a revenge-minded UCSB team won 2-0.
Cal won the most-recent meeting between the rivals, a 2-0 victory at Harder Stadium in the 2005 season opener.
UCSB (10-6-5) is making its seventh straight NCAA Tournament appearance under coach Tim Vom Steeg. They have never lost a playoff game at Harder Stadium.
