By Chris Slack, Sports Info Grad Assistant

Mike Kelly Field | Springfield, Ore. | Tournament Central (live stat/stream links)
FRIDAY'S GAMES (CCC QUARTERFINALS)
5 p.m. – #1 Rocky Mountain (10-1-2) vs. #8 Oregon Tech (6-6-1)
5 p.m. – #2 Corban (11-2) vs. #7 Northwest (7-6)
8 p.m. – #3 Evergreen (8-1-4) vs. #6 Great Falls (8-5)
8 p.m. – #4 Southern Oregon (9-2-2) vs. #5 Carroll (8-5)
SATURDAY'S GAMES (CCC SEMIFINALS)
8 p.m. – Highest remaining seed vs. Lowest remaining seed
8 p.m. – Next Highest seed vs. Next Lowest seed
MONDAY'S GAME (CCC CHAMPIONSHIP)
3 p.m. – Semifinal winners

ASHLAND – If it's anything like the regular season, the Cascade Conference men's soccer tournament will be wide open when it begins Friday in Springfield and includes Southern Oregon for the first time.

Four teams – SOU, Rocky Mountain, Corban and Evergreen – started last Saturday, the final day of the regular season, in a first-place tie. After Rocky's defeat of SOU and Corban's defeat of Evergreen, the two victors shared the title but the tiebreaker went to Rocky along with the CCC's first automatic bid to the 32-team NAIA Championships. The second will go to the tournament champion – or, if Rocky wins it, the other tourney finalist.

The Raiders (11-3-2 overall, 9-2-2 CCC) tied for third in the standings with Evergreen, but the tiebreaker dropped them to the No. 4 seed. They'll open Friday with an 8 p.m. quarterfinal matchup against fifth-seeded Carroll (10-8, 8-5). Led by Carlos Magana's two goals, the Raiders won the first meeting 3-1 on Oct. 21 in Helena, Mont., as part of a five-game win streak and nine-game unbeaten streak.

Playoff Picture: The tournament is not bracketed; instead, the highest remaining seed will be matched with the lowest remaining seed in Saturday's semifinals. Both semifinals start at 8 p.m. on adjacent fields, and the championship game is slated for 3 p.m. Monday.

With the exception of the Raiders and Oregon Tech, every team participating in the tournament also qualified in 2015. Rocky Mountain won last year's title game, 1-0 over Great Falls with a goal in the 77th minute, but Great Falls claimed the CCC's automatic bid by virtue of advancing to the final.

SOU Postseason History: The Raiders, picked eighth in the CCC preseason poll, are making their first postseason appearance. They missed the tournament by one game in 2015 after losing their regular-season finale in double-overtime against Great Falls.

Briefly:
– On the conference leaderboard, SOU ranked third in goals scored per game (2.6), second in assists per game (1.7), first in goals allowed (0.8) and first in goals against.
– Twelve Raiders have registered goals, led by Carlos Magana, who became the first Raider to score 10 goals in a season. Dakota Scott scored six goals and Mitchell Pinney added five.
– Magana and Scott became the first Raiders to not only score a hat-trick in a season, but score a hat-trick in the same game.
– Ahmon Afenegus and Sean McManamon lead the Raiders with six assists apiece. Gieber assisted five goals, while Roberto Lupera and Mitchell Pinney each added three.
– Jonathan Morales recorded seven shutouts this season, giving him 10 in two years.

About Carroll:
– The Saints, who joined the CCC as an associate member in 2015, were the No. 4 seed last year and lost their first-round game to Evergreen, 3-0.
– After getting off to a 3-5 start, the Saints enter the postseason having won seven of their last 10.
 – Goalkeeper Bernhardt Di Cino has given up 10 goals in his last nine games while saving 71 percent of shots faced. SOU's goal total against the Saints was their highest allowed of the season.
– Isaac Bostrom (7 goals, 2 assists) is Carroll's top scorer and has four game-winning goals to his credit. Jose Porras, who scored 12 goals a year ago, has tallied four times.
– This will be the Raiders' third meeting against Saints. Carroll won last year's meeting in Ashland, 2-1.