CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
Les Schwab Sports Park | Springfield, Oregon
Live Stats/Streams
TUESDAY – QUARTERFINALS (CCC records in parentheses)
11 a.m. – #1 Corban (12-0-1) vs. #8 College of Idaho (6-7-0)
11 a.m. – #2 Rocky Mountain (11-2-0) vs. #7 Evergreen (6-7-0)
2 p.m. – #3 Southern Oregon (10-2-1) vs. #6 Northwest (6-6-1)
2 p.m. – #4 Oregon Tech (7-5-1) vs. #5 Eastern Oregon (7-6-0)
WEDNESDAY – SEMIFINALS
4 p.m. – Highest Remaining Seed vs. Lowest Remaining Seed
4 p.m. – Other quarterfinal winners
FRIDAY – CHAMPIONSHIP
11 a.m. – Semifinal winners

Southern Oregon may not be the favorite entering the men's Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank, but the Raiders are as hot as anyone and will have championship experience on their side when the eight-team tournament takes place this week.

Seven weeks removed from their last loss, the third-seeded Raiders (12-5-1 overall) will put an eight-game unbeaten streak on the line against sixth-seeded Northwest (Wash.) (9-8-1) at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the quarterfinal round. They'll attempt to get to the tournament final for the third year in a row – they won the 2017 title and lost the trophy last year to Rocky Mountain (Mont.) in penalty kicks – and their chances of making a third straight appearance in the national tournament may depend on it.

Both semifinals will be played simultaneously at 4 p.m. Wednesday, and the championship is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday. All games will be held at Les Schwab Sports Park.

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Corban clinched the regular-season title, the tournament's No. 1 seed and the CCC's first automatic spot in the NAIA Championships Opening Round by defeating second-place Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 3-1 on the final day of the regular season. (The only game Corban failed to win in CCC play was a 2-2 draw against SOU in Salem.) The conference's second automatic bid will go to the CCC Tournament champion – unless Corban reaches the final, in which case the other finalist will automatically receive the bid regardless of the outcome. The tournament is not bracketed, so the highest remaining seed will match up with the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals.

This year, the field for the national tournament has been expanded from 31 teams to 46. It will comprise 26-27 teams with automatic bids (including one national host bid, if needed) and 19-20 at-large teams that will be chosen by the NAIA Soccer Championship Selection Committee. The NAIA Championships Opening Round – scheduled for Nov. 22-23 – will be held at 15 campus sites with three teams at each. The Nos. 2 and 3 seeds at every site will meet for the right to play the No. 1 seed, and the winner will advance to the final site at Orange Beach, Alabama. The national host gets an automatic spot in the 16-team final site bracket.

SOU POSTSEASON HISTORY: The Raiders have never lost a CCC Tournament game – they've only been eliminated in penalty kicks. In 2016, the team's second year of existence, they made their first appearance and were eliminated by Carroll (Mont.) in the quarterfinals. Coming off of a regular-season title in 2017, they took the tournament title with two overtime victories, including a 2-1 defeat of Corban in the championship. And following another regular-season title last year, they opened the tourney with shutouts of Oregon Tech and Carroll before coming out on the short end of penalty kicks against Rocky Mountain in a 1-1 championship draw. They went on to defeat UC Merced 1-0 in the NAIA Opening Round and lost to fourth-ranked Rio Grande (Ohio) in the Round of 16 at the final site.

BRIEFLY:

• Over the last seasons against CCC foes in regular-season and tournament play combined, the Raiders are 36-3-6 with 30 shutouts.
• During a 7-0-1 stretch to end the regular season, they outscored opponents 26-3. Overall in conference play, they outscored opponents by a margin of 40-9 – giving up 10 or fewer goals for the fourth consecutive season.
• The Raiders are led in points by three freshman: Adrian Villegas (10 goals, 10 assists), Sam Walker (5 goals, 6 assists) and Alan Gaytan (6 goals, 3 assists). Villegas was one of just two CCC players to reach double figures in both goals and assists, establishing a new SOU single-season points record, and Gaytan did all of his scoring in conference play.
• The Raiders have assisted 48 of their 55 goals, with defenders Kelly Gieber and Michael Miller combining for 11 assists. Ten different players have accounted for their 12 game-winning goals.
• Broken down by period, they've outscored opponents 16-6 before halftime and 39-11 after.

ABOUT NORTHWEST: SOU handled the Eagles 3-1 in the teams' regular-season finale after falling behind 1-0 in the 14th minute, getting goals from Brendan Allen, Yan Pessoa de Oliveira and Michael Miller. The Raiders have won the last four matchups between the teams, though they've never met in the postseason. Northwest got its biggest win of the season against Rocky Mountain, 2-0 on Sept. 27, behind a one-goal, one-assist effort from Jordan Travis. Travis leads the team with 12 goals and five assists – he had the team's lone score against SOU – and Elliot Misic has tallied eight goals. In conference games, the Eagles outscored opponents 21-17.