CCC TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
Lithia & Driveway Fields | Medford, Oregon
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

Sunday – Quarterfinals (CCC records in parentheses)
4 p.m. – (1) Carroll (11-1-1) vs. (8) Multnomah (5-5-3) | Field 11
4 p.m. – (2) Southern Oregon (9-2-2) vs. (7) Oregon Tech (5-5-3) | Field 13
7 p.m. – (3) Warner Pacific (8-4-1) vs. (6) Rocky Mountain (7-4-2) | Field 11
7 p.m. – (4) Eastern Oregon (7-2-4) vs. (5) College of Idaho (7-3-3) | Field 13
Tuesday – Semifinals (at Wheeler Field)
4 p.m. – Highest remaining seed vs. Lowest remaining seed
7 p.m. – Other quarterfinal winners
Thursday – Championship (at Wheeler Field)
2 p.m. – Semifinal winners

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Southern Oregon (12-4-2 overall, 9-2-2 CCC) finds itself on the NAIA National Tournament bubble after finishing second on the Cascade Conference regular-season table. The Raiders can remove all doubt by winning the CCC Championships presented by U.S. Bank, which begin Sunday at Lithia & Driveway Fields in Medford, the tournament's new home after residing for the last eight years in Springfield/Eugene.

Carroll (Mont.) won the regular-season title with 34 points to SOU's 29 – getting the edge with a 3-1 win in Ashland on Oct. 18 – to claim the CCC's first national automatic bid. The second goes to the tournament champion, unless the Saints win it, in which case it slides to the other finalist. The Raiders open in Sunday's 4 p.m. quarterfinal round against No. 7 seed Oregon Tech (8-7-3, 5-5-3), a team they tied on the road two weeks ago. The tournament is not bracketed; the highest remaining seed will face the lowest remaining seed in Tuesday's semifinals.

SOU vs. OIT: The Raiders have not lost to OIT since the 2019 season and are 9-1-2 in the all-time series, but they were fortunate to get out of Klamath Falls with a 0-0 draw on Oct. 25. With 20 seconds left, OIT's Dalton Rideout received a perfect through-ball at midfield for a one-on-one opportunity against SOU keeper Casey Ruvolo, who slid to his left to send Rideout's shot away just before time expired. The Owls posted an 11-5 advantage in shots on the day. Both Ruvolo and OIT keeper Ryan Solis made four saves.

Ruvolo, the 2023 CCC Defensive Player of the Year, ranked second in goals-allowed average (0.6) and save percentage (.800) in conference matches. The Raiders outscored opponents 25-8 in CCC play but went 2-2-1 down the stretch. They've been leaning recently on Kaito Nakayama (2 goals, 8 assists) and Franco Fasoli (5 goals, 1 assist) to generate offense. Like SOU, the Owls have been inconsistent in the attack as of late, generating just two goals in their last four games. Andrew Pasang (5 goals, 1 assist) and Cash Cota (3 goals, 3 assists) are the team's points leaders.

SOU defeated OIT 4-2 in last year's semifinals. They've met two other times in the tournament – the 2018 quarterfinals, which SOU won 1-0, and the 2021 semifinals, which OIT got through in penalty kicks.

SOU TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Raiders are in the tournament for the eighth consecutive season. They fell in last year's final, 1-0 to College of Idaho. It was, remarkably, their first-ever tournament loss: They'd been 10-0-5 to that point and never prevailed in penalty kicks. They captured their lone title in 2017, and after that were eliminated in PKs four consecutive tournaments. SOU has advanced to the semifinals each of the last six postseasons.