Anteaters shocked by snub

One day before an election, the UC Irvine men’s soccer team found out that polls can be woefully misleading.

Though ranked no lower than No. 25 in four commonly recognized national polls, the Anteaters failed to earn one of 48 berths into the NCAA College Cup Tournament, when pairings were announced Monday.

Anteater players, coaches and supporters of the program sat in silence Monday at the Holiday Inn in Costa Mesa, as the last of the six-team brackets were revealed live on ESPNEWS.

“I’m shocked, absolutely shocked,” said UCI Coach George Kuntz, who had worked the phones with encouraging results, after the Anteaters failed to clinch their first Big West Conference championship Saturday. Instead of collecting the guaranteed berth that goes to the conference champion, UCI, for the second straight season, was forced by a loss in its conference finale to await an at-large berth that never came.

As the second-place team in the Big West, with a 13-4-3 record, a No. 38 RPI and having been ranked in the polls all season, as high as No. 7 at one point, Kuntz figured his team had done enough.

Instead, Kuntz and his players were left trying to account for a selection process that awarded 25 teams with fewer wins, including one — a 9-5-4 San Diego State squad that UCI beat, 2-1, in overtime on Oct. 14 — tournament berths.

“I talked to some people I know who are involved [in collegiate soccer] and I got some very good indicators from them, both [Sunday] and [Monday],” Kuntz said.

“Of course we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit in the Northridge game.”

UCI’s loss allowed UC Santa Barbara to win the conference and make its fifth straight trip to the tournament.

Northridge, which finished third, saw its streak of four straight tournament appearances halted.

“I just think it’s weird,” said UCI senior Brad Evans, the 2005 Big West Player of the Year, who was part of a veteran nucleus that has helped UCI garner national recognition, “because I expected two teams from the Big West to be chosen.”

It’s the first time since 2001 that only one Big West program was invited to the tournament, in which Northridge reached the round of 16 last season and UCSB made the 2004 title game.

“It blows my mind,” said Evans, the school’s all-time leader with 31 career goals, who said he will pursue a professional career. “I don’t know what more we can do. We just have to win the Big West. That’s the only thing we can do now to prove to the NCAA committee that we belong with the elite. But that’s out of my hands, now.”

Evans is tied for the school career lead in points with 73 (two points for a goal and one for an assist).

Kuntz said the snub should not diminish what this team accomplished, including a school record for wins. The Anteaters posted the 16th-best won-loss-tie percentage in the nation in the regular season (72.5%). UCI also ranked 20th nationally with 1.9 goals per game and sophomore forward Matt Murphy ranked No. 25 in goals per game (0.59) and led the Big West in points (25) goals (10) and game-winning goals (five).