Freshman forward Anthony Macchione (above, #17) picked the right time to get hot for the University of Akron. The former Timbers Academy standout netted the game-winning goal to clinch Akron’s 11th Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship with a 2-1 win over Bowling Green on Sunday. Macchione’s game-winner sends the Zips to the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid where they will face in-state rival Ohio State University in the first round on Thursday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Should Akron advance, it will square off against national No. 1 seed and defending national champion Notre Dame on Sunday, Nov. 23.
The Camas, Wash., native has tallied a goal in two of the last three games for Akron. Additionally, former Timbers Academy midfielder Jesse Garcia-Aguilar logged 21 minutes in the MAC Championship game for the Zips.
Stanford earned the Pac-12 Conference title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament with an exciting 3-2 win over California in double overtime. Redshirt senior midfielder Austin Meyer netted the game-winning goal in the 103rd minute to give the No. 3 Cardinal its first Pac-12 title in 13 years. Freshman forward Foster Langsdorf, a Timbers Academy alum, logged 26 minutes for Stanford in the win. The Cardinal earned the tournament’s No. 6 overall seed and a bye to the second round where it will square off against the winner of a first-round matchup between UC Irvine and UNLV. Stanford’s tournament-opening match is scheduled for Sunday.
Oregon State, whose roster features Timbers Academy alumni Spencer Kleweno and Rolando Velazquez as well as Timbers U-23s alum Will Seymore, finished the regular season with an impressive 2-0 win over the University of Washington and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Beavers will play host to the University of Denver in the first round on Thursday at Lorenz Field in Corvallis, Ore.
Timbers Academy alum James Nosack and the University of Washington earned a bye to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies, which earned the No. 14 overall seed, will square off against the winner of a first-round match between UAB and Furman. Washington will play host to the second-round match on Sunday.
In West Coast Conference play, Gonzaga ended its season on a high note with a 2-1 overtime win against the University of Portland. Timbers Academy alum Ben White, a freshman defender, started and played 90 minutes for the Zags, who ended the season with consecutive wins for the first time in 2014.
Timbers Academy alum Collin Partee made six saves, but Utah Valley University sustained a 1-0 loss against CSU Bakersfield in the WAC Tournament on Nov. 13. Partee, a freshman goalkeeper, finished his first college season with an impressive 0.81 goals-against average and a .835 saves percentage. Utah Valley University finished their inaugural men’s soccer campaign with a 9-7-2 record, including a 5-3-2 mark in conference play. Partee was one of 21 freshman on the Wolverines’ roster in 2014.
Several Timbers U-23s alumni helped their respective college teams reach the NCAA Tournament, including University of North Carolina goalkeeper Brenden Moore, who made eight appearances for the Timbers U-23s last summer. Moore helped guide the Tar Heels to an NCAA Tournament at-large berth, where they will play host to James Madison University on Thursday in the first round.
Michigan State earned a No. 3 national ranking in the NCAA Tournament and will play host to the winner of the first-round game between Oakland and the University of Kentucky on Sunday in East Lansing, Mich. Timbers U-23s captain Fatai Alashe, who registered two goals and one assists in a team-high 11 appearances during the 2014 USL PDL season, was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team. Alashe, a senior midfielder, also serves as the Spartans’ team captain.
Junior defender Kyle Fisher, who made 11 appearances for the Timbers U-23s in 2014, helped Clemson earn the ACC Championship, tallying the game-winning assist in a 2-1 double-overtime win over Louisville last weekend. Clemson earned the No. 7 overall seed and a bye to the second round. On Sunday, the Tigers will play host to the winner of the first-round match between Florida Gulf Coast University and Coastal Carolina.
Elsewhere, Creighton University earned a bye to the second round, where it will face the winner of the first-round match between Oregon State and Denver on Sunday. Timbers U-23s alumni Jose Ribas and Lucas Stauffer both played in each of Creighton’s 19 regular-season matches in 2014. Louisville, which features Timbers U-23s alumni Ben Strong and Nolan Moore, will play host to the winner of a first-round match between Tulsa and St. Louis University on Sunday.
