Tuesday, November 13th, 2018 -- The NCAA DI Men's Soccer Tournament is set to kick off on Thursday and 21 Arizona players will be vying to bring home a national title.
In five of the last six national champions have featured an Arizona players on their roster. Karel Bradford (Chandler) in 2012 with Indiana, Riggs Lennon (Paradise Valley) in 2014 with Virginia and Adam Mosharrafa (Paradise Valley) in 2015, 2016, and 2017 with Stanford.
This year's tournament will have even more local flair as Grand Canyon University clinched their first ever tournament berth after winning the WAC title. The Lopes have eight Arizona players on their roster and they'll be taking on UC Irvine in the first round.
Some other notes and tidbits to pay attention to in this year's tournament
--Can Adam Mosharrafa (redshirt senior) and Stanford win a fourth consecutive title. Last program to do it was Virginia from 1991-94.
--Tate Schmitt, will be next Arizona player to go pro you can book it, and Lousville will be looking to advance past the quarterfinals this year.
--Air Force (Alex Young, Ryan Clary) and SMU (Jacob Cohen, Tobin Shanks) are only programs expect for GCU to have more than one Arizona player on the roster.
Arizona players in other college postseason tournaments
-- 46 players set for NJCAA
-- 15 players set for NCAA DII, DIII Men's Soccer Tournament
-- 47 players set for NCAA DI, DII, DIII Women's Soccer Tournament
Stanford: Adam Mosharrafa (Paradise Valley)
Oregon State: Don Tchilao (Chandler)
SMU: Jacob Cohen (Phoenix), Tobin Shanks (Scottsdale)
UC Riverside: Antonio Lokossou (Phoenix)
Lipscomb: Zarek Jakubowski (Phoenix)
Portland: Shane Aranda (Phoenix)
GCU: Josh Drack (Chandler), Marlon Atondo (San Luis), Jackson Jellah (Phoenix), Alex Ramirez (Phoenix), Preston Grayson (Tempe), Brandon Johnson (Tempe), Michael Haynes (Scottsdale), Shawn Spitzer (Tucson)
High Point: George Ekdahl (Phoenix)
Louisville: Tate Schmitt (Phoenix)
Notre Dame: John Rea (Tempe)
Air Force: Alec Young (Scottsdale), Ryan Clary (Cave Creek)
Central Arkansas: Johnny Ramirez (Tucson)
Bye
#7 Notre Dame - Second round match 11/17
#4 Louisville - Second round match 11/17
#9 Stanford - Second round match 11/17
November 14 (as of publication NCAA did not have times for matches posted)
UC Irvine vs GCU
Oregon State vs SMU
Washington vs Lipscomb
UC Riverside vs Pacific
High Point vs James Madison
Air Force vs Central Arkansas