Soccer team will play in regionals

The Cal State Long Beach men's soccer team tackles Weber State in the first round of the National Collegiate Club Soccer Association playoffs tonight at 7 p.m. at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl in Las Vegas.

The contest is the first game of the western regional roundrobin tournament. The 49ers, California district champions, will face New Mexico State and the University of Arizona on Friday. The western regional continues through Saturday.

Weber State, the champion of the Utah division of the NCCSA, lost to Brigham Young in last year's national championship final, 2- 1.

"They have got greater depth in terms of numbers," 49er head coach John Reynolds said. "But we have a pretty good shot."

Reynolds pointed to the play of Chris Fontel, Scott Loughney, Jason Murphy and Romeo Escobar as keys to the team's success.

"These guys have been doing most of our scoring all year long," Reynolds said.

Weber State is the No. 1 seed in the 49ers' round-robin group. BYU is the defending champion and will face Utah State, University of Texas El-Paso and Northern Arizona in the other round-robin bracket.

The teams with the best records within the two groups will play for the western regional championship and the top three teams will advance to the national championships Nov. 17-19 in Phoenix, AZ.