Oregon State’s fast finish to the men’s soccer regular season was rewarded Monday with the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA’s 48-team playoff bracket.
The Beavers, who beat No. 1 Washington 1-0 last Thursday and went 5-0-2 against top 25 teams this season, earned a first-round bye. This is OSU’s fourth NCAA tournament appearance in five years.
OSU (7-3-6) will play host to the Portland-UC Riverside winner either Saturday or Sunday at Lorenz Field.
The Pilots (12-2-3) secured their third NCAA berth in four years after finishing second in the West Coast Conference. Portland plays host to UC Riverside at 7 p.m. Thursday at Merlo Field.
Oregon State was the No. 1 overall seed in last year’s NCAAs. The Beavers reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to eventual NCAA champion Clemson on penalty kicks.
Oregon State lost three of its first eight games, but were unbeaten (3-0-5) during the season’s final eight games.
Other Pac-12 teams to secure national seeds were No. 2 Washington and No. 5 Stanford.
–Nick Daschel | ndaschel@oregonian.com | @nickdaschel
