Well, here's to not making any sense!

UC Santa Cruz scores a golden goal in overtime to abruptly end Cal Lutheran's season and move on to the round of 32!
March Madness does happen in November as the Banana Slugs pull the upset of the first round in defeating the West Region #2 seed 1-0.
While I feel great for UCSC, I feel sad for Cal Lu. They have such talented players and a fantastic team.
The score was the only shot on goal by UCSC the whole night but it was a silver bullet. It was a cruel way to lose.

The group should be good. UCSC and C-M have nothing to lose.  Since there is no pressure on them maybe they will pull the upset.
I could question the group seeding between UCSC and Concordia (#3 vs #4) based upon head-to-head and SOS.
Perhaps it should have been CLU vs C-M and UPS vs UCSC in first round but I suppose it doesn't matter at this point.
You have to beat the best to move forward.

Minnesota got 3 teams in vs. 2 for CA although they are all on the road.
I was surprised the SCIAC runner-up did not make it to the dance.

1) Goal differential is irrelevant. Only W-L-D matter, especially against in-region teams.
2) NCAA rules state: "Pool B will be composed of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification." Please tell me who you think is more qualified than UCSC in this category?
3) UCSC finished 9-7-2 (9-5-2 vs DIII). Losses to Trinity, CLU twice, Puget Sound, and Chapman. Wins against Concordia-Morehead and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (SCIAC runner-up). Strength of schedule was high.
4) Being independent is tough. No one wants to play you and if they do they want it at their place. UCSC and Mills are the only DIII schools in Northern California.  Travel costs are high.  UCSC had to play in Texas, Mississippi and twice in SoCal to get that strength of schedule this year.  UCSC should be a DII team with the enrollment size of 13K+ and soccer talent in CA but administration is so anti-athletics.
5) It's a great story. They went 1-14-2 last year. It's a huge turnaround - there out to be a story on that!