The UCLA men’s soccer team’s record of 15-4-1, including an impressive 10-0-0 in Pac-12 play, has landed the team the No. 13 seed in the 2011 NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament.

The first place finish in the Pac-12 conference ensured the Bruins an automatic bid to this year’s tournament – it was just the seeding that mattered to them now.

At the conclusion of its perfect season, coach Jorge Salcedo had high hopes for his team given its strong resume to the selection committee.

“Our body of work is very strong with 15 wins – it’s a very successful season,” Salcedo said.

“We were pretty excited to be named in the top 16. We had a lot of goals in the beginning of the year, and being where we are was one of them,” senior midfielder/defender Andy Rose added. “We can get some good training days in and be able to watch the Virginia-Delaware on Thursday and try to figure out a game plan for Sunday, and we’ll be fresh.”

UCLA’s success this season has guaranteed the team an important bye in the first round, as well as the right to host the winner of the game between Delaware (12-5-4) and Virginia (12-7-1) in the second round on Sunday.

“I always feel it’s a really good advantage to have a full week’s rest and to play a team that plays on a Thursday night, and for us to play them soon after on Sunday is a really important aspect of the postseason tournament,” Salcedo said.

This year’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament is UCLA’s 29th consecutive and 39th in program history.

Last year, the Bruins advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to the Louisville Cardinals 5-4 in a high-scoring affair in the snow.

In the nick of time

After impressive play at the beginning of the season, junior midfielder/forward Ryan Hollingshead went down with an injury while playing in the Northwest.

He’s made sparse appearances since then, and most recently re-injured himself the next time he played Washington at Drake Stadium.

In the final game of the season, Hollingshead logged 11 minutes as a substitute.

But despite the recurring knocks on his health, Hollingshead will be ready just in time for postseason play – in fact, everyone should be.

“Ryan’s had a couple of nagging injuries these past couple of weeks,” Salcedo said.

“We’ve slowly tried to protect him and bring him back onto the field.

Home is where the heart is

This year’s NCAA Tournament Final Four destination was announced as Hoover, Ala.

Although many Bruins won’t have any affiliation with the Yellowhammer State, the points, points per game, goals and goals per game leader of the Pac-12 conference certainly does.

“Once they announced the site as being in my hometown, everyone was kind of like, ‘It has (to) be destiny this year,’” junior forward Chandler Hoffman said.

“It seems like we have a really good chance to make a deep run, and to play at home for a national championship would just be the best way for me to end the season.”

Hoffman has been on a tear this season, amassing 15 goals in 20 games, three of them being game-winners.