Thursday morning, the UC Riverside Men's Soccer Team took a walk across campus to the office of University's Chancellor, Kim Wilcox, to be honored for a successful and historical 2018 season. The Highlanders piled into Wilcox's conference room with their Big West Tournament trophy in hand as each coach and student-athlete met with the Chancellor and received his applause for their accomplishments this past year.



It was just a few months ago that the team etched its name into the history books of both the university and the conference winning its first ever Big West Tournament and earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the very first time.



After getting out to a slow start facing a tough non-conference schedule, the Highlanders truly turned their season around starting with a dramatic overtime win in the first ever Crosstown Showdown with CBU.



From there the team collected a 4-2 conference record to earn the 2nd seed in the tournament and a first-round bye. UCR would defeat Cal State Fullerton in overtime 3-2 to advance to the final where the Highlanders bested a previously ranked UC Davis team 4-2 in penalty kicks to capture their first ever title. 



The incredible season would finally come to a close in the team's first ever NCAA tournament match where the Highlanders were just edged out by host Pacific 1-0.