These are heady days in Thousand Oaks, where three programs at Cal Lutheran are pushing for NCAA postseason play.

"It's a very exciting time," said athletic director Dan Kuntz. "We're having a great time at CLU right now from all our teams."

The football team, on the back of its 43-25 win at No. 12 Occidental, is on the brink of an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs.

The storybook season, in which the Kingsmen lost head coach Scott Squires to the Canadian Football League and star quarterback Danny Jones to Wisconsin-Whitewater before the season, can be confirmed Saturday at Pomona-Pitzer, where a win will clinch the program's first postseason berth in its 17 years in the NCAA.

"If you think about the position we had with our football program before the season," said Kuntz, "I can't speak higher of what (head coach Ben McEnroe) and his staff have been able to accomplish."

The CLU women's soccer team opened the four-team SCIAC tournament with a 2-0 win over Claremone-Mudd-Scripps on to move one win from a potential automatic NCAA berth.

Which means two CLU programs take the field Saturday with an NCAA berth on the line.

The women's volleyball team, national tournament participants a year ago, tightened up their at-large resume by wrapping up another second-place season in the past week with three-game wins over Pomona-Pitzer, Redlands and Occidental.

Banner time: The men's soccer team earned a share of its first SCIAC title in nine years Monday when the Kingsmen beat Occidental, 2-1, while leaders Redlands fell to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 4-2.

Former prep teammates Graydon Pierson (Royal) and Pedro Gonzalez (Thousand Oaks) scored the goals.

"It's just nice to see all these guys come together and share something like this," said Kuntz, the program's coach.

Breaking ground: CLU has begun work on its new softball field adjacent to Ullman baseball stadium.

The project, which only includes the field portion of the facility, is on pace to be completed by March 1, midway through the season. The school is still looking for funding for the stadium portion of the project.

"We'd love to have somebody name it," said Kuntz.

Special scrimmage: The CLU men's basketball team will host the Afghanistan national team at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

"It's just a great opportunity to us to play host to a foreign travel team," said coach Rich Rider.

The Afghanis are in the midst of a world tour, recently playing six games in eight games in Taiwan and visited Westmont College on Thursday night.

"We asked for a return game," said Rider. "That's a little long. What a road trip that is."

The Kingsmen will be led this season by senior guards Deshion Inniss and Chad Acerboni.