BLACKSBURG -- They made a lot of promises. A new stadium within a year. More scholarships. More emphasis on the Olympic sports.

Six years ago, Virginia Tech administrators used those things to lure soccer coach Oliver Weiss away from North Carolina. Weiss took them at their word, believing they would deliver.

They did. And now Weiss and his players are giving back.

The Hokies took a step into a new world Wednesday night, defeating California 3-2 to advance to the third round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.

"I think I speak for all of these guys when I say it's one of the proudest moments so far," said Weiss, whose team will host Old Dominion in the third round at 1 p.m. Sunday. "But we've got to calm ourselves down and go on to the stage. That's what the program now requires -- to stay levelheaded and keep working and keep getting better results."

Tech (12-3-5) got two second-half goals from Charlie Campbell, thrilling a crowd of 1,417 that packed the bleachers on a chilly night. The scene would have been unthinkable six years ago, before Big East officials forced Tech to place a greater emphasis on Olympic sports.

"There was nothing," Weiss said of the previous stadium facilities. "Most high schools had a better pitch. But that was the situation that existed. Olympic sports did not have great support until the administration came in and the Big East demanded things to be elevated.

"That was the reason why I came here. I was told, hey, these things will happen. So I came here under the compromise of hey, in a year you'll have a stadium, and we did. Everything that I was told would happen happened."

What's happened since is four NCAA tournament appearances. The past two seasons, however, the Hokies had been eliminated in the first round. This year, the 11th-seeded Hokies got a bye in the first round and looked sharp against the Bears in their first meeting with a Pac-10 school.

Tech never trailed. Midfielder Ben Nason gave the Hokies a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute when he collected a loose ball and drilled it into the left corner of the net. Nason called the shot "kind of lucky," but Cal coach Kevin Grimes disagreed.

"I think luck is what you create," Grimes said. "They created their own luck. That guy finished that ball very, very well. He struck that in the side netting. He hit it about as good as you can hit it."

Campbell scored goals in the 56th and 85th minutes to give Tech leads of 2-0 and 3-1. Each time Cal's Javier Ayala-Hil scored to cut the lead to one, but the Bears (12-6-2) couldn't notch the equalizer.

Patrick Nyarko had two assists for Tech, including a drop pass that set up Campbell's second goal.

Campbell said he noticed a shift in the team's mentality this season, as the players truly believed they were deserving of the top-5 national ranking they achieved. Last year the Hokies cracked the top-10 but were skeptical that they deserved it.

"The standards are higher," Campbell said. "I think us being undefeated at home this year has helped. The crowds come out big-time. I've seen people talking in classes and around campus, 'Hey, good luck tonight. I'll be there.'"

Co-captain Scott Spangler, a fifth-year senior, was part of Weiss' inaugural recruiting class and came to Blacksburg not knowing what to expect. Now he looks around and sees the big crowds and the quality stadium. He sees quality, international recruits playing beside him.

Spangler draws one conclusion from all of this.

"It's now or never," he said.