UNC Greensboro to Host Virginia Tech in NCAA Men’s Soccer First Round

GREENSBORO, NC ? For the second consecutive year, UNC Greensboro and Virginia Tech will square off in the NCAA Tournament as the teams have been matched up in the opening round of the 2006 edition of the tournament.

 

UNCG will host the first round match on Saturday at 1 pm at UNCG Soccer Stadium.

 

The Spartans (14-7-1) will be making their 17th appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament. It will be UNCG’s eighth trip to the tournament since 1991 when it became a Division I member. Previously, UNCG made it to the tournament in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2004 and 2005. Each of the last two seasons, the Spartans have advanced to the third round, falling in the Round of 16. In 2004, UNCG lost to eventual runner-up UC-Santa Barbara, while in 2005 the Spartans were eliminated by eventual semifinalist SMU.

 

Last year, UNCG and Virginia Tech played to a scoreless tie in Blacksburg.

The Spartans advanced through penalty kicks.

 

“We had no expectations whatsoever,” said UNCG coach Michael Parker of his pairing. “We faced Virginia Tech last year and they have a real strong forward up front in Patrick Nyarko. We were guessing a little bit in who we might get paired up with, but we thought we might get a home game out of it. I wasn’t confident of anything, though.”

 

Virginia Tech (11-7-1) lost to North Carolina State, 3-2, in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. The Hokies were seeded eighth in the tournament after finishing league play with a 2-5-1 mark. Virginia Tech is led by the high-scoring Nyarko. He has 38 points in the season with 15 goals and eight assists.

 

Virginia Tech has three wins over Southern Conference teams this season, recording victories against Appalachian State, Davidson and Elon. The Hokies, who also own a 5-2 win over Clemson this season, have scored 46 goals in 19 matches this season.

 

UNCG earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season by winning the Southern Conference Tournament over the weekend. The Spartans, who also won the Southern Conference regular season title for the third consecutive year, defeated Georgia Southern, 3-0. UNCG did not allow a goal in three Southern Conference Tournament matches, outscoring the opposition, 7-0.

 

UNCG head coach Michael Parker, the active Division I leader in wins with

465 in his 31 years as a head coach, will be making his 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

 

Coupled with UNCG’s women’s team also earning the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, it is the third time in school history that both Spartan soccer teams will be in the NCAA Tournament in the same year. It also happened in 1996 and 1998.

 

The 48 teams in the NCAA Tournament will be vying for the right to compete at the 2006 NCAA Men’s College Cup on December 1 and 3 in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Saint Louis University and the St. Louis Sports Commission will host the championship.

 

Duke University, the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament champion, was awarded the No. 1 seed. Wake Forest University earned the No. 2 seed.

Southern Methodist University was named the No. 3 seed, while the University of Virginia was the No. 4 seed.

 

The remaining top 16 seeds in order are the University of Maryland; West Virginia University; Indiana University, Bloomington; University of California, Los Angeles; Clemson University, Santa Clara University, Saint Louis University; University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Towson University; and Lehigh University. The top 16 teams receive a first-round bye.

 

Remaining first Round matches will  be played either November 10 or 11. All second round matches will be played November 15.

 

 

UNC Greensboro Draws Oklahoma State in NCAA Women’s Soccer First Round

GREENSBORO, NC ? UNC Greensboro will take on Oklahoma State in Clemson, SC in the opening round of the 2006 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament.

 

Ranked No. 12 in this week’s Soccer America Top 25, the Cowgirls (16-3-2) are seeded fourth in their respective quarter of the bracket. They lost to Texas, a No. 1 seed in its quarter of the bracket, in the Big XII semifinals, 2-0. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

 

All first round games will be played on Friday with the exception of the Reno, NV site, which will play on Thursday with second round games to follow on Saturday. Game times have not yet been announced.

 

Defensively, the Cowgirls have a 0.73 goals against average, allowing just

16 goals in 21 matches this season. Offensively, Oklahoma State has seven players with 10 or more points. Siera Strawser leads the team with 16 points (5g, 6a).

 

The Spartans (13-7-2) started out the season 1-7-0; facing arguably one of the toughest schedules in the nation before going unbeaten in their final

14 matches. UNCG faced NCAA qualifiers North Carolina, Tennessee, Wake Forest, William & Mary. The Tar Heels are the top-seeded team in the tournament, while William & Mary enters with just one loss on the season.

 

UNCG is currently on a 10-game winning streak, which is the longest streak in the program’s 18-year history, and is unbeaten in 14 straight.

 

“There are four very good teams in our bracket and any one of us could come out on top,” stated head coach Eddie Radwanski. “I’m very excited about the newness of it all; playing a team that we haven’t seen before.”

 

 “We are just excited to have this opportunity and to play a different  team,” said senior tri-captian Deven Beachum. We’ve come a very long way  together. We all believe in each other and will continue to play well with  each other.”

 

The Spartans won the Southern Conference regular season title and then went on to win the Southern Conference Tournament this past weekend. UNCG defeated Furman, 3-1, in the title game to earn the NCAA Tournament automatic bid.

 

UNCG will be making its seventh all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

UNCG’s last appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 2003 when it advanced to the second round. The Spartans defeated in-state rival Wake Forest, 2-1, before losing to eventual-National Champion North Carolina, 5-0. UNCG has advanced to the second round in three of its previous six appearances, beating Duke in 1997 and William & Mary in 2000 before the win over Wake Forest in 2003.

 

Coupled with UNCG’s women’s team also earning the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, it is the third time in school history that both Spartan soccer teams will be in the NCAA Tournament in the same year. It also happened in 1996 and 1998.

 

The top 16 teams are seeded and conference teams cannot play each other in the first round; however, second round conference match-ups are permissible. When pairing teams, the committee is restricted by geographic proximity. Sites are selected for the first and second rounds to create the least number of flights; therefore, only 12 of the top 16 seeds will be hosting first- and second-round competition.

 

The four No. 1 seeds include the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the University of Notre Dame, Santa Clara University and the University of Texas at Austin. All four teams enter the tournament as automatic qualifiers and represent four different conferences.

 

First-round matches will be played Friday, November 10, at campus sites, and second-round matches will be played Sunday, November 12, at the same campus sites. The two first-round contests hosted by Utah will be played Thursday, November 9 with the second-round game to be played Saturday, November 11. Third-round games will be played on campus sites November 17,

18 or 19, as will quarterfinal matches on November 24, 25 or 26. Times will be announced.

 

The 25th annual NCAA Division I Women’s College Cup will be played December

1 and 3 at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. North Carolina State University, the Town of Cary, and the Capital Area Soccer League will serve as hosts.