Ilhan earns pair of national awards, Spartans ranked nationally
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNCG forward Hakan Ilhan has earned a pair of national honors after leading the Spartans to an upset of No. 12 Duke on Friday, while UNCG has jumped into the national rankings in one men's soccer poll.
Ilhan earned spots on the TopDrawerSoccer.com Men's College Team of the Week and the College Soccer News National Team of the Week after his impressive season debut.
The junior from Stuttgart, Germany, had a pair of goals and narrowly missed out on a hat trick, putting another shot off the post, as the Spartans defeated the Blue Devils 3-2. Ilhan scored on a penalty kick in the 16th minute to put UNCG up 2-0 then added another score in the 56th minute as UNCG picked up its third win in the last four tries against Duke, who entered the contest ranked 12th nationally by Soccer America.
Including three exhibition matches, UNCG is 5-2 against Duke since 2005.
With Friday's win over the Blue Devils, UNCG jumped into the College Soccer News Top 30 National Poll at No. 19. The last time the Spartans were ranked was in the 2007 preseason, when UNCG was No. 23 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and No. 28 in the CSN poll.
UNCG, the preseason pick to win the Southern Conference, returns to action Wednesday when it hosts East Tennessee State at the UNCG Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
AGATE
TopDrawerSoccer.com Men's College Team of the Week - Week One
GK: Brian Holt, Creighton
D: Eric Schoenle, West Virginia
M: Nicolas Abrigo, William & Mary
F: Darren Mattocks, Akron
F: David Opoku, UC Santa Barbara
F: Charlie Rugg, Boston College
F: Christian Hernandez, UC Irvine
F: Andy Craven, College of Charleston
F: Hakan Ilhan, UNCG
F: Darnell King, Florida Atlantic University
F: Bryan Gaul, Bradley
Player of the Week: Bryan Gaul, Bradley
College Soccer News National Team of the Week - 8/28/2011
Darren Mattocks - Akron
Chris Bettencourt - Sacramento State
Charlie Rugg - Boston College
David Opoku - UC Santa Barbara
Hakan Ilhan - UNCG
Bryan Gaul - Bradley
Danny Baraldi - Bowling Green
Nicolas Abrigo - William & Mary
Eric Schoenle - West Virginia
R.J. Allen - Monmouth
Brian Holt - Creighton
College Soccer News Top 30 National Poll
Rank School Record Rank last week
1. Louisville 1-0-0 1
2. North Carolina 1-0-0 3
3. Akron 1-0-0 4
4. UCLA 0-1-0 2
5. Creighton 1-0-0 6
6. Connecticut 1-0-0 7
7. Maryland 1-0-0 8
8. UC Santa Barbara 1-0-0 9
9. SMU 0-1-0 5
10. Brown 0-0-0 10
11. California 1-0-0 14
12. Notre Dame 0-0-1 11
13. Boston College 1-0-0 13
14. West Virginia 1-0-0 22
15. William & Mary 1-0-0 NR
16. Indiana 0-0-1 15
17. Virginia 0-1-0 12
18. Penn State 1-0-0 20
19. UNCG 1-0-0 NR
20. Ohio State 0-0-1 17
21. South Florida 1-0-0 NR
22. Duke 0-1-0 16
23. Charlotte 0-0-0 23
24. Monmouth 1-0-0 27
25. LMU 0-1-0 19
26. Old Dominion 0-0-0 26
27. UCF 1-0-0 28
28. Michigan State 0-1-0 18
29. Kentucky 2-0-0 NR
30. Denver 0-1-0 29
Others receiving votes: College of Charleston, Santa Clara, Penn, Georgetown, Furman, Wake Forest, Bradley, UC Irvine, Sacramento State, Princeton, Dartmouth, UMBC, High Point, South Carolina, FGCU
Men's Soccer Garners National Attention
Cougars climb polls; Craven recognized on national Men's Soccer Team of the Week
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's soccer team excited the record-setting 2,931-fan crowd in the Cougars' 3-2 win over then-ranked No. 15 South Carolina in the season opener. The win also attracted the eyes of the national media and has CofC represented in some of this week's publications and rankings.
The Cougars climbed up the rankings in two of the nation's leading publications on college soccer, College Soccer News and TopDrawerSoccer.com.
College Soccer News released its Top 30 National Poll No. 1 on Monday for the week ending Sunday, Aug 28. CofC emerged as No. 31 as the highest vote-getter of unranked teams.
TopDrawerSoccer.com releases the Tournament 48 National Ranking for men's college soccer as a running effort to project the postseason NCAA Tournament field, including all automatic conference and at-large qualifiers. Weekly updates appear every Monday.
The Cougars climbed six spots in the ranking from No. 44 in the preseason poll to No. 38 in this week's edition.
TDS also releases a weekly 11-man Men's College Team of the Week each Monday and CofC sophomore Andy Craven (St. Simon's Island, Ga.) was featured after his breakout game against the Gamecocks. Craven netted the first two goals in CofC's Sunday-night victory at Patriots Point. He registered six shots - three of which were on frame - through 75 minutes of playing time in the match.
The Cougars host the 11th annual Nike / Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic over Labor Day weekend and bring a pair of quality opponents to town in Princeton and Rutgers. The Cougars expect another capacity crowd for the match against Princeton (No. 25 TDS, No. 40 CSN) on Friday, Sept. 2 and close out the weekend with Rutgers on Sunday, Sept. 4.