 | Men's Soccer |
SIUE Men's Soccer SIUE Athletics | |
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Championship Bracket SIUE in NCAA Tournament SIUE's Statistics Tusculum Men's Soccer |
November 15, 2004 SIUE Men’s Soccer To Host NCAA Quarterfinal Game on Saturday (EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.) Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will play host to Tusculum College at 7 p.m. on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championships. The gates will open at Korte Stadium at 6 p.m. SIUE, 17-2-2 and ranked sixth in the final regular season poll, was handed hosting duties after defeating Wisconsin-Parkside 3-1 on Saturday. The Cougars are now among the final eight teams in the nation. The winner of this Saturday’s game advances to the Final Four in Wichita Falls, Texas, on the campus of Midwestern State on Dec. 3-5. The game figures to be a battle of one of the top offensive teams in the country against one of the top defensive teams in the nation. Tusculum, also 17-2-2, has scored 80 goals this season and allowed 30. SIUE has scored 47 and allowed just 11. SIUE Coach Ed Huneke said both teams will likely be prepared with scouting reports but those will be limited in scope for two teams that have never met. “The key will be for us to make sure our players read the game as it starts and progresses,” said Huneke. Huneke said he thought defense was going to play a major role in Saturday’s game. “One or two goals isn’t going to put them (Tusculum) down. They believe in themselves,” said Huneke. Tusculum’s top scorer is a 25-year-old from England named Paul Hopkins. The 6-foot-1-inch forward has scored 82 goals in his four seasons as a Pioneer. SIUE looks to counter the Tusculum offensive attack with a balanced attack. Ten different players have three or more goals, and no one has more than six goals. Freshman Adam Lanter (Edwardsville) leads the team with six goals, including four game-winners. John Matthews (Edwardsville) also has four game-winning goals. As a team, eight different players have walked away with game-winning goals in the Cougars’ 17 victories. SIUE’s leading scorer, Victor Pacheco (Sao Luis, Brazil) does not have a game-winning goal among his five goals and team-leading nine assists. This is SIUE’s 18th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. SIUE won national titles in 1972 and 1979. The Cougars were national runners-up in 1975. SIUE was in the national semifinals in 1982 and 2001. The Cougars hold a 26-15 record in NCAA Tournament games in those previous 17 seasons. SIUE last played a home NCAA contest in the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2001 when it defeated Ashland 1-0 en route to a Final Four appearance. -siue cougars- |