Men's Soccer Weekly Release #12 - NCAA Tournament Preview

Nov. 7, 2006

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NCAA Tournament -- First-Round Capsules

Western Illinois (15-7-0, Mid-Continent Conference Champion)
at UIC (12-2-5, Horizon League regular-season champion)
(Friday, 7 p.m. CT, UIC's Flames Field - Chicago, Ill.)

UIC makes its first NCAA appearance since 2000, touting a 12-2-5 overall record and the Horizon League's regular-season title based on a 5-1-1 loop ledger. The Flames were eliminated on penalty kicks in the semifinals of the League Championship, but get a second chance in Friday's first-round match-up.

The Flames were ranked among the nation's top 25 teams for much of the regular season, reaching as high as No. 7 in the NSCAA polls---the highest in school history. UIC boasts the nation's second-stingiest defense, allowing only seven goals (one more than Lehigh) in 19 contests while scoring 27. UIC has given up only two second-half goals this season and has not yielded more than one goal in any match this fall.

Freshman goalkeeper Jovan Bubonja anchors that defense, ranking third in the nation with his 0.36 goals-against average which includes ten shutouts. The Serbian native has already set the school's single-season record with those ten clean sheets, and earned the League's Goalkeeper of the Year award. He has not allowed a goal in his last 373 minutes of action.

Up front for UIC, senior forward Tonci Skroce was the League's Player of the Year, collecting seven goals and six assists for a team-high 20 points. Junior midfieler Pavle Dundjer (seven goals) and senior forward Eric Cervantes (six goals, one assist) provide much of the support. Skroce, Dundjer and Bubonja were First-Team All-League selections, along with senior defender Derek Kosek, while Cervantes and junior midfielder Cesar Zambrano (four goals and one assist) earned Second-Team notice.

UIC's 12 victories are the most for the program since 2000 when UIC won 18 matches and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. This year's total includes wins at Saint Louis (1-0 on Aug. 26) and at UC Santa Barbara (2-1 on Sept. 8). UIC has now defeated four Top-25 teams in the last two years, all on the road.

UIC has been out-shot only once since Sept. 17 (10-9 by Northwestern) as teams have taken a defensive approach against the Flames' attack. UIC has held a 51-24 advantage in shots in its last three games and 267-151 for the season.

Western Illinois won its third consecutive Mid-Continent Conference title in 2006, bringing a 15-7-0 record into Friday's contest. The Leathernecks defeated UMKC 2-0 on Sunday to claim the Mid-Con's automatic berth, and own victories over current League representative Detroit (2-0 on Aug. 27) and future member Valparaiso (5-1 on Oct. 27). WIU has outscored its opponents 50-16 on the season, including a 15-2 mark in the team's current five-match winning streak.

Freshman forward Martin Browne leads the Western Illinois attack with 11 goals and nine assists for 31 points, one more than senior striker Matt Wieclaw (12 goals---including six match-winners---and six helpers). Seven different players have at least three goals, with six owning at least five assists. Freshman netminder Stephen Paterson ranks 27th in the nation with a 0.77 goals-against average and has eight shutouts on the season.

In addition to Detroit (a team UIC defeated 3-0 on Sept. 24), the teams share three other common opponents as WIU lost 1-0 at Wisconsin on Oct. 4, and defeated both Bradley (2-1 on Oct. 17) and UMKC (1-0 on Sept. 16 in addition to the Mid-Con final). The Flames also lost 1-0 in Madison (Oct. 4) while posting victories over Bradley (2-1 on Sept. 3) and UMKC (3-0 on Sept. 1).

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Loyola (11-7-2, Horizon League Champion)
at Northern Illinois (14-5-1, Mid-American Conference Champion)
(Saturday, 1 p.m. CT, NIU's Huskie Soccer Field - DeKalb, Ill.)

Loyola makes its NCAA Tournament debut Saturday after winning its first-ever Horizon League Championship. The Ramblers enter the national summit at 11-7-2 after defeating UW-Green Bay 1-0 in Sunday's title match, winning the crown as the fourth seed after tying for third place with a 4-2-1 loop ledger during the regular season.

The Ramblers had been 1-17-0 in the loop summit before this year's run---with the lone victory coming in 2000--but defeated Cleveland State, 3-2, in the quarterfinals before out-lasting regular-season champion UIC in penalty kicks to reach the final match.

Loyola reached double figures in victories for only the second time since 1996, riding a defense which shut out the League's top two seeds in the tournament. Senior goalkeeper Sean Bond ranks second in the League and 23rd in the nation with his 0.75 goals-against average which includes nine shutouts, earning All-Tournament Team honors with those final two performances. He was a Second-Team All-League choice, as well.

Senior forward Matt Marek---also a Second-Team All-League pick---tops the Rambler scoring charts with six goals and 15 points, but freshmen Alex Jones and Michael Ferguson have sparked Loyola's attack this season. Jones has hit the net six times for 12 points, with Ferguson adding five goals and one assist. Both were members of the League's All-Newcomer Team.

Rambler mentor Brendan Eitz became the first coach in League history to take teams to both the men's and women's NCAA tournaments, leading LU into this year's event after directing the Rambler women to the League title in 2003.

Junior midfielder Keum Sung Kim shares the League lead with eight assists and picked the perfect time for his first goal of the season, hitting the net to account for the only scoring versus UW-Green Bay on Sunday. The fourth Rambler in double figures with ten points this season, Kim earned First-Team All-League notice for the second consecutive year and joined junior defender Iradj Farahmand on the circuit's top honor squad in 2006.

Northern Illinois is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 33 years after winning the Mid-American Conference championship by defeating Akron, 1-0, in the conference final on Sunday. The Huskies' 14-5-1 record matches the school single-season for victories set in 1989. This year's group is perfect (8-0-0) at home this season, due in part to the efforts of sophomore goalkeeper Joe Zimka, who leads the nation with a microscopic 0.16 goals-against average. He has ten shutouts in 13 appearances since taking over the starting role in mid-September.

Junior forward Marcus McCarty leads the Huskies with 11 goals and 26 points, while freshman midfielder Luis De La Cerda has five goals and three assists for his 13 poins. Senior midfielder Kevin Woerner's six assists top the team charts in that category.

The teams have four common opponents this season. NIU defeated League representative UW-Milwaukee, 1-0, on Oct. 1 and also owns victories over Michigan State (1-0 on Sept. 3), Western Michigan (4-1 on Oct. 6) and Buffalo (3-0 on Nov. 3 after a 1-0 loss on Oct. 20), while Loyola dropped a 1-0 decision to UWM on the final day of the regular season (Oct. 22). Loyola also fell 2-1 to Michigan State on Oct. 15 but defeated MAC members Western Michigan (2-0 on Sept. 17) and Buffalo (2-1 on Sept. 8).

Horizon League In Elite Company With Multiple Bids

The Horizon League is one of only 11 conferences to have more than one team in this year's NCAA Tournament. Loyola gained the League's automatic entry by winning the League Championship last weekend, but UIC's 12-2-5 record and achievements during the regular season earned an at-large bid from the selection committee.

That gives the League two tournament teams for the first time since 2001 when (champion) Butler and UW-Milwaukee represented the League. Prior to that, the League had not received a second bid since 1990.

The Atlantic Coast Conference and Big East Conference each have seven teams in this year's 48-team field, with the Colonial Athletic Association and the Pacific-10 Conference garnering four bids apiece.The Big Ten Conference, Conference USA, Ivy League, Patriot League, and West Coast Conference also each have two teams in the field.

MULTIPLE-BID CONFERENCES (champion listed first, followed by at-large bids)
ACC (7): Duke, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Big East (7):St. John's, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, West Virginia
Colonial (4):Hofstra, George Mason, Old Dominion, Towson
Pacific-10 (4):California, San Diego State, UCLA, Washington
Atlantic-10 (2):Rhode Island, Saint Louis
Big Ten (2):Indiana, Northwestern
Conf. USA (2):Southern Methodist, Alabama-Birmingham
Horizon (2):Loyola, UIC
Ivy League (2):Harvard, Brown
Patriot (2):Bucknell, Lehigh
West Coast (2):Santa Clara, San Francisco

Note: Cal won the Pac-10 title but that League did not have an automatic bid for 2006.