Men's Soccer Weekly Release #13 - NCAA Preview #2

Nov. 13, 2006

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NCAA Championship -- Second-Round Capsule

UIC (13-2-5, Horizon League regular-season champion)
at (#12 seed) Notre Dame (13-5-2)
(Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, UND's Alumni Field - Notre Dame, Ind.)

UIC continues its run in the NCAA Tournament, traveling east for Wednesday's match-up at 12th-seeded Notre Dame. The Flames opened the tournament with a 3-0 victory over Western Illinois on Saturday, improving to 13-2-5 on the season.

UIC had been shut out in two Horizon League Championship matches but found its offensive spark against Western Illinois. Junior midfielder Cesar Zambrano netted the match-winner in the 14th minute, with senior forward Eric Cervantes (62nd) and junior midfielder Pavle Dundjer (76th) adding insurance goals. Freshman goalkeeper Jovan Bubonja recorded three saves to lead the Flames to their school-record 13th shutout of the year.

Zambrano started the scoring for the Flames, as the junior headed home a corner kick for his fifth goal of the season. Cervantes now has seven goals on the season, tying senior forward Tonci Skroce for second on the team scoring charts, with Dundjer now alone at the top with his eight markers. Skroce, the Horizon League Player of the Year, also has seven assists for a team-high 21 points.

Bubonja's 78 minutes of scoreless play lowered his season goals-against average to 0.34 (third-best in the nation). The Serbia native has a UIC single-season standard with ten solo shutouts (plus three shared whitewashes), and has not allowed a goal in his last 451 minutes.

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 30. UIC has given up only two second-half goals this season and has not yielded more than one goal in any match this fall.

The UIC defense faced a stiff challenge in its opener, with WIU coming in ranked second in the nation by scoring 50 goals (one fewer than Division I leader Winthrop) during the regular season. Wednesday provides another test for the Flames' back line, as Notre Dame junior forward Joseph Lapira owns a Division I-leading 20 goals and five assists (45 points) this year. The Big East Conference Offensive Player of the Year paces a Fighting Irish attack which also includes senior forward Justin McGeeney (five goals, one assist) and senior midfielder Nate Norman (two goals and seven helpers). Senior goalkeeper Chris Cahill has a 0.74 GAA with ten shutouts in 2006.

Notre Dame starts its NCAA run with a 13-5-2 ledger. The Fighting Irish had won nine of their last ten matches in the regular season before falling 2-1 in overtime to host Rutgers in the Big East Conference Tournament semifinals. UND is in the national summit for the sixth year in a row and tenth time overall. That includes three stints (1988, 1993, 1994) when the Fighting Irish represented the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League). Notre Dame, which won MCC titles in 1988 and 1993, left the circut after the 1994 campaign.

Despite the relative proximity of the schools, the teams have only two common opponents this season. Notre Dame swept two matches from DePaul, defeating the Blue Demons 3-0 on Sept. 10 and again 2-0 on Oct. 28 in the Big East Tournament, and tied Saint Louis 0-0 on Sept. 1. UIC battled cross-town rival DePaul to a scoreless draw on Aug. 30, four days after defeating SLU 1-0 in Saint Louis to open the season (Aug. 26).

NCAA Championship First-Round Summary

UIC 3, Western Illinois 0
Host UIC broke out of a scoring slump at the perfect time, defeating Western Illinois in the opening round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. Cesar Zambrano opened the scoring at the 13:42 mark, heading home a Mike Giffin corner kick. Both teams had several scoring chances in the first half, but Flames goalkeeper Jovan Bubonja and WIU netminder Stephen Paterson each posted three saves to keep the match at 1-0 at intermission. The Flames stretched the margin to 2-0 in the 62nd minute when Tonci Skroce led Eric Cervantes on a breakaway. Paterson stopped Cervantes' first attempt but could not corral the rebound as Cervantes knocked the ball inside the right post. Pavle Dundjer put the match out of reach at 75:45, collecting Brodey Simkins' service to hit the net for the eighth time this season.

WIU00--0
UIC12--3

UIC -- Cesar Zambrano (Mike Giffin), 13:42
UIC -- Eric Cervantes (Tonci Skroce), 61:51
UIC -- Pavle Dundjer (Brodey Simkins), 75:45

Shots: WIU 6, UIC 12
Saves: WIU (Paterson) 3, UIC (Bubonja 3, Engelbrecht 0) 3
Corner Kicks: WIU 0, UIC 6
Fouls: WIU 13, UIC 18
Offsides: WIU 1, UIC 0