TicketsBearcats Open C-USA Tournament
Contact: Jeremy Martin
11/10/2004
Head coach Hylton Dayes |
The University of Cincinnati men?s soccer team will open the 2004 Conference USA Tournament as the No. 3 seed, squaring off against No. 6 seed Charlotte on Nov. 12 at 3:30 p.m. ET at Cardinal Park in Louisville, Ky. The match was rescheduled after severe weather in Louisville on Thursday. The 49ers (10-6-1/5-4-0 C-USA) knocked the Bearcats (7-9-2/5-3-1 C-USA) out of the conference tournament last season in the second round.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bearcats dropped their regular season finale, 2-1, against Marquette at Gettler Stadium. Charlotte fell to Davidson, 4-3, in their final regular season match.
HOT CATS: The Bearcats are the hottest team in C-USA at the moment, with only one loss in their last six conference matches. UC holds a 4-1-1 record in those six matches and has outscored its opponents by an 12-3 margin. During the streak, the Bearcats defeated No. 13 USF at home and No. 21 Saint Louis on the road.
BEARCATS PLACE SIX ON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS: Six Bearcats have earned all-conference honors this season. Seniors Wiremu Patrick and John Liersemann were named to the second team, along with junior Jeff Hughes. Junior defender Ewan Blair and sophomore goalkeeper Mike Vessells were named to the third team, and defender Amir Ikner was an all-freshman selection.
SCOUTING THE 49ERS: The Charlotte 49ers (10-6-1/5-4-0 C-USA) are nearly as hot, having won five of their last seven matches and three straight. The sixth seed in the tournament, Charlotte boasts the league?s third-highest-scoring offense during the regular season, averaging 1.82 goals per contest. Defensively, the 49ers own a 1.66 goals against average, ranking seventh in the conference.
Forward Adam Ruud leads the 49ers with 11 goals. His 11 goals and 24 points rank second and third, respectively, in Conference USA. Goalkeeper Josh Beacham has notched three shutouts this season.
Charlotte head coach John Tart (Furman ?81) was recently named C-USA Co-Coach of the Decade. He holds a 101-78-19 mark in his 10th season, making him the winningest coach in school history.
UC-CHARLOTTE SERIES HISTORY: The Bearcats and 49ers have split the 15 matches played against one another, each winning six, while tying three times. Cincinnati won this year?s regular season match, 3-0, on Oct. 9 in Charlotte.
UC-CHARLOTTE POSTSEASON: The Bearcats and 49ers will meet for the fifth time in the 10-year history of the Conference USA Tournament. The series is tied 1-1-2, however, Charlotte advanced on penalty kicks in 1998 and 2001. Last season, the 49ers knocked off No. 1 seed UC, 1-0, on their way to a runner-up finish.
PATRICK CLIMBING CHARTS: Senior forward Wiremu Patrick continues his ascent up the Bearcat career scoring lists. Patrick has scored eight goals this season, moving into a tie for fifth place on the school?s all-time goals list with 28. Patrick also owns the fifth-highest career point total in UC history with 70 total points.
LIERSEMANN DISHES ?EM OUT: Senior midfielder John Liersemann leads the Bearcats with six assists this season, fifth-highest total in the conference. Liersemann has jumped into fifth place on the UC career assist list with 16 helpers.
STIFF COMPETITION: Though the Bearcats are 7-9-2, they have played each match tight, with 13 matches being decided by one goal or less. Cincinnati, fielding a young team that starts only four seniors, has played a tough schedule that has included 10 teams who have received votes in national polls and five 2003 NCAA Tournament participants.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS:
The Bearcats allowed only seven goals in nine conference matches this season and held a 0.76 goals against average in conference play. The only team with better defensive numbers was league-champion Memphis.
SCORING IN BUNCHES: Junior midfielder Jeff Hughes has been a consistent goal-scoring threat all season, but when he does find the net, he tends to find it more than once. Hughes has scored seven goals in the regular season. He has tallied two goals each against East Carolina, Bowling Green and Louisville, to go along with a single goal against Marquette. Including exhibition play, Hughes has scored 10 goals in the span of just five matches, thanks to a hat trick against Wright State in UC?s exhibition opener.
WE?RE GOING STREAKING: The Bearcats are unbeaten in seven of their last nine, including six straight from Oct. 6-24. During the hot streak, UC has outscored its opponents, 19-6, and moved into third place in the Conference USA race.
THREE?S COMPANY: Seniors Wiremu Patrick and Jeremiah Gallegos and junior Jeff Hughes have combined to score 22 of the Bearcat?s 27 goals and record 50 of UC?s 79 points this season. The Bearcats are 7-3-2 when one of the three nets a goal. Gallegos scored two goals in a 3-2 win against Bradley on Sept. 16. Not to be outdone, Hughes scored twice against East Carolina in the C-USA opener on Sept. 25. He also posted multi-goal matches against Bowling Green on Oct. 24 and Louisville on Oct. 31. Patrick notched a pair of tallies in the Bearcat?s 3-0 win at Charlotte on Oct. 9.
UNSINKABLE VESSELLS: Keeper Mike Vessells finds his name all over the Conference USA leaderboard. Vessells is third in goals against average at 1.11. He ranks fourth in save percentage (.780), third in saves (71), and third with four shutouts.
WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN: UC?s 1-0 victory at Saint Louis on Oct. marked just the second time in the 10-year history of Conference USA that a member of the league has defeated SLU in consecutive matches. The Bearcats topped the Bi4-3, in overtime in 2003. UAB defeated Saint Louis twice in 1999, but both matches were in Birmingham.
WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN, PART 2: The Bearcats? victory at Hermann Stadium was just the third win for a conference team on the Billikens? home turf in the history of C-USA. Cincinnati joins Charlotte in 2000, and Louisville in 2003 as the only squads to defeat Saint Louis at home during that span.
SIX OF ONE...HALF-DOZEN OF THE OTHER: UC?s six-goal outburst against Bowling Green on Oct. 24 marked the best offensive output and largest margin of victory since a 6-0 win against TCU in 2001. Five different Bearcats scored in accounting for just under 20% of the total goal output for the season.
FRESH FACES: In the 6-0 triumph against Bowling Green on Oct. 24, 19 Bearcats saw action. Freshmen Lionel Jackson, Kenny Anaba, Amir Ikner and Chad Cook, along with sophomore Sean Hassman, notched their first career points in the rout. Jackson and Hassman scored a goal apiece, while Anaba picked up two assists and Ikner and Cook added a helper each.