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College Sports

A Soccer Summit

College Cup participants have storied programs

Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman

Wake Forest’s Lyle Adams (3) celebrates his goal against South Florida in an NCAA quarterfinal game last Saturday.

By John Dell

JOURNAL REPORTER

Published: December 12, 2008

FRISCO, Texas - There is plenty of star power in the men's College Cup, and Coach Jay Vidovich of Wake Forest continues to remind his players of that.

The Deacons have worn a bull's-eye all season as defending NCAA champions in men's soccer but have survived to reach the national semifinals for the third straight season.

No. 1-seeded Wake Forest (21-1-1) will play No. 13 North Carolina (14-7-1) at 5:30 today in the first of two semifinals at Pizza Hut Park. No. 2 seed Maryland (21-3) and No. 3 St. John's (19-2-3) will play in the second semifinal at 8 p.m., and the winners will meet Sunday for the title.

"After winning the national championship, a lot of people take a break and say that was a great accomplishment," Vidovich said of his team's desire. "Our guys said what a great accomplishment -- let's do it again."

One trait that all four semifinalists have in common is that each has won the NCAA title before -- Maryland in 2005, UNC in 2001 and St. John's in 1996. It's also the first time in the 49-year history of the tournament that all four coaches in the semifinals have won national titles.

Wake Forest might have an advantage in that it has juniors and seniors with College Cup experience. Maryland has two players with similar experience.

Senior Marcus Tracy, one of the leaders in the Wake Forest attack, said: "We've experienced a lot of pressure. Our opponents that we play are giving us their best because we are the No. 1(-ranked) team in the country, and everyone is coming after us. I think we've done a pretty good job of focusing on ourselves and really concentrating on what we're capable of doing."

Although UNC is the lowest seeded of the four surviving teams it also is one of the hottest. The Tar Heels hit a rough patch in the regular season, losing to Wake Forest and Maryland in that stretch, but recovered late, then made their NCAA Tournament run behind a strong defense.

Brian Shriver leads UNC with 13 goals, and keeper Brooks Haggerty made some big saves in the second half of UNC's 1-0 quarterfinal win over Northwestern.

Coach Elmar Bolowich of UNC said that finding a weakness in Wake Forest won't be easy. The Deacons lead the nation with 81 goals, the most in a season since UNC Greensboro scored 91 in 1998.

"They are pretty good in every aspect of the game, and we have to make a concerted effort to slow them down," Bolowich said. "Wake Forest is a team that if you make one or two mental errors, they take advantage. They can punish you for those mental mistakes."

The Tar Heels have lost three in a row to the Deacons, including a 4-2 setback this season. UNC led 1-0 in the first half before Wake Forest rallied.

"They have a great package with experience and are very athletic, and they play with confidence," Bolowich said. "It's going to take a lot to rattle this team."

Bolowich said that the regular-season meeting means only that each team knows the other's tendencies.

"I don't think that history of the game during the regular season means that much," he said. "It's the College Cup now, so all that history of what each team did during the season isn't that big of a deal."

Maryland will take a 14-match winning streak into the second semifinal but will have to get past a talented St. John's team to make Sunday's game an All-ACC final.

Coach Sasho Cirvoski said that this College Cup has a chance to be one of the best ever.

"I think it's the finality to it because it's really the tournament of champions," Cirvoski said of the drama. "You have four programs that have established excellence, and I think everyone is excited about this College Cup. I think if you are a fan of soccer and you live in Texas, then you should get to the tournament."

Jeremy Hall leads Maryland with 14 goals and six assists, and Casey Townsend (11 goals, 4 assists) and Graham Zusi (4 goals, 5 assists) also play key roles in the attack. Goalkeeper Zac MacMath is 17-1 this season, with a goals-against average of 0.49.

St. John's features Nelson Becerra, the Big East's midfielder of the year, and Coach Dave Masur has taken the Red Storm to 16 NCAA Tournaments.

St. John's defeated Indiana in the quarterfinals when Becerra converted a penalty kick in overtime. Sverre Wegge Gundhus forced the extra session with a goal with 2:03 left in regulation.

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or jdell@wsjournal.com.