It all started way back on November 20th with 48 schools and after four rounds of action the field for the 56th annual NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament has been whittled down to four remaining hopefuls who will contest the 2014 College Cup. All four had their own unique routes to the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC which will host this year’s final two rounds, but the overarching goal is identical for each team: to be crowned national champions. It all begins Friday when perennial power Virginia takes on tournament darling UMBC in the first semifinal followed by another stalwart program UCLA facing Providence.
Before we go into detail about each semifinalist, it might make sense to do a quick review of how we got here. If you’re unfamiliar with the format of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament, hopefully you’ll be that much more enlightened after this explanation. The top 16 teams are seeded and given byes into the second round. The next 32 teams, either conference champions or at-large picks, are drawn into 16 first round matches with the winners advancing to face those seeded sides. It seems like the opening round pairings are done more with proximity to their next opponent in mind rather than actually seeding those remaining 32.
The tournament as a whole was characterized by closely fought matches, with 82% of the games played so far either determined by a single goal or via penalty shootout. There can’t be much of a doubt that the most drama-packed of the games that went to PKs took place in the first round tie between Akron and Ohio State. After being tied 1-1 through regulation and the two extra time periods, the game would proceed to go to penalties where the Buckeyes would advance 13-12 after a whopping 15 rounds.
Everyone loves seeing upsets (unless you’re an alum of the school getting beaten, I guess) and there were surprising results aplenty this year. Three of the last four standing defeated higher seeded teams at some point to get to the College Cup, including UMBC, perhaps the unlikeliest of Cinderellas you might ever see in any postseason tournament of this kind. Only second seeded UCLA avoided the upset bug on the way to the semifinals.
We’ll delve into all that and more as we take a look at both semifinal match-ups.
(16) Virginia vs. UMBC, 5 pm, ESPNU
The Cavaliers are looking to replicate what Indiana did two years ago by winning the national title as the lowest of the seeded teams. Stumbling into the tournament after getting dominated 3-0 by Notre Dame in the ACC quarterfinals, not much was expected. Then they renewed acquaintances with the top-seeded Irish in the round of 16 and got sweet revenge with a 1-0 win. They would follow that up with a penalty shootout victory in the quarterfinals (one of three in that round) over eighth-seeded Georgetown en route to the College Cup.
Eric Bird leads all goal scorers for Virginia with five, while midfielder/defender Scott Thomsen is one of the leading assist men in the country, tallying eight on the year. Forward Darius Madison is probably the top pro prospect on the team, though he’s only been able to put it in the net three times. In goal, they have a very capable player in Calle Brown who is 21st in the nation in both goals against average (.753 goals/game) and save percentage (81.9%).
It probably won’t get the publicity of George Mason’s magical run to basketball’s Final Four way back in 2006, but what the University of Maryland-Baltimore County has done in this year’s NCAA soccer tournament should be viewed as one of the great Cinderella stories in recent collegiate sports memory. Qualifying for the tournament as champions of the America East Conference, their road to the semifinals included knocking off four teams (Wake Forest, Maryland, Louisville and Creighton), all on the road, who’ve won a combined four national titles and made 23 total appearances in the College Cup. It’s hard to compare the soccer and basketball tournaments in terms of seeding, but this has to be the equivalent of a 13 or 14-seed making the national semifinals in college hoops.
The Retrievers possess a stout back line that features centerback Oumar Ballo who TopDrawerSoccer.com ranks as the 19th best player in the nation. Goalkeeper Billy Heavner just does not let that many shots by him, and he’s proven as much over the course of the tournament as he’s currently pitching a shutout through four games. Clearly, UMBC has ridden this combination to the position they currently find themselves. Though senior forward Kay Banjo has four game-winning goals on the year and leads the team overall with eight, he has yet to score in the tournament.
Though UMBC will undoubtedly try to rely on the solid defense/goalkeeping combo that got them here in the first place, I think Virginia will find a way to finally get the ball past Heavner and advance to the finals.
(11) Providence vs. (2) UCLA, 7:30 pm, ESPNU
Though not a Cinderella by any stretch given they finished the regular season ranked tenth in the nation (NSCAA/Continental Tire Poll), Providence makes their first-ever appearance in the College Cup. The Friars finished fourth in the regular season Big East standings, but would win the conference tournament and ride that momentum to a series of impressive performances en route to Cary. After shutting out Dartmouth and UC Irvine, they would travel to third seeded Michigan State and upend the Spartans 3-2. In fact, they were the only victorious quarterfinalist to actually win their game in regulation.
This is a team that knows how to get the ball past opposing goalkeepers. Their 1.91 goals per game is the highest among the remaining teams. Their top three scorers, Markus Naglestad, Mac Steeves and Fabio Machado have combined for 25 goals and 14 assists so far, with Machado tied for 12th nationally having tallied five game winners.
UCLA is clearly the favorite at this point and will be seeking their fifth national title in soccer which would add to the school’s all-time record of team sports championships that currently stands at 112 and counting. In a tournament that has seen it’s fair share of upsets, the Bruins nearly fell victim in the second round against San Diego, needing two acrobatic saves from goalkeeper Earl Edwards, Jr. to preserve a 1-1 tie in sudden death overtime. UCLA leading scorer Leo Stoltz would score minutes later to send them to the round of 16 where they would beat Cal 3-2. The drama would continue in the quarterfinals when unseeded North Carolina would take a 1-0 lead, fall behind 3-1, then score two goals in the final 15 minutes to send the game to extra time. The Bruins would eventually clinch their spot in the College Cup with a 7-6 win in the penalty shootout.
Stoltz is consistently rated as the top college player in the nation and started all 22 games for the Bruins this season. The senior midfielder from Germany spent seven years in the 1860 Munich academy system before moving to Los Angeles to play collegiately. Edwards is the only other player on the team to have started every game on the year, and despite those two huge saves to keep UCLA’s title hopes alive he’ll need to be better going forward. The six goals he’s conceded in the tournament so far is the most among the remaining four goalkeepers.
This is another contest where I think broad-based program experience in this situation trumps the championship ambitions of the upstarts. Stoltz and company find a way to come out on top in a relatively high-scoring game featuring two teams with proven goal scorers.
With Virginia and UCLA moving through to the national final, a potentially mouthwatering clash beckons with two blue bloods of collegiate soccer. The Cavaliers and Bruins have combined to win ten national championships between them and you may be familiar with their two most famous coaches. UVA was coached by none other than Bruce Arena from 1978-1995 and five of the program’s six titles were won under his watch with notable players such as Tony Meola, Claudio Reyna and Jeff Agoos.
Current Seattle Sounders boss Sigi Schmid spent 19 seasons (1980-1998) at the helm of the Bruin program and won three of UCLA’s four titles in that span. Among the players who’ve suited up in the powder blue and gold under Schmid include Cobi Jones, Frankie Hejduk, Carlos Bocanegra, Nick Rimando and plenty of others who would later enjoy immensely successful careers in Major League Soccer and the U.S. men’s national team.
There should be plenty of future pros on the field when these four teams come together to make a final push for the 2014 men’s soccer national championship. Expect to see a handful of these players’ names called in roughly a month’s time when the 2015 MLS Superdraft takes place on January 15th.
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