Northwestern University Athletics
Nationally Ranked Wildcats Set to Play in UNLV Invitational
9/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 8, 2005
Northwestern Match Notes
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern (2-0-0) is back in action in Las Vegas this weekend, Sept. 9-Sept. 11, as part of the UNLV FILA Invitational. The Wildcats play UC Santa Barbara (0-1-1) at 6:30 on Friday, Sept. 9.
The second half of the tournament features the `Cats squaring off against UNLV (0-2-0) at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11.
The 'Cats are coming off a successful weekend in which they defeated St. Francis (Pa.) 1-0, and Western Kentucky 2-1, en route to their second consecutive Lakeside Classic tournament crown. Northwestern is ranked No. 17 according to collegesoccernews.com and No. 15 according to topdrawersoccer.com for the week of Sept. 5-Sept. 11. Wildcats senior Adam Sirois (Dover, N.H./Berwick Academy) was named topdrawersoccer.com Big Ten Conference Performer of the Week for the defender position.
UC Santa Barbara, which is ranked as high as No. 4 in some national polls, fell to No. 20 California 2-0, on Sept. 2, and tied No. 6 Virginia 0-0, on Sept. 4.
The Gauchos won the Big West Conference title in 2004, and advanced to the NCAA championship match, where they fell to Indiana University in a penalty kick shootout.
UC Santa Barbara has a big void to fill following the graduation of 2004 second-team NSCAA All-American Tony Lochart. But collegesoccernews.com rated the Gauchos with the 11th best recruiting class in 2004, and named sophomore defenseman Andy Iro a second-team 2005preseason all-american.
Friday's match will be the first meeting between these two men's soccer programs.
The UNLV Rebels participated in the Big Toe Classic in Madison, Wis., on Sept. 2 and Sept. 4. They dropped their first game to Wisconsin, 2-1, as well as their second game to UW-Milwaukee, 3-1.
The Rebels finished fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation last season, and had three players named all-MPSF.
This will also be the first meeting between these two teams.
