Nov. 22, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Listen Live
Tournament Bracket
NCAA Quarterfinals
Nov. 25, 2006 -- 9 p.m. CT
Northwestern (14-7) vs. UC Santa Barbara (15-7)
Harder Stadium
Santa Barbara, Calif.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- It's all come down to this: Northwestern vs. UC Santa Barbara with a trip to the 2006 NCAA College Cup in St. Louis on the line. The Wildcats (14-7), the only Big Ten team still standing, are enjoying a historic run through this year's tournament with wins over Cincinnati, an upset win at No. 7 Saint Louis and a third round home victory over UNC Greensboro--going further than any team in program history. Santa Barbara (15-7) has made their way through the tournament by virtue of wins over San Diego State, SMU and Old Dominion.
Tickets for the match can be purchased at the UCSB Athletic Ticket Office or by calling 805-893-UCSB. They can also be purchased at the gate the day of the event, one hour prior to kickoff. Student tickets also are available free of charge through the UCSB Ticket Office with a valid student ID. Ticket Prices are $10 for adults, $5 for students with valid ID and children under 12.
"Although everyone is used to being with their families on Thanksgiving, this will be a great experience for our guys," head coach Tim Lenahan said. "Santa Barbara has done a great job in building their program and in creating a great soccer environment. The last time they hosted a quarterfinal game they had over 11,000 people at the game. It will be a challenging but exciting atmosphere to play in and our guys are looking forward to it.
"Our seniors have done a fantastic job down the stretch and Gerardo Alvarez, Brad North, Jeff Mills and Justin Pines have been outstanding. Our seniors have traveled to and won at tough places before. This group has won on the road at Indiana and Duke and just recently beat Saint Louis at their place. So our senior group has won on the road at three of the most storied venues in soccer history, so I am confident we will be ready to play at Santa Barbara. We are looking forward to a great game."
• LAST TIME OUT: Northwestern (14-7) continued on its improbable NCAA Tournament run Sunday and are one win away from punching its ticket to the NCAA College Cup by virtue of a 2-1 win over UNC Greensboro (16-8-1). Behind a penalty kick by Brian Usinger, a rocket goal by Gerardo Alvarez and the outstanding play of Justin Pines in goal, the Wildcats lived to play another day and are in the Elite Eight.The Wildcats struck first in the ninth minute. After a Spartan player was charged with a handball in box, Usinger notched his first-career goal on the penalty kick to give NU the early 1-0 lead. The lead was short-lived, however, as UNC Greensboro charged right back down the field to tie the game on a Michael FitzGerald header from 5 yards out. Scott Jones fired the crossing pass into the box from the right wing as the diving FitzGerald headed the shot past Pines who had little time to react. With the wind at its backs in the first half, Northwestern knew it had to take advantage of every scoring opportunity in the first half. And Alvarez cashed in the Wildcats' second goal when he intercepted a UNCG goal kick, dribbled around a Spartan defender and fired a rocket into the top left-hand corner of the net for what proved to be the game-winner.
Scouting UC Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara faced one of the toughest schedules around, going up against eight ranked teams (4-4 in those games) this season, which included a 3-1 win over No. 1 SMU in the second round of the NCAA's. Like the Wildcats, the Gauchos are tough to tame on their home turf, going 10-2 this season at home with their only losses coming to No. 18 UIC and No. 7 UCLA. They feature a balanced scoring attack, led by Eric Avila's seven goals and four assists. Nick Perera and Otti Bongomin are second with six goals each. Goalkeeper Kyle Reynish (15-7) is ranked 29th nationally with a .824 save percentage and has helped the Gauchos collect 11 shutouts this season. He has 89 saves to only 19 goals allowed. They are coached by Tim Von Steeg, a two-time Big West Conference Coach of the Year and the 2004 NSCAA National Coach of the Year. He is 115-45-10 entering Saturday night's match.
The Wildcats will be looking to avenge last year's 6-1 defeat to the Gauchos at the UNLV Tournament in Las Vegas.
Noting the Wildcats
A win over Santa Barbara would not only give the Wildcats their first-ever trip to the NCAA College Cup, it would also tie the school record for most victories in a season with 15. The 2004 Wildcats also won 15 games as they advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Tim Lenahan, the Northwestern's men's soccer program has arrived as a Big Ten and now a national power. The Wildcats are 14-7 this season, giving Lenahan a combined 38-20-4 record over the last three years -- with two trips to the NCAA Tournament. From 1991-2003, NU won just three Big Ten games, which goes to show how Lenahan has turned things around in Evanston. Northwestern has had three of the most successful seasons in its history, going a program-best 15-6-2 in 2004 -- which included the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament -- before turning in another winning season last year (9-7-2) despite a lot of youth and injuries. This year the Wildcats started off 7-1 -- the best start in program history -- and jumped up all the way to No. 14 in the national rankings. It was the highest ranking in program history which came on the heels of a 3-1 win over Ohio State whom the 'Cats had not defeated in 13 years prior. This year's senior class will graduate as the winningest class in the program's history. They have 45 heading into Saturday's match.
Senior Brad North and junior David Roth led a list of four Wildcats honored by the Big Ten Nov. 2 at the 2006 Big Ten Men's Soccer Awards Banquet at the Holiday Inn in Columbus, Ohio. Both North and Roth were named to the all-Big Ten first-team while Carl Pett was named to the second-team. Pett also joined Mark Blades on the all-freshman team.
North, now a two-time first-team selection, is tied for the team lead with eight goals and is second on the team with 18 points. He twice was named the Big Ten's Player of the Week and scored the game-winning goals against Michigan and in the win over No. 24 Northern Illinois in double overtime. He also was named to the National Teams of the Week by College Soccer News, SoccerAmerica.com and TopDrawerSoccer.com after scoring two goals in the win over Ohio State. North was among the leaders in the Big Ten in goals and points. He joins Brad Napper as the only two-time first-team honorees in Northwestern's history and with 27 career goals, he is three away from tying the all-time record of 30 held by Jonathan Hall (1986-89).
After a sub-par year in 2005, Roth rebounded in a big way this season, leading Northwestern with 21 points (8g, 5a) and was among the Big Ten leaders in goals and total points. A second-team All-Big Ten selection last season, Roth was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 11, scoring three goals to help the Wildcats go 2-0 and clinch the championship of the Adidas/Baymont Inn Invitational. He tallied both Northwestern goals in the 2-0 win over Bradley before scoring his third goal of the weekend against Drake in the second half to tie the game. Roth also scored the game-winner in the win over Ohio State Sept. 17 -- the first win over the Buckeyes in 13 years. The Wildcats are 10-1 this season when he records at least one point in goal or assist fashion.
Red shirt freshman Pett led Northwestern and the Big Ten in assists this season with eight and ranked 15th nationally. When Pett was on his game, the Wildcats won -- NU is a perfect 6-0 when he records at least one assist. He assisted on the game-tying and game-winning goals in the win over Ohio State, had two assists in the win over Michigan and also assisted on the game-winning goal in the win over Loyola. He scored his lone goal in the win over Drake at the Northern Illinois Tournament. He is third on the team with 10 points (1g, 8a).
True-freshman Blades established himself early and often in the Wildcat backline this season. In the opening weekend he picked up Lakeside Classic MVP honors as NU defeated Hofstra and Dayton. Blades' quickness, speed and athleticism in the back smothered the opposition's attack throughout both games and continued that trend throughout the season. Blades recorded his first point as a Wildcat Sept. 24 against Penn State when he assisted on North's goal late in the second half. He then tallied his first career goal in the win over Valparaiso. He tallied another assist in the Big Ten opening round match with Penn State.
Probably the most impressive player for NU during the NCAA's has been senior Gerardo Alvarez, who was hobbled by a foot injury for part of the season. He finally broke out of a season-long scoring slump with two goals in the NCAA Tournament win over Cincinnati. He added to his postseason goal total with a long unassisted goal against UNC Greensboro. He is tied for third on the team with three assists. Alvarez, a two-time all-Big Ten selection and the 2003 Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is second on NU's all-time assist list (24), is second in points (78) and second with 27 goals--three away from tying the record of 30 held by Jonathan Hall (1986-89). Alvarez was named to the 2006 Big Ten All-Tournament Team.
Inside the numbers: NU is 12-2 this season when holding opponents under two goals, 10-0 when scoring multiple goals and 9-2 when scoring first. Probably the most devastating of those two defeats was to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament in which the Wildcats led 1-0 all the way up until the 81st minute when PSU tied it and eventually won in double-overtime.
Freshman Eamon O'Neill registered the first points of his career in the win over UC Irvine on Sept. 4 and later notched the game-winner in the victory over Loyola Sept. 27. The Wilmington, Del. native first assisted on Daniel Chille's second half goal to tie the game and later scored the game-winner unassisted to give the Wildcats the victory. O'Neill later added an assist in the big win over Ohio State Sept. 17. O'Neill has two goals and three assists this season and is tied for fourth on the team with seven points. Chille, who has been out with a hamstring injury of late, has two goals and one dish for five points. Geoff Fallon also has seven points this season (2g, 3a) while Drew Ratner has two goals.
Goalkeeper Justin Pines, who has started the last five games for Northwestern in goal, started his first game of the season in the 1-0 double-overtime shutout win over No. 24 NIU on Oct. 27. Pines, who picked up his first win since the 2004 season in the win at UC Irvine, made four saves and held the Anteaters scoreless as the Wildcats came back from a 1-0 halftime deficit. Pines (3-1) then played the entire second half in the win over Drake, holding them scoreless as Northwestern again came back from a 1-0 halftime deficit. Pines has played in a total of 11 games (five starts) this year with 29 saves and allowing just four goals. He started the Big Ten Tournament match against Penn State and picked up his sixth career shutout in the NCAA Tournament win over Cincinnati and came right back with his seventh shutout against Saint Louis in the second round.
There were no push-overs on this year's schedule. Twelve of the 17 teams on the regular-season slate finished last season with a winning record, with six of those teams advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 2005.
Behind two Brad North goals and another one by David Roth, the Wildcats did something Sept. 17 they haven't done in 13 years: beat Ohio State. Northwestern defeated the Buckeyes 3-1 and snapped a 15-match winless streak against OSU. Once again, the Wildcats came back from a 1-0 deficit at halftime -- the third time in four games -- and won. They regrouped at halftime and didn't take long to tie it up as Carl Pett fed a streaking North who fired it past OSU's keeper into the right side of the net six minutes into the half. Five minutes later, Pett fed Roth in a similar fashion, as Roth took the pass and shook his way past OSU's keeper who was charging on the play, and tapped it in for the easy goal and the 2-1 lead. Then in the 63rd minute, Northwestern added an insurance goal when North tallied his second goal of the day with an assist from Eamon O'Neill.
Tim Lenahan's 2006 freshman class was ranked the 21st best recruiting class in the country according to collegesoccernews.com. In addition, two of those incoming freshmen, Eamon O'Neill and Mark Blades, have been named among the "top 100 freshmen to keep an eye on" this season. Indiana was the only other Big Ten school ranked above Northwestern. O'Neill and Blades, both highly recruited NSCAA high school all-Americans, are part of a very talented six-member incoming class. Blades, a Lakewood, Ohio native who led his high school to two state championships, was named the 2005 Ohio Player of the Year after recording 17 career goals and 41 assists. O'Neill hails from Wilmington, Del. where he took his Salesianum High School team to three state championships, recording 69 career goals and 64 assists and was named the Delaware Player of the Year in recognition of his outstanding efforts.
