Nov. 12, 2012
NORFOLK, VA--The Old Dominion University men's soccer (11-3-2)squad received an at-large bid to the 2012 NCAA College Cup and will host the Retrievers of UMBC (11-4-5) out of the America East Thursday night at 7 p.m. This is the Monarchs third straight and ninth overall trip in the last 11 years to the NCAA's under head coach Alan Dawson.
Tickets are 5.00 for adults, 4.00 for senior citizens, ODU faculty/staff,military and students. The gates will open at 6 p.m.
"We thought we had a pretty good idea that we would be in. We are excited, it's a good draw. UMBC is a very good team, and Thursday night's going to be a real good game. We are looking forward to it, and very happy to be playing at home. You are going to have to play good teams all along the way, and we know we are going to be in for a real good fight come Thursday night. We've got solid senior leadership and a lot of experience from five seniors who have basically started all four years. I think we have had time to reflect, rest, get healthy both mentally and physically."- ODU Head Coach Alan Dawson.
The Monarchs come into the field led by seven All-CAA performers which include junior Tim Hopkinson with 10 goals, five assists for 25 points, senior co-captain Chris Harmon with nine goals, six assists for 24 points and senior Jordan LeBlanc with five goals, three assists for 13 points. All-CAA Gideon Asante had two goals and three assists , while Yannick Smithassisted on five goals and scored three. Harmon led the team with four game winning goals.
On defense, senior Victor Francoz, a two-time All-CAA selection made 59 saves and seven shutouts with a 0.92 goals against average along with All-CAA defender Alex De John.
The Monarchs and UMBC have met twice before, in 1978 in a 1-1 tie and 2003, ODU won, 2-0. Old Dominion is 6-10-2 overall since 1989 in the NCAA's, reaching the second round nine times and the third round twice (2006 and 2007).
The Monarchs are 3-1 against teams selected to this year's field. ODU defeated 12th seeded Creighton, Winthrop, and Northeastern, while losing only to Drexel. The Maryland contest was postponed because of bad weather.
The winner of the contest will face the tournament's No. 9 seed, the tar Heels of North Carolina Sunday in Chapel Hill. The 2012 NCAA men's Soccer Championship will culminate with the College Cup semifinals and finals, Dec. 7 and 9 in Hoover, Alabama.