NORFOLK, VA—The ODU Soccer Monarchs (13-6-1), champions of Conference-USA travel to Washington, DC for a second round NCAA match-up against eighth seed and 11th ranked Georgetown(12-4-4) Sunday at 1 p.m at Shaw Field. Live stats and a webcast will be at www.GUHoyas.com. Tickets can be purchased at the gate.
The Monarchs, ranked 23rd in the final NSCAA Coaches top 25 are in their fifth straight NCAA Tournament and 11th of the last 13 under Head Coach Alan Dawson (335-140-42), who entered the season as the nation’s 13th winningest active coach.
The Monarchs have won six straight games, and advanced to the second round with a 3-0 victory over St. Francis College Brooklyn in the first round at ODU. Senior forward Sidney Rivera (Hampton, NJ.) scored two goals and junior Ryan Condotta (Keller, TX.) added another in the win. Rivera, the C-USA Tournament Offensive MVP has now scored eight of his nine goals in the last six matches, including four game winners.
THE SERIES: ODU leads 3-2, but the Hoyas defeated the Monarchs in last year’s NCAA second round, 3-0. The Monarchs last win over Georgetown was in 2001, 2-1.
ABOUT THE HOYAS: The Hoyas are 12-4-2 on the season and finished with a mark of 6-2-1 in the BIG EAST to earn the third seed in the BIG EAST Tournament. Georgetown defeated Marquette University, 2-1, in the quarterfinal, but fell to eventual champ Xavier by a score of 1-0 in the semifinals.
Sophomore defender Joshua Yaro was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and
Arun Basuljevic (5 goals) was the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year. Yaro and junior forward Brandon Allen (10 goals/3 assists) were both unanimous First Team All-BIG EAST honorees, while seniors Tyler Rud and goal keeper Tomas Gomez (10 shutouts/0.57 GAA), along with junior Keegan Rosenberry and sophomore Alex Muyl (2 goals/6 assists) were selected to the All-BIG EAST Second Team. Basuljevic and classmate Christopher Lema earned spots on the BIG EAST All-Rookie Squad.
ABOUT THE MONARCHS: ODU is led in scoring by senior forward Sidney Rivera with nine goals. He has four game-winners in the last six matches and is tied for third in C-USA in total goals. Ryan Condotta is second on the team in scoring with 11 points on five goals and one assist, followed by sophomore Jesse Miralrio (Arlington, TX.) with 10 points on four assists and three goals. Graduate student Christian Schroeer (Petershagen, Germany) leads the team in assists with five and also has two goals.
Red-shirt sophomore goalkeeper Alex Tiesenhausen (Graz, Austria) has a 1.06 goals against average with five shutouts. He leads C-USA with 87 total saves along with a .798 save percentage.
VS. NATIONALLY RANKED TEAMS: ODU is 3-3 this year. Beating No. 4 Charlotte twice as well as New Mexico. Overall, the Monarchs have played eight teams that have been or are currently in the NSCAA Coaches Top 25. They include North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, UNC WIlmington, South Florida, Charlotte, UAB and New Mexico.
ODU ALL-C-USA SELECTIONS
Nate Foglesong – MF –Second Team
Alex Tiesenhausen – GK – Third Team
Ryan Condotta – MF Third Team
Jesse Miralrio – F Third Team
Tyler Edwards – F All-Freshman
C-USA Men's Soccer All-Tournament Team
Offensive MVP - Sidney Rivera, Old Dominion
Defensive MVP - David Macsicza, Old Dominion
Ryan Condotta, Old Dominion
Jesse Miralrio, Old Dominion
The winner of Sunday’s match will play the winner of the Penn State/Syracuse match on Nov. 30.