Nov. 9, 2006
NORFOLK, VA - The Old Dominion University Soccer Monarchs (13-5-1) opentheir fifth straight NCAA tournament appearance Saturday afternoon at 1:00 against Big South Champion Winthrop (15-3-3) at the ODU Soccer Stadium. The winner will play at the 14th seed University of North Carolina on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Winthrop comes into the tournament as one of the nation's top scoring teams averaging 2.43 goals per game, while only allowing (17) 0.78. Leading Winthrop issophomore forward Daniel Revivo, the Big South Tournament MVP with 13 goals and ten assists along with junior forward Saidi Isaac, the Big South Player-of- the-Year who has 17 goals with six assists. Sophomore goalkeeper Patrick Mitrovitch has a 0.78 goals against average which includes eight shutouts.
Winthrop defeated VMI, Liberty and High Point in the Big South tournamentWhile ODU defeated UNC Wilmington, then lost to Hofstra in the semi-finals. CAATournament champion Hofstra, regular season champion Towson, along with George Mason and ODU all received bids to this year's NCAA tournament.
The Monarchs are led by first team All-CAA forward Edson Elcock (Brooklyn, NY.), All-CAA midfielder Jared Kent (Marietta, GA.) and CAA Defender of the Year David Horst (Pine Grove, PA.) . Elcock led ODU with 11 goals and six assists for 28 total points which leads the CAA. Jared Kent is tied with Elcock for third in the CAA in assists with six.
Seven of ODU's regular season opponents earned bids to this year's tournament. The four non-conference selections were Maryland, a numberfive seed, UNC Greensboro, Rhode Island and Harvard. From the CAA isTowson, a number 15 seed, Hofstra and George Mason.
Tickets for the match are $7.00 for adults and $5 for students, senior citizens,military and faculty and staff. The first 200 ODU students will be admitted free compliments of the ODU athletic department.