GW, AU Draw Each Other in NCAA Soccer By Brian Straus Special to The Washington Post Tuesday, November 19, 2002; Page D02 The NCAA Division I men's soccer committee presented the Washington area with an intriguing championship bracket yesterday, pairing Atlantic 10 champion George Washington with American in a first-round match Saturday that will send the victor to second-seeded Maryland. The announcement was part of a big day for the Terrapins (17-4), who captured the ACC title on Sunday despite having no seniors on the roster. Late yesterday, the new national rankings had Maryland No. 1 for the first time since 1999. The announcement also ended a tense day for American (12-6-2), which had to sweat through a 2-4-2 slide at the end of the season and an afternoon of silence from the committee before being placed in the final first-round game revealed yesterday. "It started getting a little touchy," American Coach Todd West said. Virginia (15-6) was included in the tournament for the 22nd consecutive year. The Cavaliers, who have not advanced beyond the quarterfinals since 1997, earned the sixth seed and will stay in Charlottesville to play the Duke-William & Mary winner. ACC regular season champion Wake Forest is the tournament's top seed. Despite American's recent struggles and a shootout loss in the Patriot League semifinals, West said the Eagles' strong schedule and wins over conference champions Boston College, Penn State, Virginia Commonwealth and Loyola (Md.) earned his team an invitation. In addition, last fall's run to the round-of-16 raised the program's profile. "The teams that play, we've done pretty well against," West said. "Unfortunately, we're changing and taking our out-of-conference games more seriously, but in our conference, and I'm not badmouthing anyone, a lot of teams sit back and defend and if you don't find the goal it's pretty frustrating. I think the soccer people on the committee talked about that." Assured of an automatic bid, the Colonials gathered at a restaurant in downtown Washington to celebrate their first berth since 1989. Led by the attacking tandem of Arnar Johannsson and Matt Osborne, who have combined for 35 goals, GW (13-8) has won eight of its past 10 games. "We're hitting form at the right time and the players are playing with a lot of confidence," Colonials Coach George Lidster said. Maryland will host the first-round winner on Nov. 27. Cavaliers Get Set The Virginia women's team will play at Penn State in an NCAA round-of-16 match on Sunday. The Cavaliers (13-6-2) have won six of their past seven games.
As I posted on the happy hour thread, Todd West, an old friend of mine now the head man at AU was a United assistant a few years back. Todd started off coaching at Lake Braddock High our alma mater, and bartending at Kilroy's also our alma mater. He's worked his way up thru the ranks to take the head job at AU and has done a great job. He has good knowledge of the game and alot of passion. I think his team has picked up on his personality and taken it to the tournament. Good luck to the Eagles. I hope to see them take on the Terps.
Another story from AU http://www.american.edu/athletics/msoc/articles/2002-03/11-18_msoc_ncaas.htm Info for Saturday's game at AU AU-GW 1 pm Reeves Field American University Directions http://www.american.edu/athletics/directions.html Tix $10 adults $5 kids GO EAGLES! K
The 11/27 game at MD looks good but I wonder what time it is. The day before Thanksgiving's traffic is brutal. I remember it was $5.00 at AU back in '97 when I last attended NCAA tournament soccer. $10 isn't too bad and Reeves Field is a fun place to watch a game. Bill