University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Hosts Northwestern With College Cup On The Line
December 4, 2008 | Men's Soccer
Dec. 4, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - With a trip to the 2008 College Cup on the line, No. 13 seed North Carolina will host Big Ten opponent Northwestern in an NCAA Men's Soccer Championship quarterfinal match at 2 p.m. Saturday at Fetzer Field.
Print-at-home tickets are available for advance purchase at TarHeelBlue.com.
The Tar Heels (13-7-1) advanced Sunday, Nov. 30 with a 3-2 overtime victory over UIC, while the Wildcats (15-4-3) scored a 1-0 win over fifth-seeded Akron to reach the round of eight.
Saturday's winner will advance to face No. 1 seed Wake Forest or No. 8 seed South Florida in a national semifinal Friday, Dec. 12 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.
"It's wonderful that we can play at home again, especially this time of year," said Carolina head coach Elmar Bolowich, who has guided the Tar Heels to the quarterfinals four times since 2000. "We don't have to travel to Chicago or Michigan State or places like that. The bracketing has been very good, the games have gone a little bit in our favor and hopefully this will continue on the weekend."
Saturday's match with Northwestern marks North Carolina's fifth trip to the quarterfinal round and first since 2005. The Tar Heels have made four of their five trips to the final eight under Bolowich - all since 2000.
The UNC-NU game is the fourth NCAA men's quarterfinal played at Fetzer Field, and the Tar Heels hold a 1-2-0 record in the previous three games.
With a victory Saturday, UNC can move on to its third College Cup in program history. The Tar Heels also advanced to the final four in 1987 and 2001 and won the 2001 national title.
Just as they have all season, Carolina's seniors stepped up to lead the Tar Heels to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over UIC in the third round. With Carolina trailing by a goal with just over three minutes remaining the Flames, captain Michael Callahan tied the match with an unassisted goal in the 87th minute, and Brian Shriver set up Garry Lewis with the game-winner in the 95th minute. Shriver assisted on two goals to give the senior class six of the eight points in the UIC victory.
Shriver leads Carolina with 31 points on 13 goals and five assists, while Callahan and Lewis are two of the eight Tar Heels with 10 or more points this season. UNC has outscored its opposition by a 45-28 margin.
Carolina has won two straight in the NCAA Tournament after carrying a five-game losing skid into the postseason. Three of the Tar Heels losses over this stretch came against fellow quarterfinalists Wake Forest and Maryland, the top two seeds in the NCAA tourney.
"We were not far off," said Bolowich. "The bad streak was just that the results did not come, but actually we didn't play so poorly. We played pretty well against Maryland in the regular season at Maryland and in the ACC Tournament. We were just not fortunate enough to get the results or score one more goal than the opponents. It was just a matter of time. "
Northwestern has yielded only 12 goals all season, while scoring 28. Sophomore forward Matt Eliason leads the Wildcats with 25 points on 12 goals and an assist. Senior Geoff Fallon tallied NU's game-winner against Akron.
North Carolina and Northwestern have never met in men's soccer. The Tar Heels and Wildcats did not share any common opponents this season.
