UMass and Ohio State Square Off

Minutemen Look to Continue Historic Run

December 14, 2007

By Nick Williams

What: Men's College Cup Semifinal
Who: UMass vs. Ohio State
Where: SAS Soccer Complex, Cary, North Carolina
When: Friday, Dec. 14 -- 7 p.m.

CARY, N.C. -- Interviews with ESPN? A press conference with the national media? A live televised tilt against fifth-seeded Ohio State?

It's been quite the whirlwind for the UMass men's soccer team, especially considering that the team started 2-4 and was considered a preseason longshot to just advance out of the Atlantic-10, nevermind to the final four of the College Cup.

The UMass men's soccer faces No. 5 Ohio State in the College Cup Semifinals Friday. (Photo credit: UMass Athletics)

"I think it’s a lot of excitement, kind of shock," said sophomore Bryan Hogan, the Minutemen's leading scorer. "I don’t think anyone realized how big it was until we walked into the stadium and saw the field and everything. It was a lot of excitement.”

Hogan and the rest of the team arrived in North Carolina Wednesday. They spent the majority of Thursday at N.C. State's SAS Soccer Complex, the sight of Friday's semifinal and Sunday's final, interviewing with ESPN, conducting a walk-through on the field and holding a press conference with the local and national media.

It's already been quite the trip for the Minutemen, who kick off against No. 5 Ohio State Friday night at 7 p.m. on ESPNU, but head coach Sam Koch wants to make sure one thing's clear: his team isn't satisfied just being here.

"We’re not here just to be here, we’re here to keep playing," Koch said. "We’ve been talking about it all season about how we want to practice next week, we want to practice the next day, and this group really enjoys going out to training and being with each other. We’re not here for one game, we’re here for two.”

Koch's side rebounded from a slow start this season to post a 17-7-1 record, the most wins in school history, while taking down rival URI in the conference championship before stringing together a miraculous string of victories against Boston University, No. 1-seed Boston College, Central Connecticut and Illinois-Chicago.

Now they have another test, perhaps their toughest yet, against the Buckeyes (16-3-5), who received a first-round bye, played all three of their tournament games at home, and are coming off of a 4-0 pasting of Bradley this past Sunday.

Still, if there's one thing UMass is used to this season, it's playing the underdog.

"I think we’ve just come together as a team," said goalkeeper Zach Simmons. "We’ve built character and we’ve really built on the success that we’ve had, especially in the A-10, with conference play and the tournament. We came together in our time in Dayton (Ohio) where we won the A-10 championship. I think we’ve built on that and just carried that momentum and the quality of play that we brought there on to the tournament. It’s taken us pretty far and we hoping to keep it going tomorrow.”

UMass is coming off Sunday's 2-1 win over Illinois-Chicago thanks to goals from Stuart Amick and Mike DeSantis and five saves form Simmons.

Hogan and Mark DeSantis lead UMass with 18 and 14 points, respectively while Simmons has been the keeper of record every game this season, posting a 0.78 goals-against average and a .848 save percentage.

Ohio State is led by Xavier Balc who has eight goals and thirteen assists for a team high twenty-nine points. Andrew Magill has thirteen points (5 g, 3 a) and Eric Brunner has 12 points (6 g). Goalkeeper Casey Latchem, who has a goals-against-average of 0.72, allowing just 18 goals in 24 games, notched two shutouts in the last three postseason games.

Check with Soccer New England all weekend long for exclusive coverage of the 2007 College Cup live from North Carolina.

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