Tar Heels Host Dolphins To Open NCAA Play
Nov. 24, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 13 national seed North Carolina hosts upstart Jacksonville Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Fetzer Field in an NCAA Men's Soccer Championship second-round game. After winning the Atlantic Sun tourney, the Dolphins (12-8-1) advanced to meet the Tar Heels (11-7-1) with a 4-3 overtime win at Louisville last Friday. Tickets for the match are available for purchase at TarHeelBlue.com. The winner of Tuesday's meeting will advance to take on the winner between No. 4 seed Michigan State and UIC this weekend. Carolina is making its 16th NCAA championship appearance and it owns a 17-14-0 record in the postseason. The Tar Heels are making their 13th postseason trip - and ninth in 10 years - under head coach Elmar Bolowich, who is 13-11-0 in NCAA Tournament play. The Tar Heels are 11-7-0 in all-time NCAA Tournament action at Fetzer Field, where they went 7-2-0 this season. Senior All-ACC forward Brian Shriver paces five Tar Heels with 10-plus points this season. His 13 goals equal the most by a Tar Heel since 2002, while his 29 points are the most since Ben Hunter tallied 31 in 2005. Shriver, who has four game-winners this year, has posted three multi-goal games this season, including a four-goal outburst against East Tennessee State Sept. 27. Sophomore midfielder Cameron Brown, who has 10 points on three goals and four assists, has scored in two of the last three games for the Tar Heels, who are third in the ACC with 2.16 goals per game. The Dophins have outscored the opposition by a 38-33 margin on the season. Senior midfielder Ramak Niakan Safi leads the team with 22 points on 10 goals and two assists. Freshman defender Nurdin Hrustic scored the game-winner in overtime at Louisville.
The Tar Heels are unbeaten in five all-time meetings with Jacksonville with a 4-0-1 mark. The teams last met in 1991 with Bolowich's squad claiming a 1-0 victory in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Tar Heels have outscored the Dolphins by a 22-4 margin. The Dolphins last played at Fetzer Field in 1980. Carolina is looking to snap a single-season record five-match losing streak Tuesday. |