DePaul University Athletics
Men's Soccer Closes Regular Season
10/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S SOCCER
CHICAGO - With the Red Division standings still up in the air and all eight teams in the hunt for the six tournament spots, the DePaul men’s soccer team travels to Louisville on Wednesday before hosting Villanova in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
Entering league play on Tuesday night, the Blue Demons sit in third place in the Red Division with 14 points. Louisville is fourth with 13 points and Villanova is tied for fifth with 11 points. St. John’s holds the top spot with 20 points followed by USF at 19 points. Syracuse and Cincinnati are tied for seventh with 10 points apiece, just a point out of tournament play.
DePaul is 3-1-2 in its last six matches, including consecutive wins over No. 11/10 USF, Cincinnati and Loyola-Chicago. The Blue Demons played No. 4/5 St. John’s to a 0-0 tie on Saturday. Overall, the team is 6-5-4 and the Blue Demons hold a 4-3-2 record in BIG EAST play. The Blue Demons are the defending BIG EAST Red Division champions.
Louisville is 9-5-2 overall and 4-4-1 in the BIG EAST. The Cardinals are ranked No. 20 in this week’s Soccer America top 25. The NSCAA poll will be released later on Tuesday.
Noting the Blue Demons: DePaul is now 4-0-4 in the last eight overtime matches dating back to last season... the team 0.50 goals against average is sixth in the NCAA rankings... the Blue Demons are 4-0-1 in their last five games against ranked opponents at Wish Field... the five-match unbeaten streak (4-0-1) from Sept. 28-Oct. 15 is the longest in the Craig Blazer era... all six of Steffen Vroom’s career goals have been game-winners... Alex Mangan has scored 12 goals in 36 career matches... eight of his 12 career goals have been game-winners... he is tied for 19th all-time with 25 points (12G/1A)... in 70 career matches, Brian Visser has played in 6,353 of a possible 6,571 minutes in the net... his totals account for just under 97 percent of the minutes played in goal in the last three-plus seasons... the shutout against Loyola was the 25th of his career... DePaul is 31-17-7 in the last six-plus seasons at Wish Field.
BIG EAST Improvement: DePaul has improved in each of its three BIG EAST campaigns. The 2005 squad totaled seven points on a 2-8-1 record before the 2006 team finished sixth in the Red Division with 12 points on a 4-7-0 record. A year ago, the Blue Demons were picked to finish eighth in the preseason coaches poll and surprised the entire BIG EAST by winning the Red Division with 21 points and a 7-4-0 league record.
Through nine games in 2008, the fourth year with BIG EAST membership, DePaul is 4-3-2 for 14 points and third place in the Red Division standings.
Looking at Louisville: The Cardinals enter Wednesday’s game at 9-5-2 overall and 4-4-1 in the BIG EAST... Louisville is ranked No. 14 in last week’s NSCAA Coaches poll and No. 20 in this week’s Soccer America top 25... they are in fourth place in the Red Division, just a point behind the Blue Demons... Colin Rolfe leads the attack with 11 points on five goals and one assist... Ryan McDonald has totaled 10 points on four goals, two assists while goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux has played every minute in the net and holds a 0.95 goals against average... head coach Ken Lolla is in his third season at Louisville. The Series: Wednesday is the 18th all-time meeting between the two programs... the Cardinals hold a 9-7-1 advantage with DePaul taking four victories in the last five meetings... last season saw the Blue Demons on the positive side of a 2-1 score at Wish Field.
Checking on Villanova: The Wildcats enter the final two matches of the regular season with a 3-4-2 record for 11 points and a tie for fifth in the Red Division... overall, Villanova is 6-8-2 and host Syracuse on Wednesday... Michael Seamon has a team-high 10 points on three goals and four assists... Sean Mergenthal adds three goals for six points... goalkeeper Chris Bresnahan has a 1.01 goals against average while playing all 1,508 minutes in goal this season... head coach Tom Carlin is in his first season at Villanova. The Series: Saturday is the fourth meeting between the two programs... Villanova holds a 2-1-0 lead.
Honors Times Four: Following a combined two game-winning goals and an assist in wins over USF and Cincinnati, junior forward Steffen Vroom earned NSCAA National Player of the Week and BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week honors in addition to being named to the Team of the Week by both Soccer America and CollegeSoccerNews.com. Vroom scored the game-winner in the 69th minute to lead DePaul over No. 11/10 USF on Oct. 7 before assisting the first goal and scoring the second in the 42nd minute on Oct. 11 in the 2-1 victory over the Bearcats.
Vroom is tied for the BIG EAST lead with four game-winning goals this season and all six of his career goals have been difference-makers in DePaul victories. The BIG EAST honor is a first and the two Team of the Week selection mark the second time in his career that he has been named to both of the weekly national teams. He was named to the Team of the Week by Soccer America and CollegeSoccerNews.com in 2007 after scoring the game-winning goal in DePaul’s win over Cincinnati in the BIG EAST Championship First Round.
Marquette Invitational Recap: The Blue Demons finished second in the four-team Marquette Invitational with three players earning All-Tournament Team recognition. DePaul’s 1-1-0 record for three points was second to Penn with four points (1-0-1). Willy Lara, John Kornfeld and Steffen Vroom were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Steffen Vroom scored in the 23rd minute against Columbia to lead DePaul past the Lions, 1-0. The Blue Demons outshot Columbia, 13-5, while Brian Visser was credited with one save in the shutouts. DePaul followed the win with a 2-0 loss to Penn. The Blue Demons had chances as Penn was able to thwart a penalty kick opportunity in the 63rd minute and a DePaul shot hit the crossbar in the 78th minute. DePaul outshot the Quakers, 12-7, and held a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks.
Preseason Picks: The Blue Demons were picked to finish fourth, and picked up two first-place votes, in the Red Division by the league’s 16 coaches. Connecticut was selected to win the Blue Division while USF was picked as the Red Division preseason favorite. O’Brian White from Connecticut was named the preseason Offensive Player of the Year while USF’s Yohance Marshall received the Defensive Player of the Year nod and DePaul’s Brian Visser was the pick for preseason Goalkeeper of the Year. Visser is the first DePaul player to be named a conference player of the year honoree.
Blazer In Eighth Season: Head coach Craig Blazer is in his eighth season with DePaul. He holds a career record of 49-82-15 in his seven-plus seasons. In the last six-plus years under Blazer, the Blue Demons have posted a 31-17-7 record at Wish Field. Last season the Blue Demons went a program-best 9-1-0 at Wish Field with wins over No. 2 Connecticut and No. 21 Louisville.
2008 BIG EAST Championship: The semifinals and championship of the 2007 BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Championship will take place in Tampa, Fla., on the campus of the University of South Florida on Nov. 14 and 16. The first round and quarterfinal matches will be hosted by the higher-seeded team on Nov. 5 and Nov. 8. The champion receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship.
Wish Field Openers: DePaul’s season-opening match at home against Valparaiso marked the second straight year beginning the season at Wish Field, but just the second time overall since the 2004 campaign. Since 2000, Sunday’s match was just the third home game to begin a season. The Blue Demons started the 2004 season with a 2-0 win over Loyola-Chicago at Wish Field. A year ago, DePaul opened the season with a 2-0 victory against Jacksonville at Wish Field.
DePaul hosts nine matches at Wish Field this season after posting a school-record 9-1-0 mark last year. The Blue Demons defended the home turf in dominating fashion as they allowed just three goals in the 10 home matches and scored a total of 13 times. A 1-0 win over No. 2 Connecticut highlighted the home-field slate in 2007 while DePaul also dispatched No. 21 Louisville in Lincoln Park.