DU Men's Soccer Makes NCAA Tournament

(above) Click on photo to enlarge

The NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Committee announced today the bracket for the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The University of Denver Men's Soccer team will face UC-Santa Barbara in the NCAA Tournament.

Cal-Santa Barbara won the NCAA men's soccer National Championship in 2006. Former DU player Sam Garza is the leading scorer for Cal-Santa Barbara with 9 goals and 6 assists. Kickoff is 8 P.M. (MT) on Thursday night.

Santa Barbara, California
First round - Denver at UC Santa Barbara (Thur. 8 PM MT)
Second round - Winner at No. 6 California (Sun. 2:30 PM MT)

6 comments:

dggoddard said...

When was the last time a DU team besides the ski team got hot and pulled off an upset in an NCAA Tournament game against a higher ranked team?

Maybe the hockey team in 2004?

We're overdue.

puck swami said...

Probably the DU women's soccer team upsetting Kentucky in the first round of the NCAAs back in 2006 or maybe women's golf finishing fifth overall in 2008 (?) or perhaps Gymnastics winning the NCAA regional here in Denver in 2007 (?) and finishing 12th at the National finals.

Congrats to the this year's men's soccer team who squeaked into the NCAAs at 9-6-4, probably as a payback for the DU women's team, who were 19-2-2 and were clearly screwed out of a deserved berth this year.

This year, the DU men face UCSB, who are led by Texan Sam Garza, who transferred from DU last season. Should be interested....

Anonymous said...

I'm no soccer fan, but how in the hell can a team finish 19-2-2 and not be in the tourney? Did everyone else finish 21-0-2?

-- chase

Puck Swami said...

The Women's snub was egregious. When you win nearly 90 percent of your D I games, you are tourney material whatever league you play in. The committee blew it.

Anonymous said...

Storyline to follow for the DU-UCSB match: Sam Garza, former Pioneer, is now a starter at striker for Santa Barbara and is considered one of the best in the country after having left DU. He transfered schools after sustaining an injury while with the Pioneers that kept him out of the U-20 World Cup.

So...revenge match for the Pioneers? A little added incentive for Garza? Either way, seems like there's just a notch or two more drama in this pairing than in many other first round contests.

dggoddard said...

Three of DU's biggest non-hockey recruits in recent years were probably Sue Kim, Kimberly Kim and Sam Garza.

Golfer Sue Kim dropped out of DU after one quarter. Golfer Kimberly Kim went pro after one season. Soccer player Sam Garza was one of the top Fresmen in the country for DU in 2008 and then left after getting hurt in 2009.

It just goes to show you that recruiting these budding superstars is just half the battle. Keeping them in school is just as important.