Boston College Athletics
Eagles Host Big Green In NCAA Tournament's First Round
November 18, 2009 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 18, 2009
Game #21
The 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship - First-round match
Boston College (12-8-0) vs. Dartmouth (10-6-1)
Date
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Time
7 p.m. EST
Site (Location)
Newton Campus Soccer Complex (Newton, Mass.)
Real-Time Stats
Live in-game stats will be provided through CBS College Sports Gametracker via bceagles.com and NCAASports.com.
NCAASports.com
For coverage of the 2009 NCAA Division I Championship, including the bracket and game results, visit NCAASports.com.
BC Twitter Updates
Live in-game news updates on Boston College soccer are available through Twitter at: Twitter.com/BCSportsNews.
Series Info
Boston College and Dartmouth will meet for the first time this season and for the first time since NCAA Tournament play last November when The Big Green advanced past Boston College on penalty kicks, 4-2, after playing 110 minutes of scoreless action. Thursday will mark the 16th meeting in the all-time series that dates back to 1982. The Eagles are 5-7-3 against the Big Green and are undefeated in the last five meetings (4-0-1).
Last Meeting
November 26, 2008: Boston College and No. 16 seed Dartmouth played 110 minutes of scoreless action before the host Big Green earned a 4-2 edge in penalty kicks to advance in NCAA Men's Soccer Championship second-round play before 661 fans at Burnham Field. BC converted twice - on penalty kicks Nos. 2 and 3 - while the first four Dartmouth shooters scored to advance their team to the Round of 16 of the tournament. BC finished with a 14-8 advantage in shots, including a 7-6 edge in shots on goal. The visiting Eagles attempted three shots in the final 10 minutes of overtime.
First Touch
Boston College will host Dartmouth College in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 at 7 p.m.
How We Got Here
Boston College won seven-of-eight games to close the regular season, advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and earned one (of 27) at-large berths to the NCAA Championship.
BC Against Ranked Opponents
BC is 5-4-0 in nine games against opponents ranked within the nation's top 25 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).
Date Opponent Result, Score Sept. 11 at #7 Maryland L, 2-0 Sept. 18 at #14 Boston University W, 1-0 Sept. 25 #11 Duke W, 2-0 Oct. 2 at #24 NC State L, 2-1 (2OT) Oct. 17 at #2 North Carolina W, 2-1 Oct. 25 at #12 Virginia L, 2-0 Oct. 30 #2 Wake Forest W, 1-0 Nov. 11 $ #15 Duke W, 1-0 (OT) Nov. 13 $ #20 NC State L, 1-0$ - ACC Tournament (WakeMed Soccer Park; Cary, N.C.)
BC and the NCAA Tournament
The 2009 NCAA Tournament marks the third straight season and ninth overall the Eagles have earned an NCAA Championship berth. Boston College has a 4-8 all-time record in tournament play. Head coach Ed Kelly has led BC to eight (of its nine) NCAA Tournament appearances, earning berths in 1990, 2000, `01, `02, `04, `07, `08 and `09. Former coach Ben Brewster led BC to its first tournament appearance in 1982.
Current Eagles and the NCAA Tournament
BC has scored three goals in three NCAA Championship games over the last three seasons and sophomore Edvin Worley has had a hand in two of them. Worley, of Jenson Beach, Fla., tallied two points - one goal and one assist - in leading Boston College to a 2-0 win over Colgate in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship.
Young Guns
Of the 12 Boston College players who have registered more than 10 starts through (20 games) in 2009, seven are freshmen - M Kyle Bekker (20 starts), B Stefan Carter (14 starts), F/B Kevin Mejia (13 starts), B Sacir Hot (13 starts), GK Justin Luthy (18 starts), M Colin Murphy (17 starts), and F Charlie Rugg (18 starts) - and three are sophmores - B Patrick Chin (19 starts), B Conor Fitzpatrick (19 starts) and M Edvin Worley (13 starts). The upperclassmen include junior co-captain M Karl Reddick (18 starts) and senior co-captain F Mor Avi Hanan (10 starts).
Four Players Earn All-ACC Honors
Four Boston College men's soccer players - midfielder Kyle Bekker, goalkeeper Justin Luthy, midfielder Karl Reddick and forward Charlie Rugg - earned 2009 All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors. Luthy and Reddick both captured All-Conference second-team recognition while Bekker, Luthy and Rugg garnered All-Freshmen Team accolades. Luthy, a Dublin, Ohio native, was one of only three freshmen to be named to either the first- or second-team all-conference squads, joining Duke defender Andrew Wenger and Virginia forward William Bates. Reddick, a junior from Pottstown, Pa., played in 17 regular-season games. The 6-foot, 165-pound midfielder recorded two assists and 27 shots. An ACC All-Freshmen Team pick in 2007, Reddick has played in 59 career contests and has registered 53 starts. Bekker, an Oakville, Ontario native, played in and started all 19 regular-season games and tallied nine points - two goals and five assists. Rugg, a Roslindale, Mass., resident, has registered a team-high 17 points on six goals and five assists in 19 games. BC led the ACC in All-Freshmen Team picks.
The Captains
Senior forward Mor Avi Hanan and junior midfielder Karl Reddick are Boston College's 2009 team captains. Avi Hanan is a native of Kiriat Ono, Israel who has played in 54 career games and has recorded 20 points - seven goals and six assists. Reddick is from Pottstown, Pa., and was an ACC All-Freshmen Team pick in 2007 and an All-Conference second-team honoree this fall.
In Goal
All-Atlantic Coast Conference Second-Team honoree and All-Freshman Team choice Justin Luthy has registered 18 starts this fall. The 6-foot, 165-pound goalkeeper has eight shutouts in 18 games. He is 11-7-0 overall with a 0.71 GAA and a .854 save percentage. In league action, Luthy went 5-2-0, finishing among the conference's leaders in several statistical categories (league games only) - save percentage (.878; first), shutouts (4; tied-first), shutouts per game (0.57; first), saves (36; second) and goals against average (0.70; third). Junior Ayotunde "Tunde" Ogunbiyi recorded three appearances, including consecutive starts against Holy Cross (Oct. 21) and Virginia (Oct. 25), and is 1-1-0 with a 1.39 GAA and a .727 save percentage.
The Coach
Ed Kelly, recently inducted in the New England Soccer Hall of Fame, is in his 25th season as a head coach and 22nd year (1988 - present) as head coach of Boston College. He has compiled a career record of 245-178-44 and is 205-165-38 during his tenure at the Heights. BC's all-time winningest soccer coach and the 2007 ACC Coach of the Year, Kelly has guided the Eagles to eight NCAA Tournament appearances (1990, 2000, '01, '02, '04, '07 and `08), highlighted by a berth in the Elite Eight in 2002, and five conference tournament championships. In 2007, BC's third year as a member of the ACC, Kelly guided the Eagles to a 7-0-1 mark in conference play, the league's regular-season title and the conference tournament championship. Kelly has earned National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA/adidas) Regional Coach of the Year honors three times; earned New England honors in 2000 and 2002 and South Atlantic Recognition in 2007. He has earned Big East Conference Coach of the Year recognition four times (1989, '90, 2000, and '02) and captured the ACC Coach of the Year honor in 2007.
The Coaching Staff
Marco Koolman, a highly successful head coach who guided Franklin Pierce University to the 2007 Division II National Championship, is in his first season as an assistant coach. Koolman came to Boston College from Rindge, N.H., where he guided the Franklin Pierce men's soccer program for the last nine seasons (2000-08) during which it earned six consecutive berths in the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament, made two trips to the tournament's Final Four (2005 and 2007) and captured the school's first NCAA Division II Men's Soccer national championship. Additionally, Franklin Pierce captured three straight Northeast-10 Conference regular-season titles from 2005-2007 and won one conference tournament title (2006) under Koolman's direction.
Sergio Saccoccio, who set goaltender standards in several statistical categories during his four-year career (2002-05) at Northeastern, enters his fourth season as a coach and his first at BC. Saccoccio spent the last three season's as an assistant coach on the Huskies' staff prior to his arrival at Boston College. A four-year starter and three-time All-New England honoree, he established career records for minutes (7,380) and saves (324). He concluded his collegiate career ranked second on the school's career goals against average list (1.25).
