Visit the Men's Championship Page for more detailed information on the Tournament, plus continued updates, links, and more.

Click here to view Live Streaming Video and Stats, courtesy of the G-MAC and Cedarville University.

MEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW

On Friday, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference will host its first-ever Men’s and Women’s Soccer Conference Championship Tournament games, as the 2012 Men’s Soccer Championships begin at Cedarville University with a semifinal match-up between #3 seed Trevecca Nazarene University and #2 seed Cedarville University. The 2012 Women’s Soccer Championship begins with a semifinal game between #3 seed Ursuline College and #2 seed Cedarville University, hosting by Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Ohio.

Men’s Championship Schedule

Semifinal - Friday, November 2, 2012 - 5:00 PM (Eastern)
#3 Trevecca Nazarene University (color uniforms) vs. #2 Cedarville University (white uniforms)

Championships - Saturday, November 3, 2012 - 3:00 PM (Eastern)
Winner of Semifinal (color uniforms) vs. #1 Urbana University (white uniforms)

Men’s Championship Preview

With an undefeated regular-season, Urbana University (9-7-1 overall and 3-0-0 conference) earned the top seed and the automatic bye into the finals on Saturday, November 3. With just three conference teams competing this year, the Men’s tournament will feature one semifinal game between #3 Trevecca Nazarene (8-8, 1-2) and #2 Cedarville (15-2-1, 2-1) for the right to face Urbana for the G-MAC title.

Earlier this season in the conference opener for Cedarville, the Yellow Jackets defeated the Trojans, 1-0 on the road in Nashville on a game-winning goal by Zachary Harris in the 85th minute of the contest. The game was TNU’s final conference game, dropping them to 1-2 with their only win coming over Kentucky Wesleyan, 3-2.

The winner of the semifinal match will have to rebound from a regular-season loss to Urbana. TNU dropped its regular-season contest to the Blue Knights 1-0 at home, while Cedarville lost 2-0 on the road to UU. In the two games, all three goals were scored by different players (Tyler Wason and Mark Whittle against Cedarville, and Yves Nzwanga against TNU). However, the games were highlighted by the defense, which produced six shutout wins - including all three of their G-MAC wins.

Coming into the tournament, Cedarville seems to be peaking at the right time winning 7 of its last 8 games, while Urbana is 3-5 over its last eight, though has won two of its last three with the Blue Knights only loss coming against ranked Saginaw Valley State University. TNU enters the weekend 2-6 over its last eight games, but ended the season with a win over Covenant College (Ga.), to stop a four-game slide.

Players to watch this weekend from each team include the conferences leading scorer Tyler Wason (Urbana), who has a G-MAC high 11 goals and 26 points. Jonathan Baskin (Trevecca Nazarene) scored 10 goals and recorded 21 points to rank second, while his teammates Matt Raines (19 points) and Richie Reichenberger (18 points) rank third and fourth. Nzwanga rounds out the top-five with 15 points (seven goals and an assist).

Cedarville’s scoring is much more balanced, led by Justin Santoro’s five goals. However, Christian Alexander, Steve Ellis, and Timmy Waller each have four goals. On the season, the Yellow Jackets out-scored their opponents 42 to 11, with 12 players having two or more goals scored and 17 roster players scoring a goal this season. TNU had 12 players score at least one goal, while Urbana had six players score all of its goals. Despite leading the conference in scoring, almost half (26 of 53 goals) for TNU came in three games: a 8-0 win over Concord, an 11-0 win over Hiwassee, and a 7-0 win over Brescia.

A case can be made for all three teams to win the first-ever Men’s Soccer Championship, from Urbana being the top seed, to Cedarville having home field advantage, to Trevecca leading the conference in scoring. Urbana is undefeated in conference, has the #1 seed and the free pass into the finals.

However, time off isn’t always a good thing as Cedarville will look to take advantage of its home field (grass - Urbana plays on turf at home), and also ride the wave of momentum playing its third game in seven days (if CU wins, the championship match will be its fourth game in eight days). For TNU, the underdog comes in losing two conference games by a minimal score of 1-0 each time. So for a team that scored 53 goals on the season, the Trojans will look to get that game-winner to go their way early.

For all three teams, they all have the ability to score once and hold their opponents down and escape with the 1-0 win, and of course don’t be surprised by overtime or even a shoot-out as the combined to play in eight overtime games this season, with Urbana playing in five (2-2-1 record).

Men’s Championship Information

- LIVE STREAMING AND STATS:

Live streaming of all games, courtesy of Cedarville, can be viewed at G-MACsports.com. You can access the broadcast portal (contains live stats as well) by clicking on the Live Streaming button on the main page, or the Live Broadcast link under the Multimedia tab in the main drop down menu

- TICKET INFORMATION:

Children/Students - $1.00          Adults - $5.00          Seniors - $3.00
Children 5 years old and under admitted free.

ALL FANS must purchase a ticket - NO team pass list.
Yellow Jacket Field gates will open at least 45 minutes before game time.
No artificial noisemakers are permitted during competition. Signs, placards, or banners that are insulting, offensive, or clearly in poor taste will be removed from the event.

- DIRECTIONS TO CEDARVILLE:

From the North - I-75 south to I-70 east; travel approximately 24 miles to the Springfield/Cedarville
exit (Rt. 72); travel south 11 miles on Rt. 72 to the campus. (Approx 38 minutes from downtown Dayton.)

From the South - I-75 north to Cincinnati; merge with I-71 north to the Sabina/Jamestown exit 58
(Rt. 72); follow Rt. 72 north to Cedarville. Proceed through Cedarville three blocks to the campus.
(Approximately 1 hour 17 minutes from downtown Cincinnati.)

From the East - I-70 west to the Cedarville/Springfield exit 54 (Rt. 72); travel south 11 miles on Rt. 72
to the campus. (Approximately one hour from downtown Columbus.)

From the West - I-70 east to the Cedarville/Springfield exit 54 (Rt. 72); travel south 11 miles on Rt. 72
to the campus.

From US-35 - US-35 through Xenia; Rt. 42 (north) to 72 (north) which is Main Street. Proceed through
Cedarville, three blocks to the campus.