Twice last season a Conference USA team defeated the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, as Cincinnati and Saint Louis both defeated then- No. 1 SMU. Three times in the last two years a C-USA team has knocked off the nation's top-ranked team.

Conference USA teams played a total of 41 non-conference matches against teams that were nationally-ranked at some point during the 1998 season. Forty-six percent (41 out of 89) of C-USA's non-conference matches were against nationally-ranked foes.

C-USA had the fifth-best non-conference winning percentage of all Division I conferences at .623 (41-24-4). The only conferences that it trailed were the ACC (.810), Western Athletic (.741), Big East (.700) and Missouri Valley (.667).

Six of Conference USA's nine teams had winning non-conference records, with another at the .500 mark. The only leagues that have more teams with winning records were the WAC (9) and Big East (8) Conferences.

Six Conference USA schools posted at least one victory against a team that was nationally-ranked in 1998.

Seven Conference USA schools have appeared in the NCAA Championship in the last two years, which ties the league with ACC for the most appearances over that span.

The league has produced 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in its four-year history, with two teams advancing to the Final Four.

The teams that comprise C-USA have combined to make 54 NCAA Tournament appearances all-time.

All nine Conference USA teams have defeated at least one nationally-ranked opponent within the last three seasons.

Fifteen C-USA players have earned All-America honors in the league's first four seasons. Four players have earned Academic All-America honors during that time.

Conference USA has placed 33 players on Soccer America's Team of the Week since 1995.

Six Conference USA schools have posted winning records since the inception of Conference USA in 1995. Here's a look at each school's overall record during the first four years of league play:

Senior forward PETER BYARUHANGA became the third Blazer to earn NSCAA All-South region honors last season. He led the Blazers and finished eighth in the conference in scoring with 18 points (7 goals, 4 assists).

UAB has placed at least four players on all-conference lists for six consecutive seasons. The Blazers have had 34 all-conference selections in seven seasons under MIKE GETMAN.

Goalkeeper DAVID CLEMENTE enters his junior season as UAB's career leader in GAA (1.28; 35 goals against in 2,465 minutes). He also ranks third in victories (15) and shutouts (6).

Senior midfielder JOSH BRINKLEY dished out six assists last season (10th in C-USA), which moved him into ninth place on UAB's career assist chart with 11.

Since the inception of Conference USA in 1995, the Blazers have won 48 matches, tied for the second-highest total in the league.

With a record of 11-5-3, the Bearcats earned an at-large selection to the NCAA Championship, the first NCAA trip in school history. Also highlighting last season was a 2-1 win over No. 1 SMU on Sept. 18, the first time that a Bearcat squad had ever defeated the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. UC earned its first national ranking in 1998 and finished the season ranked fourth in the Great Lakes Region.

Senior goalkeeper JAKE WITKOWSKI led Conference USA and ranked 30th in the nation in GAA at 0.89. He played every minute of the season in goal and recorded 62 saves, while allowing just 18 saves.

Senior forward MYRON VAUGHN led Cincinnati in scoring last season with 16 points (7 goals, 2 assists). The Bearcats were 7-0-0 in 1998 when he scored and are 9-0-1 all-time when Vaughn scores. Five of his 11 career goals have been game-winners.

Defender ANDREW KEAN was rewarded for a stellar sophomore season by being named a Third Team All-American by the NSCAA. He became the first men's soccer player in UC history to be named an All-American. Kean anchored a Bearcat defense that allowed the fewest goals in C-USA and also added a pair of goals on the offensive end.

Among the Bearcat recruits expected to contribute immediately are midfielder MICHAEL LOIZZI, defender ANDERS CEDERGREN and midfielder/striker MARCUS MALM . Loizzi led his Carmel (Ill.) High School team to the regional finals all three seasons and was a member of the district, state and regional Olympic Development Program teams. Cedergren joins his brother, Johan, on the field for the 1999 season and may challenge for a starting defensive spot. Malm, a transfer from Wilmington College, is expected to add a scoring spark for the Bearcats.

Thomas Secco takes over the reigns as head coach of the Blue Demons this season. The former head coach at Triton Junior College in River Grove, Ill., Secco compiled a 108-10-2 record in seven seasons and twice his teams participated in the NJCAA National Championship tournament. He also served as the head coach of the Chicago Kickers soccer program from 1984-1991. Besides coaching, Secco is also an English Professor at DePaul.

Senior defender JOE AHEARN was named the Most Valuable Player of the DePaul team last season after starting in 17 games for the Blue Demons. He scored a pair of goals and had one assist while serving as the team captain.

Forward CHRIS GREER was named to the C-USA All-Freshman team after leading the Blue Demons in scoring as a freshman with six goals and two assists for 14 points. What is remarkable about that total is 10 of those points came in games that Greer did not start. He only started nine of DePaul's 18 games. Greer started his career in impressive fashion when he scored two goals in his first collegiate game against Western Illinois.

DePaul has three sets of high school teammates on its roster. Seniors MIKE ANDREWS and RANDALL ZMED played together at St. Viator High School in Arlington Hts., Ill., juniors CARLOS MEJIA and MARCELO DELLAVEDOVA were teammates at Miami Beach (Fla.) High School and senior SID GOSA and junior JOSH MOTZ played with each other at New Braunfels (Texas) High School.

Senior RANDALL ZMED has been a mainstay of the Blue Demon program, starting 46 games of the past three seasons. Off the field, Randall is an accomplished artist. He has a historical mural of DePaul athletics hanging in the foyer of the University's Alumni Hall. In addition, he helped design and paint the Alumni Hall playing floor.

DePaul was certainly no stranger to close matches last season. The Demons played a total of 13 one-goal matches, including four overtime matches. Though DePaul lost 13 matches, 10 of the losses did come by just one goal.

Goalkeeper JEREMY MORALES and forward GEORGE ZABANEH were each named to the C-USA All-Freshman team last season. Morales recorded four shutouts on the season and was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Week on September 7. He finished the season with a 1.52 GAA. Zabaneh led the Cardinals in scoring with seven goals. Three of his goals were game-winners.

Junior midfielders SHAWN FARIA and STUART LANGRISH have each been named to the All-Conference USA third team during their first two seasons at Louisville. Last season, Faria scored three goals and added three assists, while Langrish had one goal and contributed three assists.

The Cardinals handed regular season co-champion South Florida its only loss of the conference season, exploding for four goals in a 4-3 win on September 17. U of L also took the other co-champion, Saint Louis, to overtime, before falling, 2-1.

Louisville's preseason roster features no fewer than six players from Canada, including five from the Province of Ontario. Of the 21 players on the Cards roster, just three hail from the state of Kentucky.

Topping Louisville's incoming class of recruits is forward/midfielder COURTNEY COMMANDER (Brampton, Ontario) and midfielder/back T.J. NEWBURG (Chicago, Ill.). Commander is the two-time MVP of the Ontario Indoor National Championship and played on the Ontario Provincial team. Newburg was an all-state player in Illinois his senior year and finished his high school career with 37 goals and 33 assists.

Forward SEAN RETI was a C-USA All-Freshman team selection last season after starting all 21 games and finishing among the league leaders with 44 shots. He finished second on the team with four goals and a team-high-tying four assists.

Junior defender JEREMIAH BASS has been named to the All-Conference USA third team in each of the last two seasons. One of Marquette's top marking backs, he also played some midfield late last season.

One of the Golden Eagles bigger personnel challenges this season will be finding a replacement in goal for JIM WELCH, who left Marquette holding nearly every goalkeeping record. Among the leading candidates to replace him is GREG GUGLIELMINO, a transfer from Mesa Junior College. He was a two-time NSCAA JUCO All-America nominee and team captain as a senior, when he was an All-ACCAC selection and winner of Phoenix's Inspirational Player of the Year.

Eight of the Golden Eagles defeats last season came at the hands of teams that were nationally-ranked at some point last season.

Marquette will be one of the youngest teams in Conference USA this fall. Just four seniors dot the Golden Eagles roster, while 16 freshmen and sophomores appear on the team.

Richie Grant will begin his first season as head coach of the Tigers this fall. Grant joins Memphis after serving the past four years as head coach of Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn. At Lambuth, he captured back-to-back Mid-South Conference championships and advanced to the NAIA Mid-South Regional Final last fall.

After finishing in seventh place in the regular season, Memphis defeated Saint Louis (1-0) and Marquette (3-0) to advance to the championship game of the C-USA Tournament, becoming the fifth league school in four years to make the title game and the lowest-seeded team to advance to the final.

The Tigers return 10 starters and 18 letterwinners this season. The returning players accounted for 72 percent of the team's goals scored and 76 percent of the team's total points.

Senior forward STEVEN BROOKS scored a career-high 14 goals last season, becoming the first Tiger to score 14 goals in a season since 1988.

Senior goalkeeper BRIAN COVEY is ranked third on Memphis' career chart for saves with 275 after stopping 83 shots last season. He is also ranked second in career GAA at 1.52. Covey recorded three shutouts last year (including two in the postseason). He and defender RYAN SCHWEIGERT have been invited to try out for the Under 23 National Team.

UNC Charlotte will co-host the 1999 College Cup previously referred to as the Final Four. The games will take place on December 10 and 12, with the National semifinals to be played on Friday, the 10th and the championship match slated for Sunday, December 12th at 1:00 p.m. EST. All games will be played at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, and will be televised by ESPN 2.

The 49ers always difficult schedule feature four games against Top 20 foes and seven against teams that played in the 1998 NCAA Tournament. Last season, all six of UNCC's losses and both of its ties came against schools that appeared in the NCAA Tournament and/or were nationally-ranked. Against a similar schedule each season in the 1990's, the 49ers have posted the 20th-best winning percentage in college soccer.

UNC Charlotte was ranked 14th in the nation in scoring last season, netting an average of 2.42 goals per game. The 49ers used a balanced scoring attack with nine different players scoring at least three goals and 13 different players scoring at least once.

Junior goalkeeper JOHN McDONOUGH led Conference USA in saves last season with 85. He finished third in goals against average (1.06) and tied for third in shutouts with four.

Among the 49ers top recruits this season are a pair of national pool players in forward JUAN MUNOZ-AIREY and midfielder NTANDO TSAMBO and a pair of All-North Carolina players in midfielder ROB EVITTS and striker TIM FLAVIN. Munoz-Airey is the all-time leading scorer in the State of Florida with 105 goals, while Tsambo was a four-time all-state selection in Kentucky.

Saint Louis University soccer will return to campus this fall as the Billikens will play at the newly renovated Billiken Sports Center. SLU played five seasons at the Billiken Sports Center earlier this decade and posted an impressive 55-5-1 record.

Three All-Conference USA selections return for the Billikens this season JEFF DiMARIA, JASON MIMS and DOMINIC DaPRA. Those three all ranked among the top four scorers on the 1998 team. DaPra led the squad with 20 points (8 goals, 4 assists), while DiMaria was third with 15 (6 goals, 3 assists) and Mims was fourth with 10 points (1 goal, team-leading 8 assists).

Junior goalkeeper PAUL NAGY posted a 0.82 GAA and had a seven-game unbeaten streak in 13 games before suffering an injury in the Cincinnati match last October 4. He missed the next six matches after having surgery to repair facial fractures before returning for the season's final two outings. Sophomore JOHN POLITIS stepped in the net during Nagy's absence and finished the year with four shutouts and a 0.56 GAA in nine appearances.

Saint Louis signed four players that all scored at least 27 goals during their senior year of high school. Midfielder/forward JACK JEWSBURY (Springfield, Mo./Kickapoo) poured in 59 goals, the ninth-best total ever according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Forward/midfielder JASON COLE scored 30 goals and was named the 1998 Missouri State Player of the Year in leading his Rockhurst (Kansas City, Mo.) club to the state championship. Midfielder/forward LOREN REINHARDT (Prospect, Ky./Trinity) was the MVP for Kentucky's state champions and scored 45 goals, while forward/midfielder NICK WALLS (Milwaukee, Wis.) scored 27 times and earned Wisconsin Player of the Year honors in addition to being a Parade Magazine High School All-American.

The Bulls will be aiming for a fourth consecutive (regular season or tournament) C-USA Championship this fall. South Florida has posted a 18-3-3 conference record over that period while making three straight NCAA appearances.

In his first season at the helm of South Florida, JOHN HACKWORTH earned Conference USA Coach of the Year honors. After a difficult 2-6-2 start against a challenging schedule, Hackworth led the Bulls to wins in 10 of their next 12 matches, including three to win the C-USA Tournament for the second time in three seasons.

Conference USA Player of the Year KEVIN ALVERO returns this fall after becoming the first player in league history to lead in shots (67), goals (19), assists (12) and points (50). He finished 11th in the nation in scoring and also set a new league record for goals (4) and points (10) in a single game.

With 12 goals and 10 assists, senior midfielder BRIAN WALTRIP ranked second in the conference in scoring with 34 points.

Among the new faces on the USF roster this fall, several are expected to make contributions right away. Goalkeeper BUBBY LEUSURE, a transfer from Loyola-Maryland, is expected to be a strong candidate to take over the goalkeeping duties. Junior forward/midfielder MATT CAVENAUGH, a transfer from Wake Forest and freshman forward ANDY CHASE are also expected to have an impact.