C-USA Adds Three Affiliate Members for Men's Soccer

Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky announced today that the league’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to invite Florida International University, the University of Kentucky and the University of South Carolina to be affiliate members of the league for men’s soccer beginning with the 2005 season.

FIU, Kentucky and South Carolina will join current members East Carolina, Memphis and UAB, as well as programs from incoming members Marshall, SMU, Tulsa and UCF. The teams will play a nine-match round-robin schedule.

Conference USA men’s soccer should remain among the strongest leagues in the nation. The three affiliate members have combined for 17 postseason appearances since 1994. Memphis and UAB currently sit atop the 2004 C-USA Men’s Soccer standings and both rank among the Top 20 in the nation, as ranked by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). SMU is third in the NSCAA/adidas National Rankings, while FIU, South Carolina and Tulsa have each been ranked nationally throughout the season. Presently, nine of the 10 programs have posted winning records during the 2004 season.

Kentucky (10-4-3) has been an associate member of the Mid-American Conference since 1995, earning four NCAA Tournament berths during that span. The 2004 Wildcats earned their fourth regular season MAC championship in five years. FIU (6-5-0) holds the top spot in the Atlantic Soccer Conference, where it has been a member since 2000. The Golden Panthers earned three NCAA bids with the ASC and four bids in the 1990s as an independent, including when the team advanced to the 1996 NCAA championship match. This will be South Carolina’s first conference affiliation in a decade when it spent two years (1993-94) in the Metro Conference. In the 27-year history of the program, the Gamecocks (9-5-1) have made 16 NCAA appearances, ten since 1990, and have advanced to the Final Four on two different occasions (1988, 1993).