C-USA Men's Soccer Tournament To Be Held In St. Louis

CHICAGO - The 2000 Conference USA Men's Soccer Tournament will be played in St. Louis, Mo. and will be hosted by Saint Louis University, based on the results of Friday night's SLU-South Florida match.

Saint Louis captured its third consecutive regular season championship and first outright C-USA regular season title since 1995 with a 4-3 win at South Florida. Sophomore forward Jack Jewsbury scored the game-winner in the 87th minute for the Billikens, who erased a 3-2 deficit in the final 16 minutes of play. The Saint Louis win eliminated South Florida from tournament competition and clinched berths for both Cincinnati and Louisville.

The top six regular season finishers advance to participate in the tournament, the second year that a six-team format has been in place. Play opens on Thursday, November 9, with the No. 6 seed playing the No. 3 seed at 5:00 p.m. CST and the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds facing each other at 7:30 p.m. CST. The winner of the No. 3-No. 6 match will advance to play the No. 2 seed in the first semifinal at 5:00 p.m. CST on Friday, November 10, while the winner of the No. 4-No. 5 matchup will advance to play the host and No. 1 seed Billikens in the second semifinal on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST. The championship match will be played on Sunday, November 12 at 2:00 p.m. CST. All games will be played at Robert Hermann Stadium on Saint Louis University's campus.

The No. 2 through No. 6 seeds will be determined following the result of the UAB at Louisville match on Sunday. The other five teams joining Saint Louis at the tournament will be UAB (4-1-2 in conference play), Charlotte (5-2-1), Memphis (5-3-0), Cincinnati (3-2-3) and Louisville (3-3-1).

The winner of the tournament will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. UAB is the defending tournament champion.