The 2003 Conference USA Men's Soccer Tournament begins on Thursday at the Mike Rose Complex in Memphis, Tenn. The field of six has been set with Cincinnati and Saint Louis earning the top two seeds and receiving a first-round byes. The Bearcats are the top seed and will face the winner of the USF-Charlotte match, while the Billikens will take on the winner of the UAB-Louisville match. The Cardinals are the No. 3 seed, while the 49ers are the No. 4 seed, the Bulls are the No. 5 seed and the Blazers are the No. 6 seed. Cincinnati's Sam Miller and Saint Louis' Will John have been selected as the Conference USA Men's Soccer Co-Offensive Players of the Week. Bearcat goalkeeper John Adams was tabbed as the C-USA Defensive Player of the Week for the period ending Nov. 9. Read about this and more in this week's C-USA Men's Soccer Notebook.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
CO-OFFENSIVE
Sam Miller, Fr., Midfielder
Cincinnati
Miller's first collegiate goal was the lone score in Cincinnati's 1-0 victory over Marquette to clinch a share of the Conference USA regular-season title for the Bearcats. His score came in the 48th minute when Miller knocked in the game winner off of a rebound of Tim Brown's free kick. A true freshman, Miller has started in 11 out of 18 contests played this season.

Will John, Fr., Forward
Saint Louis
John scored twice, including his team-leading fifth game-winning goal, to lead the Saint Louis to a 3-1 victory at No. 20 UAB. The win helped the Billikens secure a share of their sixth straight C-USA regular-season crown. John is SLU's second-leading scorer this year with 19 points (8 goals, 3 assists).

DEFENSIVE
John Adams, Sr., Goalkeeper
Cincinnati
Adams made four saves to help seal a 1-0 UC win at Marquette and claim a share of the Conference USA regular-season championship, the first in Bearcat annals. He leads C-USA with a 0.76 goals against average, the lowest by any goalkeeper in Cincinnati history.

CONFERENCE USA MEN’S SOCCER NOTES

NEWS AND NOTES

Conference USA Tournament Field Set – The field is set for the 2003 Conference USA Men’s Soccer Tournament, Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 13-16, at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex in Memphis, Tenn.

Cincinnati (10-3-5, 6-2-1) and Saint Louis (12-3-2, 6-2-1) clinched a share of the regular-season championship and are the top two seeds. No. 22 UC will be the top seed based on winning the head-to-head meeting with No. 6 SLU, 4-3, in double overtime on Oct. 18. Saint Louis will be the No. 2 seed and along with Cincinnati will receive a first-round bye. Over the weekend, the Bearcats defeated Marquette, 1-0, in Milwaukee, while the Billikens upended UAB, 3-1, in Birmingham.

USF is the fourth seed and will meet No. 5 Charlotte in Thursday’s first match at 6 p.m. Louisville (11-6-3, 5-2-2) is the No. 3 seed and will face sixth-seed UAB (9-4-5, 4-3-2) in the second game of the tournament on at 8:30 p.m.

Cincinnati will meet the winner of the USF-Charlotte match on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by Saint Louis taking on the winner of the UAB-Louisville contest.

Sunday’s championship match is set for a 2 p.m. start and will be televised on the C-USA TV Network.

Title Holders – By clinching a share of the 2003 C-USA crown, Cincinnati becomes the sixth different team to claim a part of the league’s regular-season title.

Charlotte (1996), Marquette (1997, 2002), Saint Louis (1998-03), USF (1997-98) and UAB (1999) all have won shares of the conference championship.

On A Roll – Saint Louis also made league history by wining a share of the 2003 Conference USA title. The Billikens have either won or shared the last six C-USA crowns.

It also marks the third straight season that SLU head coach DAN DONIGAN has won a league championship since taking over the program three years ago.

In Goal – Cincinnati goalkeeper JOHN ADAMS has been impressive for the Bearcats this season. He owns a 0.76 goals against average, the best in C-USA and the lowest in UC program history.


A Youth Movement – Saint Louis continues to be led by their freshman class. Of the Billikens’ 33 goals, 29 have been scored by their first-year players.

C-USA HONOR ROLL

EVAN HARDING- CHARLOTTE
Harding tallied his second goal of the season to help the 49ers to a 1-1 tie with Memphis and a berth in the Conference USA Men’s Soccer Tournament.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Conference USA will name an Offensive and Defensive Player of the week each week during the 2003 season. Players of the Week are selected by the conference office.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
S2 David Peplinski, Fr., M, SLU
S8 Will John, Fr. F, SLU
Jerson Monteiro, Fr., F, UAB
S15 Matt Kowaleski, Jr., Forward, ECU
S22 Leandro de Oliveira, So. MF, UAB
S29 Simon Bird, Sr., F, LOU
O6 Josh Gardner, Jr., MF, CIN
Luke Rojo, Jr., MF/F, DPU
O13 Will John, Fr., MF, SLU
O20 Justin Lewis, So., F, CIN
Andy Metcalf, So. F, MEM
O27 Marco Terminesi, Fr., F, LOU
N3 John DiRaimondo, Fr., F, SLU
Jerson Monteiro, Fr., F, UAB
N10 Sam Miller, Fr., F, MF, CIN
Will John, Fr. F, SLU


DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
S2 Tony McManus, Sr., D, UAB
S8 Andy Pusateri, Sr., D, SLU
S15 Adam Ubert, Sr, GK, MAR
Martin Hutton, Jr., GK, SLU
S22 Brad Solokowski, Sr., GK, LOU
S29 Adrian Cann, Sr., B, LOU
O6 Jeff Klitzke, Sr., GK, DPU
O13 Nick Gannon, Sr., D, SLU
O20 Mike Timlin, So., GK, DPU
O27 Tony McManus, Sr., D, UAB
N3 Jeremy Drake, Fr., GK, UAB
N10 John Adams, Sr., GK, CIN

C-USA ON TV
The championship match of the 2003 Conference USA Men’s Soccer Tournament will be televised by affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network. The veteran announce team of DON RUSSELL (play-by-play) and BILL McDERMOTT (color analyst) will call all of the action. More details will be released as the championship approaches.

The top-six finishers in the regular season earn a spot in the Conference USA Tournament, Thursday-Sunday, November 13-16 in Memphis.

STATIONS AIRING C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP
Charter Communications Information Network, Ch. 21 – St. Louis (Live)
College Sports Television (CSTV), DirecTV Ch. 610 – (Live)
Comcast Charter Sports Southeast (Live)
Cox Sports Television - New Orleans (Tape Delay on Nov. 17 at Noon CST)
Fox Sports Net Chicago (Tape Delay on Nov. 17 at Noon CST)
Fox Sports Net Florida (Tape Delay on Nov. 17 at 1:00 p.m. EST)
Fox Sports Net South (Live or Tape Delay – Time TBD)
UNC Charlotte Cable Television, Ch. 22 – (Live)
WXIV-TV, Ch. 14 - Greensboro (Live)