C-USA AT NCAA SWEET 16, ELITE EIGHT
For the third time in the last five years, Conference USA has had a team advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals. Should No. 2 Saint Louis defeat No. 3 Stanford, it will move on to the 2001 College Cup semifinals against either No. 8 North Carolina or Fairleigh Dickinson. The College Cup semifinals and finals are slated for Dec. 14 and 16 at Crew Stadium in Columbus.

Here is a look at the other quarterfinal matches scheduled for this weekend: Fairleigh Dickinson is at North Carolina Saturday at 1:00 p.m., while St. John's visits SMU Saturday at 8:30. On Sunday, the fourth and final spot will be determined when Clemson visits Indiana at 2:00 p.m.

Conference USA is quite familiar with the Elite Eight field. Cincinnati and Saint Louis each played North Carolina in the regular season, and Memphis and TCU each faced SMU. Louisville and Indiana also met during the regular season, and Clemson held off UAB in double overtime in order to advance to the quarterfinals.

For the second time in five years, two Conference USA men's soccer teams advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. C-USA was one of five leagues nationally with at least two teams in the Sweet 16.

SLU WINS SECOND STRAIGHT C-USA TOURNEY TITLE
DIPSY SELOLWANE, the nation's leading goal scorer, scored just 33 seconds into the Nov. 18 Conference USA Tournament championship match, and Saint Louis rode that momentum to a 2-0 victory over sixth-seeded Marquette at USF Soccer Stadium. This is the second straight tournament title for the 16-1 Billikens, and their third in the last five years. Marquette, which upended the second seed (UAB) and third seed (South Florida) to advance to its first title match since 1996, drops to 12-8-1.

"That won the game for us, getting that early goal," Saint Louis coach Dan Donigan said. "Dipsy is one of the most dangerous players in the country, but Marquette is an excellent team. To their credit, they played a great game."

Despite the outcome, Marquette posted a 13-12 shot advantage and a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks.

"Apart from the first 33 seconds, when we were asleep and we froze when Dipsy's shot hit the post, we played well," Marquette coach Steve Adlard said. The Golden Eagles are the first sixth seed to advance to the C-USA title match since the tournament format went to six teams in 1999. "It was just a mental letdown. And Saint Louis has so many good seniors that it knows how to defend a one goal lead."

Selolwane had his second straight two goal match and sixth consecutive game-winning goal when he took an assist from Mike Hill at the 73:51 mark.

The Billikens swept the all-tournament awards. Selolwane was the Most Valuable Forward, BRAD DAVIS was Most Valuable Midfielder, MARTY TAPPEL was Most Valuable Defender, and goalkeeper JOHN POLITIS (four saves) was Most Valuable Goalkeeper.

DID YOU KNOW?
Marquette's SEAN RETI is the first Conference USA player since South Florida's Jeff Cunningham (1995-97) to earn first-team all-league honors three straight years.

THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM
Saint Louis senior forward DIPSY SELOLWANE was named to the Nov. 18 Soccer America Team of the Week. That marks the third time this season that Selolwane has been honored, as he joins former South Florida star KEVIN ALVERO as the only players in Conference USA history to receive Soccer America's top weekly award three times in the same season.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
Memphis' SEAN FRASER is not only Conference USA's career goal scoring leader (45), but he also holds the single-game records for goals (five vs. Lipscomb, Nov. 7) and points (11 vs. Lipscomb, Nov. 7). In addition, South Florida's GABRIEL SALGADO tied the league's single-game assist record with four against Memphis on Oct. 28.

MOST GOALS
5 Sean Fraser, MEM vs. Lipscomb, 11-7-01
4 Sean Fraser, MEM vs. Lipscomb, 10-24-00
4 Chris Greer, DPU vs. Memphis (ot), 10-17-99
4 Kevin Alvero, USF vs. Marquette, 10-14-98
4 Jeff Cunningham, USF vs. Vanderbilt, 9-7-97
4 Mike Mekelburg, USF vs. Flaa Southern, 11-6-96
4 C. Thompson, DPU vs. Fla. Atlantic, 10-21-95

MOST ASSISTS
4 Gabriel Salgado, USF vs. Memphis, 10-28-01
4 Martin Rey, UAB vs. DePaul, 9-24-00
4 Jeff Cunningham, USF vs. Fla. Southern, 11-6-96

MOST POINTS
11 Sean Fraser, MEM vs. Lipscomb, 11-7-01
10 Sean Fraser, MEM vs. Lipscomb, 10-24-00
10 Kevin Alvero, USF vs. Marquette, 10-14-98
CONFERENCE USA MEN'S SOCCER NOTES


C-USA AWARDS

First-Team All-Conference USA
F: Jason Cudjoe, South Florida
F: Sean Fraser, Memphis
F: Dipsy Selolwane, Saint Louis
MF: Brad Davis, Saint Louis
MF: Mike Hill, Saint Louis
MF: Sean Reti, Marquette
MF: Jeff Thwaites, South Florida
D: Adrian Cann, Louisville
D: Jason Cole, Saint Louis
D: Marty Tappel, Saint Louis
GK: John Politis, Saint Louis

Second-Team All-Conference USA
F: Jack Jewsbury, Saint Louis
F: Flavio Monteiro, UAB
F: Martin Rey, UAB
MF: David Beck, Saint Louis
MF: Nelson Mata, UAB
MF: Marin Pusek, UAB
MF: Justin Stralka, Memphis
D: Steve Lawrence, Marquette
D: Brantley Spellman, UAB
D: Jared Vock, South Florida
GK: Lucas Mackanos, Charlotte

Third-Team All-Conference USA
F: Simon Bird, Louisville
F: Juan Munoz-Airey, Charlotte
F: Lars Thorstensen, Memphis
MF: Nick Baker, TCU
MF: Mike Kirchoff, Saint Louis
MF: Bryan Godfrey, Marquette
MF: Gabriel Salgado, South Florida
D: Shane Carew, Charlotte
D: Stephen Lewis, Memphis
D: Bubba Garcia, UAB
GK: Clint Baumstark, UAB
GK: Troy Perkins, South Florida

All-Freshman
(No position restriction)
Clint Baumstark, UAB
Chris Lee, Marquette
John Liersemann, Cincinnati
Devin Matthews, Louisville
Mira Mupier, Charlotte
Rogerio Oliviera, UAB
Wiremu Patrick, Cincinnati
Luke Rojo, DePaul
Brandon Streicher, South Florida
George Sheppard, Charlotte
Jared Vock, South Florida

Freshman of the Year
Clint Baumstark, UAB

Defensive Player of the Year
Marty Tappel, Saint Louis

Player of the Year
Dipsy Selolwane, Saint Louis

Coach of the Year
Dan Donigan, Saint Louis

NSCAA ALL-REGION HONORS
All-Midwest First Team
Dipsy Selolwane, Saint Louis
Brad Davis, Saint louis
Marty Tappel, Saint Louis

All-Midwest Second Team
Sean Fraser, Memphis
Jack Jewsbury, Saint Louis

All-Midwest Third Team
Mike Hill, Saint Louis
Jason Cole, Saint Louis
John Politis, Saint Louis

All-South First Team
Marin Pusek, UAB

All-South Second Team
Jason Cudjoe, South Florida
Troy Perkins, South Florida
Brantley Spillman, UAB

All-South Third Team
Martin Rey, UAB
Jeff Thwaites, South Florida

All-Great Lakes Second Team
Sean Reti, Marquette
Adrian Cann, Louisville

CONFERENCE USA MEN'S SOCCER NOTES


AROUND C-USA...

CHARLOTTE
Charlotte closed its season with a 2-2 tie against Cincinnati and a 4-1 loss to Saint Louis at the Conference USA Tournament. Freshman MIRA MUPIER was the team's leading scorer with nine goals on the season. Sophomore goalkeeper LUCAS MACKANOS earned second team All-Conference USA honors. Juniors forward JUAN MUNOZ-AIREY and defender SHANE CAREW earned third team All-Conference USA honors. Mupier and midfielder GEORGE SHEPPARD earned All-Conference USA freshman team honors.

CINCINNATI
Fifth-seeded Cincinnati battled fourth-seeded Charlotte to a 2-2 tie in the first match of the Conference USA Tournament on Nov. 15. However, the 49ers advanced via penalty kicks. Cincinnati is just the third team in league history to record four ties in a season. Freshman JOHN LIERSEMANN finished fifth in the league with six assists.

DE PAUL
DePaul ended its season with a 4-1 loss at Memphis on Nov. 10. PATRICK VYNKE had the Blue Demons' goal, while JASH CHAVERO had eight saves.

EAST CAROLINA
East Carolina defeated No. 15 UAB, 2-0 in the Nov. 9 regular season finale for both teams. This marks the first time since 1997 that East Carolina has defeated a Top 15 team. BRIAN DEUTSCH had both goals, while R.J. MARVINNEY recorded six saves in the shutout.

LOUISVILLE
Louisville and TCU battled through two rain delays before the Horned Frogs prevailed, 2-1, on Nov. 11. TCU posted a 23-9 shot advantage, as GEORGE ZABANEH had the Cardinals' lone goal. SIMON BIRD is third in the league in goals (11) and fifth in points (23).

MARQUETTE
Marquette became the first No. 6 seed to advance to the Conference USA Tournament final (under the six-team format). The Golden Eagles lost to top-seed Saint Louis, 1-0. MU ended the season by defeating three of the top five teams in the league (Cincinnati, South Florida and UAB). SEAN RETI is just the second player in league history to earn first-team all-league honors three years in a row.

MEMPHIS
Memphis closed its season with a 4-1 win over DePaul on Nov. 10. LARS THORSTENSEN had two goals and an assist. SEAN FRASER added a goal and two assists and broke several school records in the process, including the single-season records for points (42) and goals (18) and the Tigers' all-time points total with 109, a record that had stood untouched for 11 years. The Edmonton, Alberta, native will go down as the school's second all-time leading scorer with 45 goals and finished his four-year career credited with 19 assists.

SAINT LOUIS
No.2 Saint Louis meets No. 3 Stanford in the NCAA quarterfinals on Friday in Palo Alto. Should the Billikens advance to the College Cup semifinals on Dec. 14, they will face the winner of the North Carolina-Fairleigh Dickinson quarterfinal match. SLU leads the all-time series with the Cardinal, 3-0-1, which includes a 2-0 victory during the 1999 season. Saint Louis is 4-1-0 on the season and has won its last eight matches overall. DIPSY SELOLWANE's 25 goals tie Conference USA's single-season record and is the third-best single-season total in school history. Selolwane's 54 points are fifth on the school's single-season scoring list and match the second-best total in league lore. BRAD DAVIS is the eighth player in school history to post double digit goals (10) and assists (14) in the same season. Goalkeeper JOHN POLITIS is the Billikens' career GAA leader (0.58).

SOUTH FLORIDA
South Florida made its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last six years, falling to No. 11 Penn State in triple overtime, 1-0. The Bulls advanced to the second round with a 2-1 victory over Akron. JEFF THWAITES and JASON CUDJOE each scored 10 goals for the Bulls this season, while Thwaites led the team with 26 points.

TCU
TCU and Louisville endured two rain delays before the Horned Frogs prevailed with a 2-1 victory in the Nov. 11 season finale for both teams. DUSTIN SITAR had the game-winning goal for TCU, while Horned Frogs' two-sport star NICK BROWNE finished the season as the team's points leader (13). Browne is also TCU's football placekicker and leads the football team in scoring with 57 points.

UAB
UAB suffered a 3-2 double overtime loss to Clemson in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Dec. 2. UAB has advanced to the NCAA Third Round twice in the last three years and is now 4-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. All four losses have come in overtime. For the first time in UAB history, three players were named to the NSCAA All-South Region team. Sophomore MARIN PUSEK was named to the first team, with sophomore BRANTLEY SPILLMAN (second team) and MARTIN REY (third team) also recognized. Rey's 14 goals this season are the third-best single-season total in school history. His 33 points are fifth in the single-season record book, as are his 27 career goals and 69 career points. The 27 goals are also tied for eighth on Conference USA's career list.

C-USA ON THE WEB
For the latest Conference USA news, check out the league's official web site: www.c-usasports.com.

MEDIA TEAMLINK
Conference USA and its member institutions will offer media information via e-mail and fax through Pivotal Communications. The fax on demand system is intended for media use only. You may access the Fax On Demand directory from www.mediateamlink.com