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Virginia, Maryland, Notre Dame, New Mexico, bound for 2013 College Cup

Ryan Zinkhan

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

There’s a distinctive ACC feel to the 2013 College Cup as three schools from the storied Atlantic Coast Conference earned a trip to PPL Park in Philadelphia.

The final four teams in the 2013 Division One Men’s Soccer NCAA Tournament includes third-seeded Notre Dame, fifth-seeded Maryland, eighth-seeded Virginia, and Conference USA’s New Mexico, who are seeded seventh in the tournament.

Arguably the upset of the quarterfinal round came at the expense of No. 2 seed Washington, who had been one of the top teams in the national all season. The Lobos of New Mexico traveled up to Seattle and walked away with a hard-fought 1-0 victory. Lobos midfielder Ben McKendry scored the lone goal of the game in 37th minute with a tap-in.

Virginia earned a return to the College Cup for the first time since 2009 with a 2-1 victory against UConn, who knocked UCLA out on penalties in the third round of the tournament. Ryan Zinkhan put the Cavaliers up a goal in the 12th minute but the visitors from Storrs, Conn. scored six minutes before halftime through Kareem Morad.

However, it was the Cavaliers who would prevail as freshman stud Jordan Allen sent home an acrobatic overhead kick in the 63rd minute.

Maryland, the lone returning team from last year’s College Cup, took down one of the top teams in the nation, California, on the road in Berkeley. The game was a rematch of an early season matchup between the two schools, one that saw Cal walk away with a 3-2 overtime win. This time, the Terrapins had the last laugh as freshman Michael Sauers scored a long-range effort in the 86th minute to send the visitors to Philadelphia with a 2-1 victory.

Finally, Notre Dame booked their first-ever trip to the College Cup when they knocked out Michigan State from the tournament with a 2-1 victory at home. Evan Panken and Patrick Hodan each scored on either side of halftime for the Fighting Irish and though the Spartans cut the deficit in half in the 59th minute through Jay Chapman, Notre Dame pulled out the victory.

 

What did you think of this weekend’s action? Surprised to see Cal and Washington knocked out? Think the ACC is easily the strongest conference in the nation?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Go Lobos! It’d be awesome for New Mexico to make it past Notre Dame and then get matched up in the championship game with Maryland for a rematch of the 2005 championship game. Hopefully their incredible defense continues to carry the Lobos through the College Cup.

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  2. Wait. Where are those 3 top seeded teams from the Big 12? They are at home while the ACC has three teams in College Cup! Maryland is hitting its stride and will have a great crowd in Philly! Maryland brings home the Cup again this year!

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  3. That being said, I gotta say that many of the articles that I have thought to be pretty well written as of late have had “DAN KARELL” in the by-line.

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  4. Watched the Cal game. The Maryland goal was completely against the run of play. Cal was dominating for some of the first half, and all of the second. That game winning shot was pretty amazing though. You gotta love soccer!

    Ps. Cal’s #9, Stephano Bonomo, is an amazing player. I don’t think I have ever seen a striker that works so hard on both sides of the ball.

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    • You gotta be kidding, if you think Cal dominated any part of that game you must be on some west coast good stuff. You couldn’t find a way to penetrate a defense made up of 3 freshman and a soph., who all didnt play the first time in Sept. Maryland is a dominating team with great leadership that refuses to lose. looking forward to Virginia.

      Reply
      • OK, “dominating” is subjective, but if you don’t agree that the game winner was against the run of play, we are done here.

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