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The Charlotte 49ers are tied with Louisville for the scoring lead in the NCAA men's soccer tournament with seven goals in three games.
But the 49ers' attacking prowess tells only half the story of how they've reached their quarterfinal matchup against third-seed Connecticut (19-3-2) on Sunday at Morrone Stadium in Storrs, Conn.
Unseeded Charlotte (16-4-2) has allowed just two goals, including a 1-0 shutout of defending-champion Akron last Sunday. And the Zips featured one of the country's top scorers in Darren Mattocks, who entered the game with 21 goals.
But Mattocks came away with nothing against Charlotte's tight defense, suffering the same fate of Furman's Coleton Henning (seven goals this season) and Alabama-Birmingham's Babayele Sodade (13) in the 49ers' first two tournament games (both 3-1 victories).
"We just have a dogged, disciplined, collective-defense approach now," said Charlotte coach Jeremy Gunn, whose team must now prepare for another top scorer in UConn's Mamadou Doudou Diouf.
"He's got a great name," said Gunn of Diouf, a sophomore forward from Senegal who leads the Huskies with 13 goals. "And he's really had a great season. But our team has done a great job of stopping great players."
Diouf will face a 49ers defense - led by senior fullbacks Charles Rodriguez and Isaac Cowles - that Akron coach Caleb Porter described as "layered."
"What he was referring to was that a defense can get stretched against a team like Akron that passes the ball so well," said Gunn. "That gives them more time and space to play. But when (Mattocks) was receiving the ball, he couldn't find those gaps in our defensive layer between the defenders and midfielders."
Diouf leads a Huskies team that is no stranger to the late rounds of the NCAA tournament. UConn is a three-time NCAA champion (most recently in 2000) and has now made the Elite Eight 11 times.
The Huskies - one of three teams from the Big East (along with Louisville and South Florida) still alive in the tournament - are also tough defensively. UConn has 16 shutouts this season.
The winner of the Charlotte-UConn game will face the winner of Saturday's game between South Florida and Creighton on Dec. 9 in the College Cup in Hoover, Ala. The other side of the bracket has Saturday games between St. Mary's at top-seeded North Carolina and No. 13 UCLA at No. 12 Louisville.
