Charlotte 49ers’ soccer players say they’re focused on Radford, not top-seed Wake Forest
The Charlotte 49ers say they will concentrate on the match at hand – and not a possible second-round match against the NCAA men’s soccer tournament top seed – when they open play Thursday night with a first-round match at home against Radford.
The 49ers (10-5-3) are making their fifth straight NCAA appearance and 11th overall. Charlotte reached the national championship game in 2011. Radford (14-3-2) made NCAA appearances in 1999 and 2000, losing each time in the first round.
“We’ve always done a good job of focusing on the next game at hand, and we’ve always played as if we’re playing in a Cup final,” Charlotte junior midfielder Max Rodriguez said.
Thursday’s match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Transamerica Field.
The Charlotte-Radford winner will play Sunday at Wake Forest, the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 seed.
Radford finished first in the Big South Conference’s regular season, but lost to High Point in the tournament’s second round. Charlotte was second in Conference USA during the regular season, but fell to Marshall in the tournament’s opening round.
The teams last played in August 2014, with Charlotte winning 2-1 at home.
The 49ers are among six Carolinas schools playing first-round matches Thursday:
▪ Furman (8-5-5) visits South Carolina (11-7-1).
▪ Big South tournament champion Winthrop (10-6-2) travels to Elon (13-5-1).
▪ Coastal Carolina (12-2-4) is home against North Florida (10-6-1).
Three other Carolinas schools – all from the ACC – earned first-round byes and are among the NCAA tournament’s top seeds:
▪ Wake Forest (15-2-2) will host the Charlotte-Radford winner in one of Sunday’s second-round games.
▪ Second-seed Clemson (15-2-2) entertains the Winthrop-Elon winner.
▪ No. 5 seed North Carolina (14-1-3) is home against the Coastal Carolina-North Florida winner.
The Furman-South Carolina winner will travel Sunday to 15th-seed Cal-Santa Barbara (13-6-2).
The tournament semifinals and finals are Dec. 11 and 13 at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan.
This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Charlotte 49ers’ soccer players say they’re focused on Radford, not top-seed Wake Forest."