Copyright 2015; Wilmington University. All rights reserved. Photo by James Jones.
NEWARK, Del. - -Tuesday features the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Semifinals at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, Conn., with the top seeded Wilmington University men's soccer team taking on fourth seeded Chestnut Hill College at 12:00 p.m.
The Wildcats have been a part of the CACC Tournament in every season they have been a part of the NCAA Division II ranks (2004). Overall, the Wildcats are 6-8-3 in the CACC Tournament and are looking for their first CACC Tournament Championship since the 2007 season. The Wildcats have only won the CACC Tournament Championship once, reaching the CACC Tournament Championship match twice, including last season's appearance.
Tickets/Admission for CACC Tournament:
Adults: $6.00
Children, Senior Citizens, and Students with ID: $3.00
Children under the age of three: Free
Links to Follow the CACC Tournament:
Boxscore vs. Goldey-Beacom: http://athletics.wilmu.edu/sports/msoc/2015-16/boxscores/20151102_13on.xml
Live Stats vs. Chestnut Hill: http://www.sidearmstats.com/post/msoc/
Video vs. Chesnut Hill: http://collegetvticket.com/schedule
Scouting the No. 1 Wilmington University Wildcats:
The Wildcats earned the No. 1 seed for the CACC Tournament for only the second time in program history and the first time since 2009. The Wildcats were ranked as high at No. 22 in the NSCAA Division II National Poll this season, as well as high as No. 3 in the NSCAA East Region Poll.
Clifford Nwechefom leads the team and is second in the CACC with 16 goals and 35 points. Lance Berry is second in the CACC with 11 assists while also scoring 11 goals to sit in third place with 33 points. Defensively, Frank Hall leads the CACC with a .852 save percentage, a 0.59 goals against average, and only allowing eight goals. He has also secured seven shutouts this season, tying the program record for a single season.
As a team, the Wildcats are first in the CACC with 51 goals on the year, 41 of which came against CACC opponents. The offense scores on 18.6 percent of their shots, 20.6 percent against CACC opponents. The Wildcats are also tops in the CACC with 45 assists and in earning 94 corners.
Scouting the No. 8 Goldey-Beacom College Lightning:
The Lightning defeated Holy Family, 3-0, to get into a tie with the Tigers with 15 points, while also holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. But the Lightning still needed help to get into the CACC Tournament for the first time since 2009. All the right moves continued to fall in favor of the Lightning at the end of the week, as Nyack lost to Post, 4-3, in double overtime on Friday. Their fate was sealed when Caldwell snuck away with a 4-3 victory over Georgian Court on Saturday morning, securing the eighth seed for the Lightning.
The Lightning are riding a two-game winning streak, defeating Bloomfield, 1-0, on Saturday, October 24 before defeating Holy Family, 3-0, on Thursday. The last time the Lightning lost was on October 20 at the WU Athletics Complex to the Wildcats.
Manuel Berto leads the Lightning with six assists, ranking him tied for third in the CACC. Goldey-Beacom has used 14 different players to record a point this season, led by Omar Hernandez's nine points (4G, 1A). Rerom Delys is tied with Hernandez for the team lead with four goals and is second with eight points. Chahin Aghrim also has eight points (2G, 4A) for the Lightning.
Suhail Bismilla has seen the majority of time in goal for the Lightning, going 7-10 with three shutouts. He's allowed 34 goals while averaging a 2.02 GAA on the year. He's made 66 saves and carries a .660 saver percentage.
As a team, the Lightning are sixth in the CACC with 28 goals, and eighth in the CACC with 18 assists. 120 of their 257 have been on goal, ranking third in the CACC.
Wilmington in the CACC Tournament:
2004 (0-1): #5 Caldwell def. #4 Wilmington, 3-1
2005 (0-1): #3 Felician def. #6 Wilmington, 2-1 (OT)
2006 (0-1): #3 Post def. #2 Wilmington, 1-0
2007(1-0-1): #2 Wilmington def. #3 Caldwell, 1-0 (OT); #2 Wilmington tied #4 Holy Family 1-1, Wilmington wins CACC Championship, 5-3, in PK Shootout).
2008 (0-1): #4 Post def. #5 Wilmington, 1-0
2009 (1-0-1): #1 Wilmington def. #8 Goldey-Beacom, 2-0; #1 Wilmington tied #5 Bloomfield, 0-0 (Bloomfield advances, 4-2, in PK shootout)
2010 (0-1): #5 Post def. #4 Wilmington, 2-1 (OT)
2011 (0-1): #7 Nyack def. #2 Wilmington, 4-0
2012 (1-1): #5 Wilmington def. #4 Bloomfield, 3-2; #1 Post def. #5 Wilmington, 1-0
2013 (1-0-1): #4 Wilmington def. #5 Concordia, 3-0; #4 Wilmington tied #1 Post, 1-1 (Post advances, 4-2, in PK shootout)
2014 (2-1): #6 Wilmington def. #3 Concordia, 2-0; #6 Wilmington def. #2 Dominican, 2-1 (2OT); #1 Philadelphia def. #6 Wilmington, 1-0
Overall: 6-8-3
Season Records vs. CACC Tournament Participants:
#1 Wilmington University Wildcats (13-4, 10-2 CACC)
#2 Post University Eagles (11-5-1, 9-3 CACC): 2015 – W, 2-0;
#3 Dominican College Chargers (7-9, 7-5 CACC): 2015 – L, 1-0;
#4 Chestnut Hill College Griffins (7-6-2, 6-4-2 CACC): 2015 – W, 6-1;
#5 Philadelphia University Rams (8-5-4, 6-4-2 CACC): 2015 – L, 1-0 (2OT);
#6 Bloomfield College Bears (8-6-2, 6-5-1 CACC): 2015 – W, 4-3;
#7 Concordia College Clippers (8-6-1, 6-5-1 CACC): 2015 – W, 2-0;
#8 Goldey-Beacom College Lightning (7-11, 5-7 CACC): 2015 – W, 5-0;
2015 CACC Men's Soccer Tournament Game Schedule:
Quarterfinals (Monday)
#1 Wilmington def. #8 Goldey-Beacom, 4-0
#2 Post def. #7 Concordia, 3-0
#6 Bloomfield def. #3 Dominican, 4-2
#4 Chestnut Hill tied #5 Philadelphia, 2-2 (CHC advances, 5-4, in PKs)
Semifinals (Thursday)
#1 Wilmington vs. #4 Chestnut Hill (12 p.m.)
#2 Post vs. #6 Bloomfield (2:30 p.m.)
First semifinal match will begin at 12 p.m. at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, Conn., and will feature the highest remaining seed.
Second semifinal match will be at 2:30 p.m.
Championship Final (Saturday)
Semifinal #1 Winner vs. Semifinal #2 Winner (11 a.m.)
Final to be held at LaMoy Field on Post campus in Waterbury
