Tulsa Men’s Soccer Team Hosts FIU Thursday in NCAA First Round

The Tulsa men's soccer team will host FIU in the NCAA Championship first round this Thursday, November 19 at the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium with a 7:00 pm start time, as announced today by the NCAA.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for youth under 16, and can be purchased at the north ticket gate, online at TulsaHurricane.com or by calling the TU Athletic Ticket Office at 918.631.GoTU (4688).

"We're excited about the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. It's been a tough road to get to where we are now," said Tulsa Head Coach Tom McIntosh. "We played a really difficult non-conference schedule and the league schedule was a grind. We had to learn about us every game with a lot of new players, and have had to blend that group together. We played really well down the stretch and played well in the conference tournament."

Tulsa earned the American Athletic Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after tying UConn and claiming the title on penalty kicks, 4-3, while FIU claimed the Conference USA Championship with a 1-0 win over Marshall.

"FIU is a very good attacking team. They were very close to being one of the top-16 seeds.
They're a very good program and very well-coached," added McIntosh. "They're an experienced group. They score a lot of goals and are a very mature team. They played a very tough schedule too, very similar to us. I think you have two very similar teams in FIU and us."

"It's nice to play at home, particularly coming off the road for five days. It's a great opportunity for us and for our university to host NCAA tournament games," said McIntosh.

This is Tulsa's second-straight NCAA appearance, 10th overall and seventh in the last nine years. TU has an 8-9-1 mark in the tournament, making quarterfinal appearances in 2004 and 2009. A year ago, Tulsa fell to Saint Louis, 2-0, in the first round.

The Golden Hurricane has a 7-6-6 overall record and concluded The American play with a 3-3-2 mark. Tulsa has tallied 32 goals this season from 13 different players, including a team-best six scores from Juan Sanchez, while Geoffrey Dee has five goals, Bradley Bourgeois has four scores, and Michael Mitrik and Miguel Velasquez each have three goals. Tulsa also has 30 assists from 12 players, including five from Dee, and four each from Ray Saari and Zach Jackson.

Jake McGuire has played the majority of minutes in goal, while Brandon Hanat and Marcel Da Silva have each played in two games. The trio have combined for 73 saves and three shutouts for a .745 saves percentage, and allowed 25 goals for a 1.22 goals-against average.

FIU has a 12-6-1 overall record and posted a 3-4-1 mark in C-USA. The Panthers are led by Luis Betancur with eight goals, while Daniel Gonzalez has seven scores and Jamar Campion-Hinds has a team-high nine assists. Arthur Clapot and Robin Spiegel have combined for 46 saves, four shutouts and a .667 saves percentage, while allowing 23 goals for a 1.19 GAA.

Tulsa has a 10-0-1 lead in the all-time series with FIU, including a 2-0 win at home in 2013 when the two teams both played in Conference USA.

For all Tulsa men's soccer news and information, visit TulsaHurricane.com. Follow the team on Twitter and Facebook.

Tulsa Men’s Soccer Team Hosts FIU Thursday in NCAA First Round

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Players Mentioned

Bradley Bourgeois

Marcel Da Silva

Geoffrey Dee

Brandon Hanat

Zach Jackson

Jake McGuire

Michael Mitrik

Ray Saari

Juan Sanchez

Miguel Velasquez

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