It was always worth it.

The 200 minutes spent huddled at a laptop watching an internet feed. Meeting the team on campus after stamping their ticket to the 2011 College Cup. The 16 wings consumed Friday waiting for a goal. The nervous pacing during the shootout. The 14 hours of driving on Sunday. It was all ALWAYS worth it.

On Sunday the Charlotte 49ers Men’s Soccer team took to the field with the National Title on the line, the furthest any of the University’s teams have ever played in an NCAA Tournament. The opponent was the UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels, the symbolic foe of our University for decades. We had thought that with a 49ers win, a crack could be formed in the boulder holding us down for so many decades.

But the 49ers didn’t win. The Tar Heels scored on a beautiful goal by Akron transfer Ben Speas for a 1-0 advantage that would hold until time expired. But what those in attendance and those watching on television and computer screens saw a team that was ready for the big stage. The Niners played a game worthy of champions, but it just wasn’t our destiny to win.

“”That’s the cruel part of soccer,” said Charlotte’s Head Coach, Jeremy Gunn following the game.

From the first whistle, Charlotte imposed it’s will on Chapel Hill. Holding on the the ball for long periods, getting deep into the Tar Heel’s defensive end, creating opportunities.

“Charlotte came out so aggressive and played so hard that we literally didn’t have the legs to play the game that we wanted,” said UNC-Chapel Hill’s Coach Carlos Somoano, also noting, “It was the first time all year we weren’t able to dominate the ball in a game.”

The first half ended with the score knotted, and with 7 Tar Heel shots to 5 by the Niners, but don’t let that number deceive you. Charlotte’s shots came from domination of the ball, while Chapel Hill’s shots came from lapse in Charlotte’s control, pulling the trigger when the slightest shimmer of light shown through.

The second hand began with what ultimately was a turning point of the match. The half wasn’t even three minutes in when Donnie Smith, having broken through Creighton’s touted defensive front multiple times two nights earlier, used pristine footwork to get the ball in the box with only the goalie between himself and a 1-0 lead. But, seen here, Kurt Urso of the Tar Heels had other plans as he brought down Smith from behind before the Niners could capitalize.

Urso had the nerve to accuse Smith of flopping after the game, while the Tar Heel players had incredibly flimsy legs upon the slightest contact all game long. They played soft, to a chorus of “She fell over!” from the larger 49er contingency in the stands.

Then for the next 20 minutes the second half was much like the first, with Charlotte consistently controlling possession of the ball and putting the ball on a goal a few times. But then Ben Speas found himself all alone with the ball at the edge of the penalty box in the 63rd minute. Speas razzled and dazzled himself enough space to get a left footed shot off 25 yards from the goal. His shot was perfect, and in that one moment the Tar Heels had all they would need to win.

The Niners were shell-shocked by the goal, and it was the first moment of the game that Tar Heel fans were audible. The Niners were able to regroup to mount a charge the last 10 minutes of play. The crowd noise swelled as the Niners got chance after chance to put the ball in the goal. Those in the stands witnessed a gang fight between piranhas, frenzy would be an understatement when in one 40 second duration Charlotte launched five shots.

Time expired amidst such a frenzy and with the sound it was over. The men in blue running in jubilation and the men in green and white lying on the pitch in defeat.

One team played the best and another won the game.

Niner Nation was faithful as always. Staying in the stands as long as the team stayed on the field, applauding Charlotte’s 2nd-place finish louder than the reception received by the National Champion Tar Heels, many times over.

Senior defender Isaac Cowles found solace in the support from the crowd, “To have their voice drown out the national championship celebration is definitely something meaningful.”

To be a Charlotte 49er is to be always swimming upstream, to put our University on your chest is inviting struggle. Tar Heels float downstream in an inner tube. Only a few times in our short history has an athletic team broken free to get nearly this far. In 1996 soccer didn’t swim hard enough, and in 2011 we didn’t swim hard enough either but they will take what they know and swim harder the next time the get in the river. The pain of  the loss was evident in the watered eyes on the field and in the stands, that pain was dwarfed by pride that we found a way to swim harder than ever before and confidence that we will swim harder again.

This soccer team gave us the hope that everyone would make it upstream one day, and by the grace of God we will.

Keep your glass slippers, the Charlotte 49ers came for the trophy.

Tonight Charlotte went toe to toe with the nation’s stingiest defense, that of the Creighton Blue Jays and managed to be just as stingy. Following a double shut-out through two overtime periods the Niners prevailed over the second-seeded Blue Jays in Penalty Kicks, 4-1, to earn a spot in the Championship Game on Sunday against the first-seeded UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels, 4PM EST ESPNU.

The  first half wasn’t easy for the Niners to survive as Creighton controlled the midfield and got multiple chances at our goal while Charlotte had trouble getting possessions to their side of the field. The closest call was when the Blue Jays saw the ball ricochet off our cross-bar from Isaac Cowles’ foot, as he was in poor position following a rebound.

“I think everybody watching the game could see that Creighton was definitely the better team in the first half,” said Head Coach Jeremy Gunn, “They out-passed us, they were sharper, they were asking more questions. But what was incredible from our players was that we were bending but we didn’t break.”

Despite Creighton’s control of the first half, the score was still Nil-Nil, allowing the Niners to regroup at the break.

“On another day they might have put away one of their early chances, then it would have been much tougher for us.”

As the second-half progressed, the Charlotte 49ers got better, and better. Quelling every opportunity Creighton created, and making more and more of their own. Donnie Smith emerged as our offensive creator, bringing the ball up the left flank with unflagging courage he crossed the ball into the box wear freshman phenom Giuseppe Gentile was waiting for it, but his shot went straight into the hands of Creighton’s goalie Brian Holt, one of the best at the collegiate level.

“By midway through the second half it was an even game that any team could win,” said Coach Gunn of the Niners’ increased level of play in the second0half, “Again, they were having some good chances, we were having some good chances.”

In the waning moments of overtime Donnie Smith found a clearing and made his way of the left wing and into the box and fired a laser with a good angle that Holt punched out of bounds. The Blue Jays were at the will of the 49ers when extra time expired, and the penalty kicks exemplified that.

Following two years of defeat at the hand of PK’s, the Niners had confidence after taking the win at UConn a week ago, especially with PK specialist Gavin Dawes tending goal. Dawes took the net in PK’s last week, settling in to the role while Klay Davis continues to be outstanding while the clock is running, including several acrobatic saves to stop the Blue Jays from scoring.

The Niners and Jays exchanged goals the first round of PK’s, with Tyler Gibson scoring for Charlotte. The second go-round is when things got interesting, as Gavin Dawes saved Kris Clark’s attempt to answer Donnie Smith’s goal. Last week’s hero Charles Rodriquez put the 49ers up 3-1 followed by Ethan Finlay kicking the ball over goal, allowing Isaac Cowles with a chance to kick the game-winner.

Before taking his shot, Dawes calmed down Cowles by saying, “”No pressure, just have fun.”

Cowles had a lot of fun, sending the shot right while Holt dove left, and the ticket was stamped to the Charlotte 49ers first trip to any title game.

“You have to find a winner, it’s very, very cruel, very, very tough for Creighton,” Coach Gunn remarked, having been on the very, very, cruel end of things the last two seasons, “The only thing we can say is how composed our guys were through the shootout yet again. To go out and do what they did, they hit the ball so well Just unbelievable.”

The Tar Heels won on penalty kicks as well, after a 2-2 draw with the UCLA Bruins. Both teams looked notably gassed as time ran out, Charlotte’s heavy substitution of mid-fielders and the front line could pay dividends on Sunday, along with the extra three hours of rest.

The Tar Heels can be scored on, allowing four goals through tier four games in the tournament so far with the easy path of a 1-seed. The 49ers have outscored their opponents 8-3 in their 5-games with the path of an unseeded team, including the defending National Champs Akron, the 3-seed UConn, and the 2-seed Creighton. In an August exhibition against UNC-Chapel Hill, Charlotte struck first but were down 2-1 when play was halted because of weather after 70 minutes.  This is a different Charlotte team that played that night, their season turned after a 3-1 loss at Maryland, leading to a more physical and aggressive style of play. The Charlotte 49ers can beat anyone, and on Sunday that includes the Tar Heels.

“There is nothing new that any team here poses that we couldn’t handle We come out and play our Charlotte way and just keep going,” said Isaac Cowles before UCLA and UNC-Chapel Hill settled their bout.

The Tar Heels have a way of wedging themselves between everything this university wants and on Sunday we get to shove them emphatically out of the way, Niner Nation.

Never tell me the odds.

For the Charlotte 49ers Men’s Soccer team, the last few weeks has been an uphill battle, and they have yet to reach the top. When Xavier scored in overtime a month ago to end Charlotte’s bid for an Atlantic 10 Championship, the idea of playing in the College Cup wasn’t on anyone’s minds. Would the team fizzle out in the NCAA Tournament like in 2009? Would they be on the outside looking in like last season? Nothing was certain, but now all that stands between the 49ers and a National Championship is two games of soccer.

Today the Niners face the second seeded Creighton Blue Jays, who come into the match having allowed only five goals over the entire season. Those kind of defensive numbers would intimidate other unworthy opponents, but these are the kind of statistics Charlotte takes head on. Darren Mattocks of Akron had scored 21 goals (in 22 games) coming into the 3rd-Round of the NCAA Tournament, Charlotte held him and the Zips scoreless. Connecticut hadn’t lost at home since 2009 until they hosted the 49ers, who coincidentally broke their own losing streaks in shootouts. The storyline for the 49ers postseason seems to be going against the grain and proving that statistics mean nothing on the pitch.

The 49ers will need to be aggressive to find the goal today. Gibson and James will have to use their speed and skills to leave Blue Jay defenders behind them, and make crisp passes to open up the attack. Freshman All-American Guiseppe Gentile will have to find a way to be the Niners miracle worker again, hopefully many times. When given eight minutes to tie the score against the 3rd best team, we found a way to score in three. We have what it takes to get these two wins, and it all starts today.

Penalty kicks. For those who’ve been following Charlotte Men’s Soccer the last few seasons, those two words would be enough to make you cringe, and possibly dry heave. It started with Charlotte facing Rhode Island on their field in the 2009 Atlantic 10 Tournament. The Niners lost in PK’s 4-3 after a 1-1 draw, hurting their seeding in the NCAA tournament. Then in the first round of that NCAA Tournament game it was UNC Wilmington who broke the hearts of Niner Nation with penalty kicks, followed by a few Seahawk faithful rushing OUR field to pour salt on the wound. Last year presented a cold, rainy evening with  the men’s basketball team having already fallen to Gardner-Webb. Xavier lasted all of OT without allowing a goal. Inevitably a terrible day had a terrible ending, with Xavier winning in PK’s and ending Charlotte’s season.

The Connecticut Huskies had faced similar misery, being sent to the lockers the for the final time in each of the last two seasons at the hand of penalty kicks. When the clock hit zero at the end of the second overtime today, either Charlotte’s or UConn’s luck was about to change for the better, and today it was Charlotte’s. When Charles Rodriguez’s kick found the nets, the ticket was stamped to the Charlotte 49ers’ first College Cup since their trip in 1996.

It was a great match between two very good teams that remained scoreless for over 80 minutes of play. In the 82nd minute,  Tony Cascio, an All-American, broke free and scored the for the Huskies. Fortuitously, it only took three minutes for Charlotte to answer when Giuseppe Gentile, the A10 Rookie of the Year, scored off of a Tyler Gibson header following a foul kick from Aaron Weldon.

“I did it for my boys, I didn’t do it for me, I didn’t do it for anybody, I just did it for the team.” said the freshman, Gentile after the game, adding, “I’m just the lucky one to close it off and put it back in the net.” When asked his thoughts on making it to the College Cup, he answered simply: “Dream come true.”

The score remained the same through two overtime periods, both of which saw Charlotte dominate possession. When it was time for penalty kicks the 49ers stepped up, finishing two of their first three, while UConn missed their first two shots. Charles Rodriquez stepped up and sealed the win on the fifth attempt, sending UConn to the offseason.

UConn Head Coach Ray Reid didn’t give the Niners much credit, saying, “We had the game won, it’s unconscionable that we’re home, up a goal with eight minutes to go, and we blow it,” also adding, “Honestly, in a game like this, our top players have got to play better.”

Charlotte Head Coach had this to add, “Typical playoff game very tight. We played good soccer at times but it was tough to get behind UConn. I thought that we passed the ball better than Connecticut. We were just finding it tough to get clear cut scoring chances. It was a back and forth game. When they scored in a game with few chances it was tough to ask of our players. Time and again this year this group has the belief and they got ability, fitness and desire to come back. We kept pushing. Tyler Gibson knots the ball across the goal. Giuseppe Gentile buries another one off a great pass from Gibson and Aaron Weldon.”

When it came to seeing the season on the line in penalty kicks, Coach Gunn added, “Over the past couple of years, we did not advance on after going to a penalty shootout and it has been a thorn in our side. We have been practicing shootouts since last year. We showed great composure and converted the penalty kicks to put us into the College Cup.”

The Charlotte 49ers will face the #2 seeded Creighton Blue Jays on Friday at 6PM in Hoover, Alabama, the game will be on ESPNU/ESPN3. #13 seeded UCLA will play #1 seeded North Carolina-Chapel Hill following the 49ers-Blue Jays game. As the only unseeded team, and the only team that had to win four games to get to Hoover, Charlotte is the Cinderella story going into the weekend. But the last four games have shown the Niner Nation, and the entire nation that the Charlotte 49ers can play with, and beat, the best of them.

Fathom this Niner Nation, we have a team that is two simple wins away from a National Championship. You don’t need green tinted glasses to see how spectacular and awesome that is.

Another strong season by Coach Gunn’s squad has resulted in the Charlotte 49ers Men’s Soccer team second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three seasons. After a shootout loss to Xavier to open last year’s Atlantic 10 Tournament ended the 49ers 2010 season, Charlotte entered 2011 with a vengeance. The Niners started with a 7-1 record, including wins over fellow NCAA tournament teams Coastal Carolina, Elon and Virginia.

The Niners escaped the regular season with a 13-3-2 record, having been ranked every week of the season, even as high as 8th in some polls.

“The team has managed the season very well. We have picked up some injuries along the way, but that is always to be expected,” Coach Gunn said of his team’s performance this year, “Sometimes you can stagger over the finishing line being run down from mental fatigue and physical tiredness, but we are very strong right now and remarkably fresh for this time of year.”

Charlotte entered the Atlantic 10 Tournament as the third seeded team, in most part because of the imbalance of the Atlantic 10 Soccer schedule. The foe was Xavier, who dispatched the Niners in a shootout last season. And although Charlotte dominated possession in this year’s match, the ball didn’t find the net and extra time commenced.

“To win a soccer game you need to score one more than the other team…… More seriously I feel we played great at the beginning and fully deserved the 1-0 lead. Xavier fought their way back into the game to tie it up, but after that we were always the more likely team to score.” said Coach Gunn of Charlotte’s offensive aggression, adding, “We had the best chances and were the aggressor for much of the game. We were a little too loose defensively and so we were punished for that.”

Xavier got the victory in the third minute of extra time, sending the Niners back to The (Real) Queen City. Unlike last year, in which the team’s RPI was hovering in the 40′s, this year’s Niner squad had a solid Top 15 RPI, and never in doubt of making the 48-team field NCAA Tournament.

Charlotte was awarded an opening round home game against the Furman Paladins, a team Charlotte faced in 2009 and 2010 (both 1-0 Charlotte victories). The winner will play at UAB, an opponent Charlotte also faced in 2010, falling 2-1 on the road.

“They have some of the same players returning, as do we, so we both know a little about each other. I feel they have changed their style somewhat though,” Coach Gunn said of the familiar opponent, “In the past they have been very good at keeping possession but this year they have become a little more direct while still moving the ball well. The past two seasons we have played very close games with Furman and so I doubt this game will be any different. It is a great match up.”

All season has been a build up to this moment; a chance at getting the school’s second College Cup.

“Through the course of the season you hope to learn from the games, adjust and overcome adversity, and become more prepared as you go, and we are definitely at that point. The timing is good for us.”

But the team still has to execute, as the recent A10 Tournament losses to Xavier and the 2009 NCAA Tournament loss to UNC Wilmingtons how. Getting a win against Furman is the first step, and Coach Gunn will have his team prepared.

“We need to do what we have been great at all year long – do the things that have made us one of the best teams in the country. Be defensively organized and determined. We need to win the initial battle and then continue to dominate competing for the ball. On the ball we need to keep attacking with purpose and play the composed attacking soccer that has given us the lion’s share of scoring chances in every game but one this year. In creating chances we need to take them.”

The real season starts now, and the Charlotte 49ers need a sense of urgency to continue forward.

“The toughest challenge for the players is to strike a balance between urgency and composure – if we can do that we will win.”

Later this evening, the Charlotte 49ers Volleyball team will take to the home court of Halton Arena for the first time this season. They’ve already played in two events away from friendly confines of home, posting a 3-3 record at events hosted by Appalachian State and Lipscomb. The 49ers, this weekend, host the Hilton University 49er Invitational, playing Campbell, Morgan State and Furman.

Coach Redding had these words for GTG, “I am very excited that the 2011 season has arrived.  We had an absolutely tremendous spring.  The players work extremely hard, and I am ready to see all of that hard work pay off.  We are returning a very close knit group, and I feel our team chemistry has never been higher.”

The 49ers were picked to finish 5th by Atlantic 10 coaches, and aren’t afraid of challenging themselves before conference play, Redding also adding, “We have an exciting and demanding schedule.  Our four pre-conference tournaments will not only challenge us early on, but help prepare us for the rigors of the A-10 conference schedule.  A few of our highlight matches:  Our home opener-tournament with Campbell, Morgan State, & Furman on September 9^th & 10^th, The Wake Forest tournament where we will face either Duke or Wake, and then our Dig Pink match October 14^th vs Rhode Island.”

The Dig Pink Match is usually the biggest crowd of the year, showing the heart of Niner Nation.  Coach Redding is proud the funds his team and other Niners generate for breast cancer awareness.

“Last year at our Dig Pink match we had over 1,800 fans, and raised $10,000 for breast cancer,” said Redding, who wants to exceed those numbers this year, “We are shooting to make that match even bigger and raise more money.” And as far as the rest of the season goes, “All in all I am looking for our squad to have one of the best season’s in Charlotte volleyball history.”

Today is the first day of a new Niner athletics season. Our women’s soccer team, tonight, led by Charlotte alum John Cullen, takes on North Florida on the road. Charlotte’s women’s soccer team has been near the top of the Atlantic 10 since joining the conference in 2005, reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and 2008. The last two seasons, their season has ended in disappointment, coming up short to Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Championship game both years, first in Charlotte, then in Kingston, RI last year.

With the new season started, we exchanged questions and answers with Head Coach John Cullen, as they prepare for another season, one in which they wish to leave Dayton the victim for once.

We lost an electric offensive player in Whitney Weinrub to graduation, where will you look for that spark in this season’s squad?
When you lose a striker who holds the record for goals scored in her career at Charlotte, I don’t look to one player to pick up the slack, but rather a collective effort as a  group. If all of our strikers can increase their goal tally from  last year then we will go a long way to getting the goals we need to be successful. We will be leaning heavily on the senior quartet of Macky Wingo, Oni Bernard, Jenna McKeon and Jonna Handra and then we will be looking for strong contributions from our younger players; Jessica Ryan, Dakota Olson, Amanda Jones, Heather Carew and Sara Trexler. Plus our mid fielders need to contribute more so than ever before with goals too.

What do you expect out of our returning leaders in scoring, Macky Wingo, 2010 goals leader for Charlotte, and Oni Benard, this season?
I’m looking for them to be exceptionally strong players for us in terms of the leadership, consistency and quality. We will need both of those girls to have  the type of season where they are All-conference and All-regional level for us to be successful. They are going to have to be at the top of the game all season. I have great faith in them as I do in the other seniors and team as a whole.

Last season, we switched keepers between Alex Kubrick and Natalie LaVigne, who will start the season at goalkeeper?
Alex gets the nod going into the season, as you would expect Natalie is working hard too, pushing for that spot. It’s great as a coaching staff to have that real daily competition . I’m excited where they both are in the their training and we have Annie McHenry a freshmen waiting in the wings too.

Which freshmen will be contributing to the team immediately?
Amanda Jones, Sara Trexler will be two players we will be using a lot early in the season and I’m looking too for Darby Broeker to have a stellar season. With so many freshmen though we will see a lot of them on the field during the season, which is encouraging and gives us a bright future for many years to come.

We close the regular season with a huge game at our nemesis the last couple of seasons, Dayton, who also host the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Would you rather get this game out of the way early, or have it looming out there with chances to improve along the way?
I like the fact we see Dayton before the Atlantic 10 tournament, gives us a true sense where we are  at that time of the year and what we need to improved upon in those last 1-2 weeks heading back to participate in the tournament. It will be good for our young team to see them at the end and know what level of performance is required to be successful and hopefully be crowned champions in the A10.

What will this team have to accomplish in order for you to consider it a successful season?
Improve every day, grow as a team , play to high standards and most of all be competitive every time we pull on that Charlotte Jersey. All you can ask of any player and any team is “bring it” every game. Our  standards are high and we strive to be successful for every title we are in competition for each year.

If a Niner fan could only make it out to one home game at Transamerica Field this season, which game would you have them attend?
Hopefully, the season opener, and our intent is to put on a good show and that makes them want to keep coming back more and more often because the Niner fans enjoyed the occasion and we put on strong showing to represent our program and university. Make them leave happy and wanting more !!

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT Niner fans….it means the world to us !!!!

After playing a pair of games in Jacksonville, FL this weekend, the ladies have a four-game home stand at Transamerica Field starting next weekend with Florida Gulf Coast on Friday night, the 26th, and then Providence on Sunday afternoon. The next weekeend they will host UNC Wilmington and East Carolina. See the whole schedule here.

Behind stout pitching from Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year, Andrew Smith, and a 2-run homer from Corbin Shive in the 2nd Inning, #28 Charlotte took down #16 Arkansas in the first game of the Tempe Regional in the NCAA Tournament by the score of 3-2.  Arizona State, who needed a Walk-off HR to beat New Mexico 4-2, will be taking on the Niners Saturday night at 10pm eastern time.

Andrew Smith throws during his 7.1 Innings of work Friday afternoon. Photo by Paul Tilton

Defensively, the game was owned by Charlotte’s starting pitcher, Andrew Smith. Smith threw for 7.1 innings, allowing only one run and striking out four batters. Coach Hibbs decided Smith had done enough by the 8th inning, and brought in Corey Roberts, who was a weekend starter for much of the season before being a victim of soreness the last month.

All three runs for the Niners came in the 2nd Inning, two of them from the DH Corbin Shive’s first home run of the season. The other run came later in the inning as Justin Roland batted in Corey Shaylor. The Razorbacks answered in the 3rd Inning with one run, and after that scoring took a break until the bottom of the 9th Inning.

Despite striking out 2 in his first 1.1 IP, Corey Roberts allowed a solo home run to Kyle Robinson with 2 outs in the 9th to close Charlotte’s lead to just one run. But with poise, Roberts struck out Matt Reynolds in the next at bat, securing victory for the Niner Nation. The joy of victory will soon be overwhelmed by the pressure to win the next game, and the next, and so on.

“We’re not going to celebrate, we’ve won one game,” said Coach Loren Hibbs after the game, ” We know how good Arkansas is, we know how good ASU is, we know that New Mexico is going to play their tale off tonight.”

Charlotte (43-14) will be facing the Arizona State, while Arkansas(38-21) awaits New Mexico.

ESPN Tournament Blog
Box Score(.pdf)
AZCentral.com Recap
Hibbs Press Conference

Judy continues to hire attractive coaches.

GTG has learned that one of the candidates for the open Women’s Basketball position is Cara Consuegra, an assistant at Marquette University.  Cara visited Charlotte earlier in the week and has been with the Golden Eagles for 7 seasons, prior to that she spent 3 years at Penn State as the Director of Basketball Operations.  Stay tuned to GTG for the lastest on the coaching search.

UPDATE: Cara is in fact the new coach and will announced at a press conference on Tuesday, April 26th.

Cara Consuegra bio