Sept. 13, 2007

NU Men's Soccer Game Notes (Butler/UMKC)
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EVANSTON, Ill. - No. 10 Northwestern will stay within the state of Illinois this weekend as it travels to DeKalb to participate in the Northern Illinois University adidas/Baymont Inn Invitational. It will be the Wildcats' third tournament of the season with NU capturing team titles in each of the previous two.

Weekend Schedule
Friday, Sept. 14
Northwestern vs. Butler, 2 p.m.
UMKC vs. Northern Illinois, 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 16
Northwestern vs. UMKC, Noon
Butler at Northern Illinois, 2:30 p.m.

Scouting Butler
The Bulldogs will bring a 2-0-2 record into its match with the Wildcats Friday. Butler has five starters back from last year's team which went 7-11-2 as is picked to finish fifth in the Horizon League this season. Junior forwad Frank Patano has paced the BU attack in the early stages of the 2007 campaign, collecting four goals and an assist. The Bulldogs have won each of their previous two meetings with the Wildcats with the most recent matchup being a 1-0 Butler victory in Evanston Sept. 4, 2004.

Scouting UMKC
The Kangaroos have gotten their season off on the right foot, starting out 3-1-0 to earn a No. 7 ranking in the Midwest region. Eastern Illinois handed UMKC its first loss of the season Sunday by a score of 1-0. Goalkeeper Brandon Amaya has allowed just three goals in the team's first four games. Offensively, sophomore Bryan Perez has netted two of the team's three penalty kicks already this season. The Kangaroos had a record of just 5-13-2 a year ago, but welcomes back an experienced squad with eight starters and 17 letterwinners. This will be the first meeting between UMKC and Northwestern.

Northwestern Wins Title at Yale Soccer Classic
One of Northwestern's team goals this season was to win each of the tournaments that it competes in. The Wildcats took another step in that direction by being named the champion of the Yale Soccer Classic last weekend. NU and Dartmouth each finished 1-0-1, but the Wildcats posted a higher total of goals scored in the tournament (3-2). Northwestern opened with a 3-1 victory over host Yale Friday evening as sophomore Eamon O'Neill came off the bench to record a goal and an assist. Geoff Fallon and Matt Eliason also tallied goals for the Wildcats. Dartmouth and NU battled for 110 minutes of play Sunday but neither team was able to find the back of the net in a scoreless tie. Northwestern held advantages of 13-7 in shots and 6-1 in corner kicks. Misha Rosenthal made two saves to earn his second shutout of the season. O'Neill was named the tournament's most valuable player while Rosenthal, David Roth and Matt Witt were also named to the all-tournament team.

Cats Hold Steady in National Rankings
Northwestern remained in the No. 10 spot in this week's NSCAA/adidas poll after going 1-0-1 last week. NU is also continued to be ranked third in the Great Lakes Region behind Indiana and Notre Dame. SoccerTimes.com kept the Wildcats at No. 13 in its rankings. College Soccer News did move Northwestern up three spots in its poll, from No. 15 to No. 12.

Getting Off on the Right Foot
The Wildcats enter play this weekend with a 3-0-1 mark, the team's best record through the first four matches of the season in school history. In each of its previous 27 seasons of varsity play, NU had suffered at least one loss in its opening four contests.

Shooting Blanks
The scoreless tie with Dartmouth Sunday was Northwestern's first since a home match against Wisconsin Nov. 2, 2003. It was the 11th time in school history that the Wildcats have been involved in a match in which neither team scored and just the third in the last 16 seasons.

Instant Impact
Matt Eliason is making quite the impact at the beginning of his freshman season, leading the team with five points. After posting an assist in his first collegiate match, two days later Eliason won the ball from a Bucknell player at midfield and then raced in for the winning goal 19 seconds into overtime. He added his second goal of the season in the following match against Yale. Eliason is tied for the team lead with eight shots this season, though just two have been on goal. However, both of those shots on goal have gotten past opposing keepers.