Nov. 20, 2004

NCAA Tournament Second Round Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. -- With its first NCAA Tournament victory under its belt in its first-ever NCAA Tournament, Northwestern hits the road to Omaha, Neb., for its first-ever meeting with Creighton in the second round of the road to the College Cup. The No. 14-seeded Jays enter Tuesday night's 7 p.m. match with a 13-4-1 overall record.

Fans can follow the action on live stats by linking to www.ncaasports.com.

Northwestern advanced to the second round match by virtue of a 4-1 throttling of Mid-Continental Conference champion Western Illinois. In that match sophomore Brad North (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands) scored a pair of goals including his fifth match-winner of the season while freshman David Roth (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade) picked up his 14th assist of the season -- tying the Big Ten conference single-season record.

While Northwestern has put on an offensive show of late with 10 goals its last four matches, it has been the Wildcat defense that has carried Northwestern this far into the postseason. NU has given up only eight goals in its last 11 matches for a .727 goals against average. The Wildcat backline is anchored by first-team All-Big Ten selection Brad Napper (Dallas, Texas/Jesuit College Prep) and goalkeeper Justin Pines (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) -- a Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd selection earlier this season.

Of the three teams in the NCAA Tournament to qualify for the first time (NU, Western Illinois and Marist), only the Wildcats advanced to the second round.

Both Northwestern and Creighton enter Tuesday's match ranked in the latest NSCAA Coaches Poll -- the Jays are No. 16 while NU is No. 23.

The Wildcats qualified for the NCAA Tournament on the heels of its best regular-season and Big Ten Tournament in program history. NU entered the conference tourney with a 12-4-2 overall record, 3-2-1 in the Big Ten. The 12 wins over Division I opponents were a school record and three conference victories matched the 'Cats' total from the previous 13 years combined. Northwestern then defeated NCAA participants Penn State and Michigan to advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship match for the first time.

Through the first round of the NCAA tournament, sophomore Gerardo Alvarez (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) is the Big Ten leader in goals (12) and points (33). Freshman phenom Roth's 14 assists is the third-best total in the country and five better than his nearest Big Ten competition.

Creighton is led by a suffocating defense that has allowed only 17 goals in 18 matches. Three Jays' goalies have a combined 0.93 goals against average. Offensively, a quartet of Jays have scored six or more goals with 15 or more points to pace a very balanced attack.

Northwestern joins five other Big Ten schools in the NCAA Tournament, giving the conference six bids -- the most of any conference in the country. Two Big Ten schools, No. 2 Indiana and No. 10 Penn State, earned seeds and a first-round bye. Only Wisconsin failed to secure an NCAA bid.

Not only did the Big Ten receive those bids, but the participants proved they earned the distinction as well. Three of the four conference teams participating in the first round advanced, with only the automatic qualifier Michigan State losing its opening match.