The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Soccer Earns At-Large Bid To NCAA Tournament
11/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
2014 NCAA Tournament Bracket | NCAA Tournament Central
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - For the third time in the last four years, and eighth time overall, the No. 21 UAB men's soccer team has received a bid to the 2014 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament, as announced by NCAA officials on Monday.
The Blazers (11-7-1) will host Furman (12-5-3) in the opening round of the tournament on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at West Campus Field. It will mark the fourth time that UAB has hosted an opening-round matchup. The winner of that contest will then advance to the second round and travel to Washington (12-5-1) on Sunday.
UAB finished the regular season 11-7-1 and advanced to the second round of the Conference USA Championship before dropping a 1-0 match to South Carolina.
The Green and Gold have been near the top of the NCAA's offensive statistical rankings all season, and sit at No. 22 in scoring offense (1.84 goals per game) entering the postseason. The Blazers' 35 goals are 19th-best in the country, while the 100 total points rank No. 25 in the nation.
Leading the way for the Blazers is junior forward Freddy Ruiz, who was named the C-USA Co-Offensive MVP a week ago. He ranks 22nd in the NCAA in total goals with 10 and 33rd in points with 22. The UAB offense has scored three goals or more seven times this season, while the Blazer defense has done its job in holding opposing attacks to one goal or less 13 times.
In all, four C-USA teams received bids to this year's tournament, including Charlotte, Kentucky, Old Dominion and the Blazers.
For more information on the UAB men's soccer team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MensSoccer). For more on all Blazer sports teams follow the official Twitter account of UAB Athletics (@UABAthletics).
