Tribe Set to Take Part in Penn State Classic

W&M will battle the host Nittany Lions and No. 22 Ohio State at the event.

09/05/07 5:15PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s soccer team will take part in the 2007 Penn State Classic at Jeffrey Field in University Park, Pa., Sept. 7-9. The Tribe will join the host Nittany Lion as well as Big Ten foe Ohio State and CAA counterpart Old Dominion in the event. The Tribe will open with the Nittany Lions on Friday, Sept. 7, before tussling with the Buckeyes on Sunday, Sept. 9.

William and Mary and Penn State will open the Classic at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, while ODU and Ohio State will meet at 7:45 p.m. The College and Ohio State will open play on Sunday at noon followed by Penn State and the Monarchs in the capper at 2:30 p.m. All matches will be carried on GameTracker. The link can be found by visiting gopsusports.com or TribeAthletics.com.

For complete W&M men's soccer notes, click HERE.

Tribe News and Notes
- W&M improved to 30-6-2 all-time in home openers with its win over Elon. The Tribe is a perfect 4-0 under head coach Chris Norris in home openers.

- The Tribe are ranked No. 9 in the South Atlantic Region according to the regional rankings released by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA) on Sept. 4.

- Sophomore midfielder Jeremy Harris scored his first career goal in the 55th minute to propel the Tribe to a 1-0 win over Elon.

- The Tribe was 1-0-3 in overtime games last season.

- Senior midfielder Doug Ernst registered his 13 career assist in the Tribe’s victory over Elon. Last season, he led the CAA in helpers with nine.

- Senior goalkeeper Brennan Wergley made two saves to record his sixth career shutout against Elon.

- Two former W&M players are currently playing professionally in Major League Soccer (MLS) and with a club in the Norway. Wade Barrett (1994-97) is in his second season with the Houston Dynamo, after captaining the club to the 2006 MLS Cup. He has earned 23 starts this season, assisting on two goals. The Dynamo currently lead the MLS Western Division. Former All-American Adin Brown (1996-99) is the first-team goalkeeper for Aalesunds FK in Norway. Brown has five shutouts in 18 games for Aalesunds FK and even scored the last-minute equalizing header against defending champion Rosenborg in July. In total, over 28 former Tribe players have played pro soccer at some level.

- The Tribe is 11-7-8 all-time at Albert-Daly Field, including a perfect 1-0 mark this season.

Scouting Penn State
The Nittany Lions opened the season with back-to-back shutout losses to Syracuse and then-No. 13 West Virginia at Wolstein Soccer Classic in Columbus, Ohio. Syracuse disposed of PSU, 4-0, in the season-opener, before the Mountaineers tallied a 1-0 win over the Nittany Lions on Sept. 2.

Penn State went 7-11-2 last season, including a 3-3 mark in the Big Ten. In 2005, Penn State captured the Big Ten Championship and went on to advance to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16. The Nittany Lions are led by senior goalkeeper Conrad Taylor, who is a two-time First-Team All-Big Ten choice. He finished the opening weekend of the season with six saves. Junior forward Jason Yeilsey tops the PSU attack. He missed most of last season with an injury, but was a First-Team All-Big Ten choice and a Freshman All-American by various publications in 2005.

The trip to Happy Valley will be the first for the Tribe since the 2002 NCAA Tournament. W&M fell in overtime to Penn State, 1-0, in the Round of 16 that season. All-time, PSU leads the series 4-3 including a 3-1 mark at University Park. Penn State has won the last two matches in the series, both by 1-0 scores in the NCAA Tournament. The last Tribe victory came on Sept. 8, 1998, when W&M defeated the Nittany Lions, 1-0, in overtime at University Park, Pa.

Scouting #22 Ohio State
Ohio State enters the Penn State Classic garnering its first national ranking of 2007. After receiving votes in the preseason NSCAA poll, the Buckeyes moved into the No.22 slot on the strength of its 1-0-1 start. OSU captured the Wolstein Soccer Classic title during the opening weekend with a 1-0 victory over then-No. 13 West Virginia and a 0-0 tie with Syracuse.

The Buckeyes are led by senior defender Eric Brunner, who was recently named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Earlier this season, Brunner was named to the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List. The Hermann is given annual to the top collegiate men’s and women’s player and is the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy for college soccer players. Senior forward Xavier Balc is OSU’s top offensive player. He tallied the lone goal on the season for the Buckeyes and was a First-Team All-Big Ten choice a season ago. Balc led the Big Ten in scoring last season with 23 points on seven goals and nine assists.

Ohio State opened the season with a pair of difficult exhibition games. The Buckeyes tied then-No. 21 Creighton, 2-2, on the road, before defeating then-No. 24 Rutgers, 1-0, in Columbus. Last season, OSU finished with an 11-7-3 record and despite a final RPI of No. 28, was left out of the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes advanced to the Big Ten Championship game in 2006, before falling to Indiana.

W&M holds a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series with Ohio State, but the two schools have not met since the 1995 season. During that campaign, W&M tallied a 3-1 overtime win over Ohio State at the Tribe Invitational on Sept. 8, 1995. W&M also defeated OSU, 2-0, in 1988 at the Met Life Classic in Norfolk, Va.

The Provider
Senior Doug Ernst has firmly established himself as the Tribe’s offensive spark plug and could quite possibly be one of the top playmakers in not only the CAA, but the country. After leading the conference in assists last season with nine, Ernst provided the game-winning assist in the season opener against Elon. In the 55th minute, Ernst broke free near the left endline. He lobbed a pass toward the back post and found an open Jeremy Harris, who settled the ball, before drilling it to the far post.

For his career, Ernst has 13 assists. He enjoyed a breakout season in 2006 finishing third on the team with 15 points. He returns as the CAA’s assist champion, ranking No. 1 in the league in overall games and in conference contests. He dished out five assists in CAA games only in 2006
Ernst’s nine assists in 2006 were the most for a Tribe player since the 2002 season when Ralph Bean and Carlos Garcia each had 11 helpers. On two occasions in 2006, Ernst recorded multiple assist games. He tallied a pair of helps in the season-opening victory over Stony Brook and accomplished the feat again against Drexel. He became the first W&M player to notched a pair of multiple assist games in a season since Phil Hucles had two, two-assist games in 2003.


Finding the Scoring Touch
Head coach Chris Norris said he looked toward sophomore Jeremy Harris to be one of the most dangerous wide midfield players in the CAA during the 2007 season. By the looks of things, Harris is on his way to proving his coach right.

In the Tribe’s season opening victory over Elon, Harris tallied his first collegiate goal in the 55th minute to give W&M a 1-0 win. The Virginia Beach, Va., native chested down a pass from senior Doug Ernst, before hammering a shot to the top left corner of the net. Harris not only recorded his first career points in the victory, but started his first collegiate game. As a redshirt freshman in 2006, Harris appeared in 16 games as a reserve for the Green and Gold.

Youthful Exuberance
A glance at the Tribe roster will bring about one common theme, youth. The W&M roster features 17 of 25 players, who are underclassmen (freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores). Head coach Chris Norris wasted little time putting his young squad to work in the opener against Elon.

For the first time in 15 years, a W&M starting lineup including four true freshmen. Rookies Nick Orozco, Michael DiNuzzo, Ian Stowe and Nathaniel Baako started their first collegiate games against the Phoenix and were joined in the starting XI by fellow underclassmen, sophomores Roger Bothe and Jeremy Harris. The last time a W&M starting lineup included four true freshmen was Nov. 14, 1992 when Chris Scrofani, Tim Pricso, Bill Owens and Greg Richards started the Tribe’s First Round NCAA Tournament victory over West Virginia.

In total against Elon, nine underclassmen made their way onto the pitch. True freshman Peter Christmas and redshirt freshman Alan Koger both made their debuts against the Phoenix as well.

Fan Support
The Tribe was greeted by a boisterous crowd of 624 in the season opening victory over Elon. It was the largest crowd for the Tribe in two seasons. The last time W&M had a larger crowd was Oct. 18, 2005 in a 3-2 loss to No. 10 North Carolina. A totla of 850 fans saw the Tribe-UNC match.