Entering the final weekend of the regular season, three Conference USA teams, Cincinnati, Louisville and Saint Louis, all have clinched berths in the league tournament Nov. 13-16 in Memphis, Tenn. Charlotte, DePaul, Marquette, USF and UAB are all still in contention for spots in the tournament. Several key matches are slated for this weekend including the sixth-ranked Billikens facing the 20th-ranked Blazers in Birmingham on Saturday. SLU John DiRaimondo was selected to the Soccer America Team of the Week and teammate Kevin Wickart was picked for the College Soccer News Team of the Week. Read about this and more in the C-USA Men's Soccer Notebook.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
CO-OFFENSIVE
John DiRaimondo, Fr., Forward
Saint Louis
DiRaimondo helped the No. 8 Billikens to victories over Memphis (2-1) in conference action and over regional-foe Bradley (1-0). Against the Tigers, the St. Louis native scored the game-winning goal in overtime and then followed with an assist on the game-clinching score in SLU's defeat of the Braves at home. DiRaimondo is the second-leading scorer on the team with 16 points (4 goals, 8 assists).

Jerson Monteiro, Fr., Forward
UAB
Monteiro led the Blazers to a 1-0 win at No. 18 Cincinnati last week by scoring the contest's lone goal, unassisted in the 39th minute. He leads UAB with eight goals. Monteiro has four tallies in the last three contests.

DEFENSIVE
Jeremy Drake, Fr., Goalkeeper
UAB
Drake played an integral role in UAB's 1-0 win at No. 18 Cincinnati. He made eight saves, including several at close range. Drake is 3-0-2 since assuming the starter's role on Oct. 15. His goals against average is 0.36 with three shutouts.





CONFERENCE USA MEN’S SOCCER NOTES

NEWS AND NOTES

C-USA RESET – Louisville sits atop the Conference USA standings with a week and half left to play in the regular season. U of L along with No. 6 Saint Louis and No. 22 Cincinnati have clinched berths in the Conference USA Tournament, Nov. 13-16 in Memphis, Tenn.

The Cardinals have finished the regular season and will need help to win the 2003 crown because the Billikens can claim the title with a win at No. 20 UAB on Saturday. However, if the Blazers upset SLU, they would be tied with the Cardinals and the regular-season champions could be decided on tiebreakers.

The rest of the conference is tightly bunched with Charlotte and Marquette tied with 13 points. DePaul and USF have 12 and 11 points, respectively, and still entertain the possibility of earning a spot in the tournament.

The 49ers wrap up the regular season at Memphis on Saturday. The Bearcats travel to Marquette on Saturday. DePaul plays its season finale at USF on Sunday.

Working Overtime – Saint Louis tied a school record for overtime victories with five this year. The last time the Billikens had five extra-period wins was 1999.

Stingy Defense – UAB is 3-0-3 in its last six contests. During that stretch, the Blazers have outscored their opponents 12-4.

C-USA HONOR ROLL

JEREMIAH GALLEGOS – CINCINNATI
Gallegos came off the bench in the Oakland game and gave Cincinnati its best chance to score, hitting the cross bar once, and forcing the Oakland goalie to make a leaping save. He also was a force in UC's loss to UAB, pressuring the defense the entire time he was on the field. Gallegos has come back from an injury to play in 11 games this season with one goal.

BRANDON DOBBS - CINCINNATI
Dobbs returned from an injury to start in the UAB match, anchoring a defense that held the Blazers to just seven shots during the game. He also blocked
four other balls that could have been dangerous shots.

KEVIN WICKART – SAINT LOUIS
After missing six games because of injury, Wickart returned to the line-up and his defense and pin-point serves again became a vital component of two Billiken victories. His first goal of the year was the game-winning goal against Bradley on a header off a corner kick. The Billikens limited the Braves to only six shots, and BU was averaging 15.3 shots per game. Wickart also helped limit Memphis to just seven shots.

ANDY METCALF - MEMPHIS
Metcalf led the Tiger offensive attack, scoring his team-leading ninth goal of the season in a 2-1 overtime loss to No. 8 Saint Louis. The goal was his second career C-USA score. He now leads the team with 21 points. Metcalf now ranks among the league’s Top 5 in shots (48), points (21), goals scored (9) and game-winning goals (4).

JUSTIN DYER - MEMPHIS
Dyer logged a pair of solid performances. The defender made a pair of team saves on two possible first-half goals in the Tigers’ 2-1 OT loss to SLU, including a save on a shot into an empty net by C-USA Top 5 goal scorer Vedad Ibisevic to hold him without a goal in the overtime loss.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Conference USA will name an Offensive and Defensive Player of the week each week during the 2003 season. Players of the Week are selected by the conference office.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
S2 David Peplinski, Fr., M, SLU
S8 Will John, Fr. F, SLU
Jerson Monteiro, Fr., F, UAB
S15 Matt Kowaleski, Jr., Forward, ECU
S22 Leandro de Oliveira, So. MF, UAB
S29 Simon Bird, Sr., F, LOU
O6 Josh Gardner, Jr., MF, CIN
Luke Rojo, Jr., MF/F, DPU
O13 Will John, Fr., MF, SLU
O20 Justin Lewis, So., F, CIN
Andy Metcalf, So. F, MEM
O27 Marco Terminesi, Fr., F, LOU
N3 John DiRaimondo, Fr., F, SLU
Jerson Monteiro, Fr., F, UAB

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
S2 Tony McManus, Sr., D, UAB
S8 Andy Pusateri, Sr., D, SLU
S15 Adam Ubert, Sr, GK, MAR
Martin Hutton, Jr., GK, SLU
S22 Brad Solokowski, Sr., GK, LOU
S29 Adrian Cann, Sr., B, LOU
O6 Jeff Klitzke, Sr., GK, DPU
O13 Nick Gannon, Sr., D, SLU
O20 Mike Timlin, So., GK, DPU
O27 Tony McManus, Sr., D, UAB
N3 Jeremy Drake, Fr., GK, UAB

TIEBREAKER POLICY
The following is the tie-breaking criteria to determine seeding for the Conference USA Tournament:

1. Head-to-head competition between the tied teams.
2. Record versus other conference opponents in descending rank order.
3. The number of goals allowed by each team in conference play. The team allowing the fewest number of goals against shall be the higher seed.
4. Goals scored versus goals scored against by each team in conference competition. The team with higher ratio shall be the team with the higher seed.
5. Coin toss by the Commissioner.

In a three-way tie, once broken, go back to No. 1.

C-USA ON TV
The championship match of the 2003 Conference USA Men’s Soccer Tournament will be televised by affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network. The veteran announce team of DON RUSSELL (play-by-play) and BILL McDERMOTT (color analyst) will call all of the action. More details will be released as the championship approaches.

The top-six finishers in the regular season earn a spot in the Conference USA Tournament, November 13-16 in Memphis.

STATIONS AIRING C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP
Charter Communications Information Network, Ch. 21 – St. Louis (Live)
College Sports Television (CSTV), DirecTV Ch. 610 – (Live)
Comcast Charter Sports Southeast (Live)
Cox Sports Television - New Orleans (Tape Delay on Nov. 17 at Noon CST)
Fox Sports Net Chicago (Tape Delay on Nov. 17 at Noon CST)
Fox Sports Net Florida (Tape Delay on Nov. 17 at 1:00 p.m. EST)
Fox Sports Net South (Live or Tape Delay – Time TBD)
UNC Charlotte Cable Television, Ch. 22 – (Live)
WXIV-TV, Ch. 14 - Greensboro (Live)



CONFERENCE USA MEN’S SOCCER NOTES

POLLING PLACE
Here’s a look at the 2003 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), Soccer America, Soccer Times and College Soccer News men’s Top 25 polls, as well as the NSCAA Regional Rankings.
NSCAA (Nov. 3)
1. UCLA
2. Maryland
3. Wake Forest
4. St. John’s
5. Notre Dame
6. SAINT LOUIS
7. Santa Clara
8. Florida International
9. Virginia Commonwealth
10. Fairleigh Dickinson
11. Brown
12. Indiana
13. North Carolina
14. Old Dominion
15. Oregon State
16. Hartwick
17. Coastal Carolina
17. Tulsa
19. Creighton
20. UAB
21. Akron
21. Duquesne
23. Virginia Tech
23. UC Santa Barbara
25. Michigan
25. Connecticut

Great Lakes Region
1. Notre Dame
2. Indiana
3. Akron
4. Michigan
5. Kentucky
6. CINCINNATI
7. Michigan State
8. LOUISVILLE
9. Dayton
10. Oakland

Midwest Region
1. SAINT LOUIS
2. Creighton
2. Tulsa
4. Bradley
5. SMU
6. Drake
7. Evansville
8. Western Illinois
9. Western Kentucky
10. Missouri-Kansas City

South Region
1. Wake Forest
2. Florida International
3. North Carolina
4. UAB
5. Davidson
6. UNC-Greensboro
7. Clemson
8. College of Charleston
9. North Carolina State
10. South Carolina

Soccer America (Nov. 3)
1. UCLA
2. Maryland
3. Wake Forest
4. Santa Clara
5. St. John’s
6. Old Dominion
7. Notre Dame
8. Florida International
9. Indiana
10. SAINT LOUIS
11. Oregon State
12. Virginia Commonwealth
13. North Carolina
14. Virginia Tech
15. Washington
16. Coastal Carolina
17. Akron
18. Tulsa
19. UC Santa Barbara
20. Brown
21. Creighton
22. CINCINNATI
23. San Diego
24. Cal State-Northridge
25. Fairleight Dickinson

College Soccer News.com (Nov. 3)
1. UCLA
2. Maryland
3. St. John’s
4. Wake Forest
5. Florida International
6. Santa Clara
7. Old Dominion
8. SAINT LOUIS
9. Notre Dame
10. Coastal Carolina
11. Indiana
12. Virginia Commonwealth
13. North Carolina
14. Oregon State
15. Hartwick
16. Washington
17. San Diego
18. Akron
19. Fairleigh Dickinson
20. Tulsa
21. Virginia Tech
22. UC Santa Barbara
23. Brown
24. Michigan
25. UAB