HAMILTON, N.Y. (8/29/07) – The Colgate University men’s soccer team opens the 2007 season at the Lakeside Classic in Evanston, Ill., this weekend, playing host Northwestern and Northern Illinois.

 

No. 14 Northwestern will play host to Colgate on Friday, Aug. 31 at 3 p.m., at Loyola Soccer Park in Rogers Park, Ill. Colgate takes on Northern Illinois on Sunday, Sept. 2 at 12 p.m., on Northwestern's campus. All times are Central Time.

 

It will be somewhat of a homecoming for head coach Erik Ronning, who was an assistant coach at Northwestern from 2001-05.

 

Colgate and Northwestern have met on just one occasion, in 1990, when Colgate took a 1-0 game in Evanston. Colgate and Northern Illinois will be playing each other for the first time.

 

Colgate returns seven starters after going 8-4-5 in 2006, with a 3-1-3 Patriot League record. The Raiders were the last team in the nation to let in a goal and were one of the final three unbeaten teams in the nation. They were spotted in and out of the national poll and have been predicted to finish fourth in the Patriot League this season.

 

Leading scorer Eric Anton (Tacoma, Wash.) returns for his senior season. He collected 15 points in 2006, while sophomore Chris Salmon (Auburn, Wash.) and junior Matt Leach (New Canaan, Conn.) chipped in seven points each. Junior goalkeeper David Cappuccio (Pittsford, N.Y.) finished 2006 with a 0.58 goals against average and an .829 save percentage. The Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year put together a shutout streak of 898 minutes and three seconds, which is second all-time in the NCAA records book.

 

Northwestern has already played two nationally-ranked opponents in preseason exhibitions. They tied No. 22 St. Louis, 1-1, and fell 3-0 to No. 10 Notre Dame. The Wildcats return seven starters and 15 overall from a team that went 14-8 in 2006. With a 2-4 Big Ten mark, Northwestern finished fifth in the league, but earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats finished No. 8 in the final national poll, after falling to eventual champion UC Santa Barbara in the quarterfinals. They’ve been selected to finish second in the Big Ten Preseason Poll.

 

Northwestern returns leading scorer David Roth, who chipped in 21 points last season, as well as Carl Pett who collected 11 points. Junior Will Briley posted an 8-6 record along with five shutouts last season. He had a 1.02 goals against average and a .766 save percentage.

 

Northern Illinois returns eight starters and 16 letterwinners from a squad that went 15-6-1 in 2006. The Huskies finished first in the Mid-American conference with a 4-1 record to earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament where they made it to the second round. This season Northern Illinois is predicted to finish second in the league’s preseason poll.

 

Senior Marcus McCarty was the Huskies leading scorer in 2006 with 27 points, followed by sophomore Luis De La Cerda with 13. Junior Joe Zimka had 11 shutouts in 15 games played and finished the season ranked first in the nation in save percentage with a .955 and in goals against average with a 0.21.