Monday, November 05, 2007

Valparaiso has earned the seventh seed for the 2007 Horizon League Men’s Soccer Championship, presented by the U.S. Army, and will travel to Dayton, Ohio to take on sixth-seeded Wright State in a first-round matchup Friday evening at 6 p.m. CST.

The Crusaders enter the tournament at 2-4-2 in League play and 4-10-3 overall, while the Raiders hold a 3-5-0 League record and a 6-12-0 overall record.  Wright State earned a 1-0 (2ot) victory when the two squads faced off in Dayton on Oct. 28.

The winner of the Valpo-Wright State tilt will play at #3 UIC (8-5-5, 4-1-3 Horizon) in second-round action on Sunday, Nov. 11.  On the other side of the bracket, #4 Green Bay (9-4-5, 4-2-2 Horizon) takes on #9 Cleveland State (3-13-2, 0-7-1 Horizon) and #5 Butler (8-6-4, 4-2-2 Horizon) plays #8 Detroit (5-9-5, 1-4-3 Horizon) in first-round matchups, with the winners facing off in the second round.

As the top overall seed, Loyola (10-4-4, 5-1-2 Horizon) will host the semifinals and championship on Friday, Nov. 16 and Sunday, Nov. 18, respectively.  The Ramblers will face the 4/5/8/9 winner in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. CST, while #2 Milwaukee (5-10-3, 5-2-1 Horizon) will take on the 3/6/7 winner at 7:30 p.m.  The championship match will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 18, with the champion earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.