Falcons Travel to Mars Hill for Opening Round of NCAA Tournament

MONTEVALLO, Ala. – For the second-straight season and sixth time overall, the University of Montevallo men’s soccer team (12-4-4) will take part in the NCAA Tournament. The Falcons earned the No. 5 seed in the Southeast Region and will take on Mars Hill College (11-5-1) this evening at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed live via MHC’s website and the game will also feature live stats. This will be the first meeting between the Falcons and Lions.

The Falcons are making their sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. UM holds a 2-3-3 all-time record in NCAA Tournament competition and have advanced as far as the National Semifinals in 2007. The Lions are making their first appearance in NCAA Tournament play.

UM and MHC have faced three similar opponents in the form of Young Harris College, North Georgia College and State University and Lincoln Memorial University The Falcons hold a 2-0-1 record against the three teams while MHC has a 2-1-0 record. UM defeated YHC 3-2 in double overtime at home while MHC lost 1-0 on the road. The Falcons won 2-1 at home against NGCSU while MHC won 3-0 at home. UM tied LMU 0-0 on the road while MHC won 4-0 at home.

The Falcons are led by junior Shane Howard (County Carlow, Ireland/Old Dominion University) who has eight goals on the season which is tied for seventh in the PBC. Senior Phil Jackson (Lincolnshire, England/Queen Elizabeth's) is tied for fourth in the conference in assists with five and also has six goals on the season. Sophomore goalkeeper Brendan Ledgeway (York, England/All Saints) leads the conference in save percentage (.815) and goals against average (0.75).

The Lions are led by junior Stephen Bivens who has eight goals and two assists while senior Rury Caulfield has six goals and three assists. Junior Zac Scott is the goalkeeper and has a 0.65 GAA and a .855 save percentage both of which lead the South Atlantic Conference.

Both teams make their mark on defense as both goalkeepers rank among the best in the NCAA in terms of goals against average and save percentage. All five of the MHC losses have come by just one goal while 10 of their 11 wins have come by two or more goals.

The Lions are a disciplined team and have received just 18 cards all season and have yet to see a red card while the Falcons have 33 cards including six red cards.

Admission to the game is $4 for adults, $2 for students with valid student ID, $1 for children six years of age and under.

The winner of the Mars Hill/Montevallo match will travel to face top-seed Coker (18-2) on Friday in the Southeast Regional Semifinals.

Flagler (15-3-2) earned the two-seed in the Southeast Region portion of the Super Region Two bracket and will face the winner of Anderson/Lees-McRae on Friday in the other Southeast Regional Semifinal match. The Trojans (17-3), the third seed, will host the Bobcats (14-5-1) on Wednesday.