Bobcat Soccer Clubs Advance to National Tournament

Last month, the Men’s and Women’s Club Soccer Teams traveled to Phoenix to compete in the the National Soccer Championships.

The tournament had a round-robin first round, where teams were placed into pools.  If a team wins a match, they are awarded three points, and the loser gets zero.  If they tie, each team receives one point.  The awarded points are totaled and the top two teams advance to the championship bracket, while the third team plays in the Consolation Bracket.

The Men’s team team ended up in a pool with Weber State (Utah) and Michigan State.  Texas State had the first match of the tournament at 8 am Thursday morning against the Weber State Wildcats.  The Wildcats won this cat fight, downing the Bobcats 2-1.  The Bobcats had a quick turn around and returned to action Thursday Afternoon at 1PM against the Michigan State Spartans.  When the final gun sounded, the match ended at a standstill neither keep giving up a score.  The Bobcats placed third in their pool as the Michigan State / Weber State match ended knotted at zero.  This meant that the Bobcats would enter the Consolation round on Friday where they faced the Midshipmen of Navy.    The Midshipmen proved too much for the Bobcats winning the match 2-0.

The Texas State Women ended up in a pool with Colorado State and the University of Michigan.  The Bobcats faced the Rams early Thursday morning and came away with a 3-1 victory.  Their second match of the day was at 3pm against the Michigan Wolverines.  The Wolverines won 2-0 over the Cats, however the Maroon and Gold were able to advance to the championship round to be held the next day.

As luck would have it, the Bobcats drew the Longhorns for a high-noon showdown on Friday.  When the smoke cleared, a 2-1 victory signaled that the Cats were too much for the “Cows”. They returned to action Friday night in the Quarter Final Match against the Michigan State Spartans.  Just like Leonidas before them, these Spartans inevitably fell to the Bobcats, 2-1. With this victory, Texas State advanced to the final four where they faced the team from Happy Valley–The Penn State Nittany Lions.  Sadly, this is where the story ends.  The Bobcats lost to PSU 2-0.  With this the season was over, but team finished THIRD in the nation.

Congrats to both of our teams!

A complete bracket can be found here- http://www.nirsa.net/sc/soccer/2009/Results2009.html

Photos can be found here – http://clubsportsphotos.exposuremanager.com/g/phoenix_2009

Personally, I loved this photo of a Texas State player putting the hurt on a UT player.  — http://clubsportsphotos.exposuremanager.com/p/texas_vs_texas_state/phoenix09b-09893_22_2_43

Chris Lehman

chris@bobcatfans.com