Today marks the national semifinals in NCAA men’s college soccer, better known as the College Cup. Creighton meets Charlotte in the first of two matches today (5:00 p.m. CT, ESPNU), with UCLA and North Carolina meeting in the nightcap (7:30 p.m. CT, ESPNU). The Jays are looking for their first national championship and their best finish since being national runners up in 2000.
Standing in their way are the Charlotte 49ers, who upset a host of favored teams en route to the College Cup. To learn more about the 49ers, we reached out to David Scott (@davidscott14 on Twitter) from the Charlotte Observer and the Gold Mine blog.
White & Blue Review: What type of formation do the 49ers play?
David Scott: Pretty basic 4-4-2, but usually have one forward (Gentile) high and another trailing.
WBR: Teams often change their style to a more conservative approach when they get this deep into the postseason; how do you see Charlotte adjusting its game, if at all?
DS: Do not. They’re confident with what’s gotten them this far.
WBR: Good offenses have been stifled by the Jays all year, what makes the 49ers different?
DS: They don’t have a conventional goal scorer. Gentile, the A-10’s rookie of the year and freshman All-American, gets a lot of his goals (10) from pure hustle. Evan James is a pure winger. Jennings Rex is more of a target, who distributes well. They come at you from different directions.
WBR: Charlotte knows Birmingham well, beating UAB there a couple weeks ago, does that give them an advantage at all in this tournament?
DS: If they can score 45 seconds into the game like they did against UAB, yes!
WBR: Talk about what makes Giuseppe Gentile such a dangerous player. Who else on this 49ers team will stick out while Jays fans watch the semifinal?
DS: Gentile is a never-quit kind of player, running all day at the defense and never letting defenders relax. He really went at it with UConn’s big, experienced guys and wouldn’t back down. James is an exciting player to watch, is fast and dribbles well, holds the ball well. Left back Charles Rodriguez is the team’s best pro prospect. He moved from center back to the left side midseason without a hiccup.
WBR: The 49ers seem to prefer the bunker in and counter attack on perceived better opposition, while the Jays like to dominate possession and create many chances, do you think 49ers can execute this game plan again (it worked to beat higher seed Akron and UCONN)?
DS: That’s absolutely what they wanted to do in those games. Although they like to play their own brand of possession soccer, they know that these big soccer schools have more skilled players who can possess and pass well. But Charlotte is pretty tough in the back. They won just about every ball in the air against UCONN.
WBR: What did this team do so well that they were able to leave Storrs with the upset against UCONN?
DS: Didn’t quit. Most teams who go down 1-0 to UConn with six minutes left and in that crazy atmosphere probably would have folded it up.
WBR: In a piece about the College Cup for Goal.com, J.R. Eskilson wrote “the star of the underdog side is the coach. Head coach Jeremy Gunn, in his fifth season, has put the right pieces together for a complete squad from top to bottom.” What coaching style does Gunn bring to the 49ers? What moves has he made to put this team in the position to compete for a national championship?
DS: Gunn knows which buttons to push. He’s a very smart, confident coach who is able to put his guys in the best position to succeed. He’s not doing it with a bunch of high school All-Americans, but has a group that believes in themselves and isn’t intimidated. He scheduled games at Virginia (2-1 OT victory), Maryland (3-1 loss), South Carolina (2-1 loss) and Clemson (3-1 win), as well as NCAA tournament participant Coastal Carolina (1-0) to get them ready for these kinds of situations.