The UMass men's soccer team begins a four-game road stretch with a trip to defending National Champion and No. 1 ranked Wake Forest on Tuesday. This will be the first ever meeting between the two programs. The Demon Deacons have started the 2008 season 10-0-0, while the Minutemen are 2-4-2 overall. On the line will be Wake Forest's 27-game unbeaten streak at Spry Stadium and a 15-game win streak dating back to last season.

The biggest tie between the two programs is WFU assistant coach Jon Lowery who was also an assistant coach at UMass before returning to his alma mater Ohio State in 2005.

This year, UMass will face NCAA defending champions in several sports along with men's soccer. Men's basketball will face Kansas, the men's ice hockey team will play conference-foe Boston College three times, and the men's lacrosse team will face Syracuse. If the women's lacrosse team's schedule features Northwestern for a third year, the Minutewomen will be the fifth team to play a defending National Champion this year.

Minutemen Show Depth In Scoring Column
The Minutemen have netted a total of seven goals this season from six different players. Senior Prince Ofosu is the only player to have scored multiple goals. Bryant Craft and Chris Vaccaro each scored their first career goals this season. Ben Arikian, Chris Brown, and Mike DeSantis are the other two Minutemen to find the back of the net.

Comparing The First Six Games Of 2007 & 2008
Although the Minutemen have gotten off to a 2-4-2 start, there are some silver linings when compared to 2007. The Minutemen started last season 4-4-0 in the first eight games bolstered by the start of a six-game win streak.

UMass has one less goal this year (7) than last year (8) while allowing one more goal (9) than last year (8). Keeper Zack Simmons has made 8 more saves (38-to-30) but has faced 23 more shots. His goals against average is also fairly similar (1.04 GAA-to-0.96 GAA). UMass has also garnered eight more corner kicks than last year (40-to-32) and has committed less fouls (86-to-119).

Simmons Named Candidate For Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
Zack Simmons was named one of 30 candidates nationwide for the 2008 Men's Soccer Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award is given to the senior who displays both on-field and off-field excellence and has become one of the most prestigious honors in college athletics. It is sponsored by Lowe's, an Official Corporate Partner of the NCAA.

The 30 candiates for the CLASS Award are individuals qualified based on their dedication and achievement in four areas: Classroom, Character, Community, and Competition. The Lowe's Senior CLASS Award is distinctive from many other honors in that on-the-field performance is only one factor in determining candidacy - a major emphasis is placed on off-the-field commitments and personal character.

From the list of 30 candidates, a national media committee will select 10 finalists for the 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in both divisions in October. Those 10 names from each division will then be placed on the official ballot for a nationwide vote beginning October 9 and concluding November 19. Fan balloting will be coupled with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award. Winners will be announced during the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championships in Frisco, Texas, scheduled for December 12-14.

Attendance Mark One Of UMass' Best Ever
A College Cup berth has made the Minutemen a popular commodity in 2008. To date, over 10,000 fans (an average of 1,286) have shown up to the eight games so far. The high for the season is 5,935 for the Boston University game. That mark currently stands as the fourth highest attendance nationally for a men's soccer match this season. At the ODU STIHL Classic, 1,846 fans came out for the UMass/Old Dominion game.

TOP MEN'S CROWDS OF 2008
1. UC Santa Barbara-Wake Forest (Sept. 21), 7,408
2. Maryland-Wake Forest (Sept. 26), 6,500
3. South Carolina-Clemson (Aug. 29) 6,102
4. Maryland-Duke (Sept. 19), 6,083
5. Boston Univ.-Massachusetts (Aug. 31), 5,935
6. Saint Louis-Missouri State (Sept. 27), 5,785
7. Creighton-Gonzaga (Aug. 29) 4,071
8. Connecticut-St. Peter's (Aug. 29), 3,720
9. North Carolina-N.C. State (Sept. 12) 3,503
10. Indiana-Duke (Aug. 29), 3,464

Minutemen Pitch First Shutout Of Season
The Minutemen earned their first clean sheet of the season last Saturday against Siena (9/6) with the 1-0 blanking of the Saints. The shutout was the 25th in the last 70 matches.

Brown Nets Game Winner Over Saints
It's not unusual for Chris Brown to score a goal from his defensive position. A mainstay on UMass set pieces, the Tucson, Ariz. native scored his fourth career goal against Siena (9/6) which also served as his second career game-winner.

Arikian Critical In UMass Wins
Sophomore midfielder Ben Arikian has been instrumental in both wins for the Minutemen early in the season. Arikian scored the game-winning Golden Goal at Boston University (8/31) just eight seconds into the second overtime period. Against Siena (9/6), he served a direct kick into the box finding Chris Brown for the game-winning goal in the 89th minute. As a freshman, he tallied two goals and a team-high six assists to earn Soccer America All-Freshman Second Team honors and Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team accolades.

Simmons Improving Upon School Records
In 2007, keeper Zack Simmons re-wrote the UMass record book for goalkeepers. In 2008, Simmons is looking to put those numbers out of reach for his successors. He holds the career record for wins (34), shutouts (25), and saves (340). He is also closing in on the career goals-against-average of 0.96 with his career average of 1.03 GAA.

The Iron Men Of UMass
UMass defender Chris Brown is projected to start his 74th career matches - every game of his career - this Tuesday against Wake Forest. Along with Brown, senior midfielder Mike DeSantis will also play in career match No. 74 (68 career starts). The pair are on pace to become the all-time career games played leaders in UMass history.

Keeper Zack Simmons is just behind Brown and DeSantis with 71 consecutive matches.

The `Fort Rudd' Advantage
Few home fields yeild such a distinct advantage as Rudd Field, aka FORT RUDD. At home UMass is 38-17-6 since the facility opened in 2002. All told, UMass has pitched 21 shutouts at home and outscored opponents by a 113-73 margin. The Minutemen have scored four or more goals at home on 10 occassions, while allowing that total just once.

Last season, UMass was an amazing 9-1 on the home pitch - including three NCAA Tournament wins. A Rudd Field record 1,863 fans showed up for the NCAA Quarterfinal game vs. Illinois-Chicago.

Sophomore Bryan Hogan scored the 100th goal in Rudd Field history on Oct. 14 in a 2-1 win over A-10 rival Xavier.

Koch Closing In On Win #250: Just Three Wins Shy
Head coach Sam Koch is in his 18th season at UMass and is the winningest coach in the program's 76-year history needing just four wins for #250 of his overall coaching career. His career win total in Amherst stands at 189, while his overall coaching win total is 247 games. Among active NCAA coaches, Koch ranks 21st in overall career wins.

Simmons Twice Named Preseason All-American
Coming off a school-record season where he set career marks for wins (32), shutouts (23) and saves (302) and the single-season record for goals-against-average (0.79), keeper Zack Simmons was named to the Soccer America Preseason All-America First Team and the College Soccer News Preseason All-America Third-Team.

Four Named To Atlantic 10 Preseason Team
Chris Brown, Mike DeSantis, Bryan Hogan, and Zack Simmons were each named to the 2008 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Preseason All-Conference Team as announced by the league in early July. UMass led the way with four players named to the All-Conference Team.

Minutemen Ranked To Begin The 2008 Season
UMass began the season ranked No. 13 in the NSCAA/adidas Preseason Top 25 National Poll. Additionally, the Minutemen were ranked in four other collegiate soccer preseason national polls. UMass finished the 2007 season ranked No. 4 nationally - its highest ever national ranking.

Poll - Rank
NSCAA/adidas - #13
Soccer America - #15
College Soccer News - #22
SoccerTimes.com - #25
TopDrawerSoccer.com - #28

Last Time Out: Vermont 0, UMass 0
Zack Simmons made three saves to record his 25th career shutout, but the UMass men's soccer team could not score as the Minutemen fought to a 0-0 double overtime draw against Vermont at the UMass Classic Invitational. In the earlier game of the day, Rhode Island defeated Hartford 1-0 in double overtime to take the Tournament title.

Rhode Island won the UMass Classic title with a 1-0-1 record on the weekend. Vermont (0-0-2) and Hartford (1-1-0) tied for second, while UMass finished fourth with a 0-1-1 mark in the tournament.

The All-Tournament Team was made up of Rhode Island's Chris Pennock, Kevin Shaw, Domenic Petrarca, Erkko Puranen; Hartford's Carlos Villa, Patrick Boucher, Sam Groves; Vermont's Connor Tobin, Jake McFadden, Roger Scully; and UMass' Zack Simmons and Mike DeSantis.

Prince Ofosu Named UMass Co-Athlete of the Week - 9/1/08
Junior tailback Tony Nelson and senior forward Prince Ofosu were named the UMass/Dinn Bros. Co-Athletes of the Week after both had career games in the first week of action. Nelson gained a career-best 171 yards on the ground scoring two touchdowns to overcome the Great Danes of Albany 28-16 in the season opener. Ofosu scored a career-high two goals to defeat Boston University in double overtime for the Minutemen's first win of the season.

Ofosu, a senior from Agogo, Ghana, recorded the first multi-goal game of his career, scoring both goals in regulation. In the 39th minute, Ofosu evaded three defenders from midfield before driving a shot past the BU keeper. Ofosu's second goal from just inside the right post came with just three seconds left in regulation. As a junior, Ofosu had four goals and two assists.

Coburn, McGrath Named To UMass Athletics Hall Of Fame
The University of Massachusetts Athletic Department has inducted five new members into the George "Trigger" Burke UMass Athletic Hall of Fame, making up the class of 2008. The quintet was honored on Friday, October 3, 2008 at a dinner held at the UMass Student Union Ballroom, and they were also recognized at the UMass-Delaware football game the following day. The 2008 Hall of Fame Class was Jack Canniff (ice hockey coach 1967-79), Thomas Coburn (Class of 1974, men's soccer), Jack Foley (Class of 1957, men's basketball), Edward McGrath (Class of 1949, soccer, basketball, baseball), and Ron Wayne (Class of 1971, cross country, track and field).

Streaming Video Live From Rudd Field
The UMass Media Relations Department is proud to announce that the 2008 men's soccer regular-season home games will be streamed live over UMassAthletics.com this year. Along with live video of games, make sure to check out UMass All-Access Multimedia for player profiles, interviews with head coach Sam Koch, and much more. You can sign up for an All-Access Pass by clicking on the Multimedia link at UMassAthletics.com.

Order Photos From The 2008 Season
The UMass Media Relations Department offers fans the chance to purchase photos from the 2008 men's soccer season. Simply go to UMassAthletics.com, find the photo you like in our photo galleries and fill out the order form. You have your choice of 4x6, 8x10 and new this year, 11x14 prints - all shipped directly to your door. Make sure to capture your favorite memory of the season to proudly display your Maroon & White pride!

Free Soccer E-Newsletter
Fans, want to get all the latest information on the UMass men's soccer team? Sign up today by contacting John Sinnett (jsinnett@admin.umass.edu) in the UMass media relations department. You will receive weekly notes, feature stories, postgame recaps, box scores and more delivered straight to your inbox. It's the best way to keep up with the Minutemen, so sign up today!

Next Up: Oct. 12 at Rhode Island - Atlantic 10 Opener
UMass will head to Rhode Island to open the Atlantic 10 portion of the schedule on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 3:30 p.m. This will be the second of four consecutive road games. Sunday will be the 55th all-time meeting between the two sides with the Rams holding a 29-19-4 advantage in the series. Last year, the team's played twice with Rhode Island winning the regular-season meeting, 3-1, and the Minutemen winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament meeting, 1-0, which placed them in the A-10 Championship game.