Nov. 15, 2008

(San Francisco) - After a 0-4-0 start to the season, San Francisco men's soccer closed with a flourish, rolling through the West Coast Conference schedule with a 7-3-1 mark entering Sunday's regular season finale at Loyola Marymount. With a 2-1 victory at San Diego on Friday at Torero Stadium, the Dons secured no worse than a share of its 12th WCC Championship and a win or a tie against the Lions will give them the title outright. Gonzaga enters Sunday's contest at Saint Mary's with the ability to tie San Francisco with a Bulldogs' win coupled with a USF loss, but the Dons own the tiebreakers and will advance to their league record 31st NCAA Tournament.

NCAA SELECTION SHOW: USF's first round opponent, game time and location will be revealed Monday, November 17 at 3:00 PM (PT) on ESPN News. Additional information will be available on USFDons.com.

QUOTING COACH VISSER
On the resiliency of the team after a tough start: "I am proud of the way this team responded after a slow start. I give everyone on the team a lot of credit because they stayed the course and went from game to game and didn't focus on the result but tried to continue to improve every day at practice. I think that was the key for this group."

On the team's league-leading defense: "Our philosophy is you build championship teams by focusing on the defense. We look at our 2004-05 conference championship teams and we started building from the back and built a solid spine and I always feel that no matter how tough it was for us to score goals early, if we continued to play good defense that eventually the goals come."

On the senior class: "It's a small group, but a very strong senior class. Kyle Schlumpf has been very important throughout his career since 2005. Bryan VanCura has shown tremendous leadership on and off the field since his arrival. Much of the credit for our success this season must go to the outstanding leadership of Jeff Russell and his emergence as a force in the back. It has been a pleasure to watch him develop as a person and as a player. Eric Conner and Jeremy Coupe have both played an important role in our success this season. A lot of credit for the success of the program this year goes to the senior class."

On the emergence of Conor Chinn: "We've known for years that Conor is a great talent. For him to take his game to the next level was a matter of becoming more consistent and taking care of his chances. There are very few defenses that can deal with his speed, athleticism and his strength. This year he's been coming into his own where he has been not only getting in the right positions, but he has been much more clinical in finishing. There's a lot of room for improvement, but we look for him to continue his progress."

DONS SOCCER SET FOR 31ST NCAA APPEARANCE: After winning the West Coast Conference Championship, USF captured the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament - the 31st berth in program history. San Francisco now advances to the postseason for the fourth time in the last five seasons (2004-06, 2008) and has won three WCC titles in the last five years (2004-05, 2008). One of the nation's most storied programs, the Dons rank fourth in all-time appearances behind only St. Louis (45), UCLA (36) and Indiana (33). San Francisco also ranks fourth in total NCAA Division I Championships with four behind the Billikens (10), the Hoosiers (7) and Virginia (5).

SAN FRANCISCO IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: No stranger to postseason soccer, San Francisco prepares for its 31st appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Dons own a rich soccer tradition with six national championships, two national runner-up showings and seven College Cups (Final Four). The Dons own a 44-23-1 NCAA Tournament record with four NCAA Titles (1966, 1975, 1976 & 1980), seven appearances in the finals (last 1980) and 10 showings in the national quarterfinals (last 1983). The Dons dropped a tough 1-0 decision to New Mexico in the 89th minute at Negoesco Stadium November 11, 2006, in their last NCAA appearance.

SAN FRANCISCO WINS ITS 34TH CONFERENCE TITLE: USF won its 12th West Coast Conference title with a 2-1 road victory at San Diego (11/14/08) and its second in five seasons. It also marks the 34th overall for the Dons soccer program. San Francisco won four Pacific Soccer League titles (1977, 1978, 1979 & 1980) and 18 Northern California Intercollegiate Soccer Conference crowns (1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1974 & 1975). USF won the WCC hardware in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2004, 2005 & 2008.