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The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's soccer team will open up NCAA Division III Championship play on Friday when they travel to Grand Rapids, Mich., to take on Calvin College at 12 p.m. Central Time.
Tickets will be sold at the entrance gate. Costs for each day will be $6 for adults, $3 for students and seniors, $2 for children ages 3-12, and children under 3 are free. Payments must be made in cash.
The Warhawks last played Calvin in 2010 in the second round of the tournament. Regulation time ended with a 1-1 tie, forcing the game into two overtimes and then into a shootout. The Knights won 9-8 in the second round of extra shots.
UW-Whitewater claimed the Pool B (independent) bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. Competing in the American Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) for the first year, the team claimed the conference championship on Nov. 3 by shootout over California-Santa Cruz.
UW-Whitewater is making its fourth appearance in the national tournament over the last six years and 14th appearance overall. The team owns a 15-4-2 record after starting the season on an 11-match unbeaten streak that included six road wins and one road draw. The Warhawks set a program record with a 17-match unbeaten streak dating back to last season. Three of UW-Whitewater's four losses during the 2019 season have come against NCAA Tournament qualifiers.
The team enters this weekend's regional on a four-match unbeaten streak, including a 4-3 win at Loras on Oct. 29, when it scored twice in the final four minutes of regulation. A total of 10 Warhawks were named All-ACAA, including Player of the Year
Hozai Ceballos (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig), Defensive Player of the Year
Garrett Morgando (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) and Goalkeeper of the Year
Jake King (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West). ACAA Coach of the Year
Tony Guinn, who is in his eighth season at the helm of the program, earned his 100th win at UW-Whitewater earlier this season.
UW-W is outscoring its opponents 15-7 over the last four matches.
Ceballos leads the offense as the team's leading scorer with 11 goals. He also has the team-high with five assists. The senior forward has started 17 out of 20 games.
Junior midfielder
Brad Ludwig (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly) is the second-highest scorer on the team with seven goals. Other strong players representing the offense are sophomore
Jalen Holley (Milwaukee, Wis./Wauwatosa East) and juniors
Jackson Ranck (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and
Steven Wright (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake).
On the defensive end, UW-W is led by Morgando, senior
Trevor Johnson (Racine, Wis./St. Catherine's), sophomores
Mariano Carini (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay) and
Evan Donini (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha West). The four lineup in front of King, who has started every game and holds a .838 saving percentage.
Calvin (19-1-1) is making its 18th overall NCAA Tournament appearance and 11th in the last 12 seasons. This season, the Knights earned the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association's automatic bid by defeating Hope 4-3 in penalty kicks at the conference tournament.
The Knights are led by sophomore defender Sam Twigg who has tallied 12 goals and 13 assists, followed closely by senior midfielder Hunter Olson with 14 goals and seven assists.
The goalkeeping has been split between junior Chris Morrish and freshman Daniel Wunder. Wunder holds a 9-0 record with five solo shutouts while Morrish has tallied 32 saves in 12 games.
The Knights have out-shot opponents 376-133 and have scored 69 goals.
Calvin finished as runner-up in the NCAA Division III Tournament last season.
The winner of the UW-Whitewater vs. Calvin match will advance to a second round match on Saturday at 2 p.m. Central Time. The team will face the winner of the Ohio Northern (13-6-2) and St. Norbert (16-4-2) game that plays on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
