MEN'S SOCCER NCAA SWEET SIXTEEN: GAME PREVIEW, TICKET INFO AND MORE
Boca Raton, FL - After a thrilling overtime victory over Auburn-Montgomery, the Cobras are on to the Sweet Sixteen. The next task in front of them is their hardest one yet: the #1 ranked Fighting Knights from Lynn.
Game Preview:
A close call in the first game for Coker put them in this position. For Lynn, there haven't been many close calls this season. The 16-0-2 Fighting Knights have yet to lose this season and have their eyes set on the same thing the Cobras do: a National Championship. Playing in the Sunshine State Conference, they all but cruised to both a regular season and postseason conference title to earn them the second seed in the Southeast Super Region.
Although they received the SSC's automatic qualifying bid (AQ), Lynn was more than certain to receive an at-large bid, likely even if they lost in the first round of their tournament. Prior to the season, they were named the 19th-ranked team in all of DII men's soccer, which didn't last long. A 2-0 first week with a 2-0 win over Spring Hill and a 4-0 win over Lenoir-Rhyne vaulted them to 4th in the standings, then a 3-2 win over 13th-ranked Missippi College the very next week landed them as the 2nd-ranked team. Then, a huge week of wins in week three (6-1 over Tusculum and 4-0 over Florida Southern) placed them firmly as the number-one team in the country; a position they did not relinquish for the rest of the season.
Their two lone blemishes on the season came in the form of two 1-1 ties: one against Barry and one against Saint Leo. Other than that, there have been 16 wins on the season for the mighty Fighting Knights. As for overlap between the two teams, there is actually quite a bit for two teams that are over 600 miles apart from each other. As stated previously, Lynn faced off against two teams from the South Atlantic Conference: Tusculum and Lenoir-Rhyne. The Fighting Knights earned a dominant 6-1 win over the Pioneers in Greeneville, TN on September 18th, while the Cobras fought tooth-and-nail to earn a 1-0 victory at home on homecoming weekend (October 26th). For LR, it was another dominant win for Lynn (this time a 4-0 home win), while the Cobras defeated them 3-1 at home on October 12th but fell to them 2-1 in overtime in the SAC semi-final. Outside of the SAC, both teams faced off against Nova Southeastern, with Lynn earning a 1-0 home win and the Cobras earning a 4-1 home-opening victory.
Despite the dominance on paper by the Fighting Knights, Coach Antoniewicz says they are more confident than ever about their chances of coming home from Boca Raton with a victory and an Elite Eight berth. The Cobras thrive in an underdog environment, an environment that they haven't been in at all this season. Even in the Cobras' lone regular-season loss to Limestone, they were the 13th-ranked team while the Saints were just receiving votes at the time. Antoniewicz is confident in their on-field match-ups and told us that he would take his group of guys over any other team in the country.
Ticket Info:
If you plan to travel to Boca Raton for the contest, be prepared with ticket information here!
Adult (Ages 13+): $8
Seniors (Ages 60+): $5
Youth (Ages 6-12): $5
Game and Facility Info:
Event: NCAA Men's Soccer Sweet Sixteen
Participants: (2) Lynn (16-0-2) vs. (3) Coker (15-2-1)
Date/Time: Sunday, December 1st, at 3:00 PM ET
Location: Bobby Campbell Stadium - Boca Raton, FL
Streaming: SSC Digital Network (visit here)
Lynn has put together a tournament page filled with additional information you may need if you plan on traveling (or if you just want to find out more about the game). To view that page, visit the link here.