3. TV PREVIEW: UNCG and Coastal look to end skids

• by Soccer America , Sep 22, 2006

UNC Greensboro and Coastal Carolina, the defending Southern and Big South men's champions, respectively, are both headed in the same direction -- the wrong direction.

UNCG and Coastal Carolina, which meet in Friday's NSCAA College Match of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel (live, 8 pm ET), are both 0-2-1 in their last three games.

UNCG (4-4-1) was ranked as high as seventh in the Soccer America Men's Top 25 before dropping out of the national rankings altogether. After opening with two straight wins, the Spartans self-destructed at VCU, where they had five players red carded and lost, 3-1. UNCG hit rock bottom last week when it lost, 5-1, to William & Mary. The Spartans have not been winless in four consecutive matches since the end of the 1979 season (last three matches) and 1980 season opener when they were still in Division III.

All-American forward Randi Patterson leads UNCG with six goals, but his goal against William & Mary is the only goal the Spartans have scored in their last three games.

Coastal Carolina got off to a fast start this season, winning four of its first five. Since then, the Chanticleers have tied Gardner-Webb (1-1), lost to Davidson (2-1), tied UNC Wilmington (0-0), and most recently, lost at Liberty (2-1).

Englishman Luke Ibbetson, a transfer from Division II Lander, has scored nearly half of Coastal’s goals this season (7 of 15). Another transfer to watch is Zimbabwean Mkhokheli Dube, who has won two national titles in the last year -- the 2005 NAIA championship with Lindsey Wilson and the 2006 PDL championship with the Michigan Bucks.

MEN'S TOP 25 MATCHUPS
FRIDAY
No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 1 Virginia (TV: ACC Select)
No. 19 Saint Louis vs. No. 3 SMU

SATURDAY
No. 5 Wake Forest vs. No. 6 Maryland (TV: ACC Select)

SUNDAY
No. 13 San Francisco vs. No. 15 Santa Clara