BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— For the past five seasons, the Gulf South Conference men's soccer tournament may just as well been called the West Florida Invitational. The Argonauts have won five consecutive championships and has allowed just two goals during that span at the tournament that is held at Brosnaham Park in Pensacola, Fla.
But this season, UWF just might be the underdogs. The 2011 campaign has been dominated by Christian Brothers, which has won a staggering nine consecutive matches entering the tournament and looks to validate its regular season title with a GSC Tournament championship. The Bucs are currently the top-ranked team in the South Region and No. 9 in the NSCAA national rankings.
CBU, led by GSC Freshman of the Year Jose Ferraz, finished off its perfect conference slate with a 2-0 win over Delta State to close out the regular season. Ferraz scored both goals and currently leads the league with 14. The Bucs will open against No. 4 seed Harding, which advanced to the GSC Tournament for the first time since 2008 after forging a 1-all tie with Ouachita Baptist in its season finale. The Bisons won the tiebreaker over the Tigers and look to avenge two one-goal losses to Christian Brothers this season.
Alabama-Huntsville and West Florida are set to battle in the second semifinal and should be very familiar with one another. The two teams squared off in the final game of the regular season with the Chargers - thanks to a Ragnar Gunnarsson goal on a penalty kick in the second overtime - secured a 1-0 win over the Argos to secure the No. 2 seed. Still, UAH is looking to avenge some recent bad looking in the GSC Tournament against UWF. The Argonauts have beat the Chargers the last three times the two teams have met in the postseason - including the 2009 Championship Match - by a combined score of 8-0.
THIS WEEK'S MATCHES
GSC TOURNAMENT
BROSNAHAMPARK
PENSACOLA, FLA.
Friday, November 4
No. 3 West Florida vs. No. 2 Alabama-Huntsville, 4:30 p.m.
No. 4 Harding vs. No. 1 Christian Brothers, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 6
Championship Match, 1:30 p.m.
