Kangaroos Finish Regular Season at Houston Baptist Saturday
11/8/2013 9:30:00 AM | Men's Soccer
UMKC 'Roos (4-9-4, 3-5-1) at Houston Baptist (8-6-2, 3-4-2)
Date / Time: Nov. 9 - 7:00 p.m.
Site: Houston, Texas
Webcast: None
Live Stats: UMKCKangaroos.com (via HBU)
Twitter: @TheUMKCRoos
Series: HBU leads 1-0
Home: 0-1-0
Away: 0-0-0
Neutral: 0-0-0
Last Meeting: HBU won 2-1 in KC, 10/5/13
Benben vs. Opponent: 0-1-0
The Game
Kansas City closes out the regular season on Saturday at Houston Baptist looking to jockey for position in the upcoming WAC Tournament. The 'Roos currently sit in a tie for sixth in the league with San Jose State, just one point behind Houston Baptist.
The Coaches
In his 16th season at UMKC, Rick Benben is the winningest coach in school history, posting a 116-146-33 record. Under his guidance, UMKC has captured four conference regular season titles and has made three appearances in the NCAA College Cup with the most recent appearance coming in 2008. Benben, the fourth head coach in the Division I era, was inducted into the UMKC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
Steve Jones is in his eighth season at Houston Baptist, and 19th as a head coach, boasting a 208-194-22 overall record. At HBU he has a 58-61-13 record.
The Series
This will be the second ever meeting between the two squads, with HBU holding a 1-0 advantage in the series after coming from behind for a 2-1 win in Kansas City on October 5.
Scouting the Competition
HBU comes in off a 5-0 pasting of San Jose State, and a 1-1 tie against league-leader Seattle. The win snapped a five-game winless streak.
Tobenna Uzo has a team-best 10 goals while running mate Kristopher Tyrpak leads the squad with six assists. The Huskies have scored 29 goals while giving up 28 this season. In the previous meeting with the 'Roos, Patrick Toh had a goal and an assist, while Thilo Borgmann scored his only goal of the year.
A Win Against HBU Means...
- UMKC would have guaranteed at least the No. 6 seed in the first round of the WAC Tournament.
- Kansas City would have evened the season series with the Huskies.
- The 'Roos would have snapped a four-game losing streak overall.
The WAC Tournament Info
UMKC plays in its first ever WAC Tournament starting on Thursday. Three first round matches will be played on Thursday, Nov. 14 with the winners moving on to the semifinals (along with the top seed, Seattle) the next day. The championship will be played at 1:00 p.m. (CT) on Sunday, Nov. 17.
Tickets can be purchased at goairforcefalcons.com or by calling (719) 472 1895.
All-Session Adult: $15
All-Session Student with ID: $10
All-Session Youth/Seniors: $10
Single-Session: $8
The WAC will stream all of the matches as well. All six matches can be seen on WAC.tv by accessing the soccer tournament package for a one-time price of $11.95.
Tiebreaker Scenarios
The 'Roos can be any one of three seeds next week in the WAC Tournament: The No. 5, 6 or 7.
To get the No. 5 seed, they would need to defeat HBU and have SJSU tie or lose.
To get the No. 6 seed, they would need to defeat HBU and have SJSU win as well, or tie HBU and have SJSU lose.
If the 'Roos lose at HBU, they will be the No. 7 seed. Full bracket with game times on page 10.
