Six players in Sunday's NCAA College Cup final could be headed to Major League Soccer. If the national championship game is any indication of what they'll bring to the league ... they could well be welcomed with open arms.
Wake Forest defender Julian Valentin proved proved that he can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. In the 81st minute, Valentin collided with the foot of Ohio State's Roger Espinoza. He sat on the sidelines being stitched up and with a grin on his face, eventually the first player to grab the national championship trophy after the Demon Deacons' 2-1 victory against Ohio State.
"Julian is the ultimate warrior," Wake Forest goalkeeper Brian Edwards said. "He's going to battle for us and we're going to battle for him. When he's bleeding, he's at his best."
Valentin anchored the Wake back line along with Patrick Phelan. While Ohio State took 12 shots in the first half, the Demon Deacons only the opener in the 12th minute. Phelan's stewardship in the back helped tighten things up as the Buckeyes had nothing that came close enough to count as a shot after the break. Meanwhile, Phelan managed to take two shots. He tallied two goals and four assists in 25 games for the Deacs, starting in every game.
In goal, Wake's Brian Edwards was challenged five times in the first half. Four of those he stopped with solid saves, and one snuck by him. But after that he was solid -- over the season, Edwards made 62 saves, while allowing just 12 goals, while leading his team to 22 wins.
The leader of the Ohio State attack was Xavier Balc, who had three shots for the Buckeyes, two of them on goal and both in the first half. He's a strong and solid player who can race down the field, but can also defend. On the season, Balc had eight goals and 14 assists. His 35 career assists and 261 shots lead OSU record books.
Casey Latchem allowed just 20 goals over the season, helping the team set a school record with 15 shutouts on the year. He was beaten for the two goals that gave Wake the victory, but wasn't given the chance to do much with either shot. Latchem finished his career with 27 shutouts in four seasons -- also an OSU record.
In the back, Eric Brunner came up huge for the Buckeyes. He was all over the place, breaking up passes and shutting down players, while clearing the back lines for OSU and keeping Wake off the board for 65 minutes. Brunner also had six goals on the season.
"We came out on all cylinders and took it to them," Brunner said. "They kind of got side-tracked. They didn't expect us to come out as fast as we did. When we got our first goal, we were real confident going into halftime that we could hold the shutout. We made a couple of back mistakes. Wake Forest is good enough that they'll capitalize on them."
TRACY LEADS THE WAY: The most outstanding player for the Men's College Cup, though, will likely have a year before he shows what he can do on the next level. Marcus Tracy is only a junior.
Tracy scored three of Wake's four goals over the final four weekend, getting the tying goal in Sunday's championship, then setting up the national championship winner.
"Over the course of the year coach has told me to be confident in what I do that I have the skills that it takes to put away balls like that. I just kept my head on the ball and tucked it away in the corner," Tracy said of his tying goal, that followed his two goals in the national semifinal.
"Marcus did a lot of work up there coming through and winning a lot of balls. I know with his athleticism, a lot of time being his partner up top, you got to find yourself in the right spot at the right time," said Zack Schilawski, who took Tracy's feed for the game-winner in the 78th minute. "Luckily Marcus did the work and the ball bounced my way. I saw the 'keeper coming after the ball a little bit and I knocked it in."
Tracy finished the season with 11 goals, second on the Deacons behind Cody Arnoux, who assisted on Tracy's goal on Sunday that started the Wake comeback over the final half-hour.
"We have been in that situation before a couple times this year. We know that if we stick to our game plan and force our tactics on our opponents we'll probably will be able to find one as long as we stay confident in what we do," Tracy said.
END OF THE ROAD: Defensively, Ohio State was solid in the first half of play. And not just guarding their net. The whole team played defense. Coach John Bluem said it was one of the best defenses they've ever had.
"For the last 15 games we have not allowed a lot of goals," Bluem said. "Our back four play together very well. Casey has been great for us since he began his career. We have an excellent team. Today two excellent tams were playing. Somebody had to win."
Ohio State might have fallen short by one goal, but Brunner said he couldn't be more proud.
"I'm proud as hell of this team," Brunner said. "I have never been a part of a team with this character. We proved we were one of the top two teams in the country. We could have been hoisting the first place trophy."
Ohio State finished the season with records for wins (17), shutouts (15), unbeaten streak (15) and consecutive shutouts (5). They've changed the face of Ohio State soccer.
WARZYCHA??? THAT NAME'S FAMILIAR: Konrad Warzycha made a couple of appearances this weekend for Ohio State. Warzycha is the son of Robert -- the former Columbus Crew great and current Crew assistant coach. Friday he recorded a shot in OSU's 1-0 semifinal win against UMass. In his freshman campaign, Warzycha appeared in 17 matches for the Buckeyes, registering one assist.
Kathryn L. Knapp is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
