Coming to a school near you, next fall will mark the opening of Southern Oak Stadium. This will be the brand new soccer stadium right here on Jacksonville University’s campus. The new stadium will be located right where the current one is now at the Ashley Sports Complex.

This new and improved addition to the athletic program at JU will add another fresh structure for athletes, students, alumni and others to pride themselves in. The new stadium will offer 500 permanent seats, professional style dugouts for the players, a new press box and a luxury VIP suite.  The suite itself is expected to hold 40 people comfortably. This all will be available to both men and women’s soccer team come next season. The stadium will not only look gorgeous but will also benefit the soccer players.

“I think the new stadium will motivate players when they play at home,” said senior defenseman Casey Tafuri. “It will also attract more fans and recruits to the games which is always good.”

Donations from the likes of lead donor Tony Loughman, Vulcan Materials and a bulk of other JU soccer alumni helped the dream of a stadium to come true. Freshman Kaitlyn Bassett, who was not informed about the new stadium on her recruiting trip, is surprised and excited for the new addition.

“I’m looking forward to having an upgrade, especially the seating and bleachers that are going in because it will give people a better view of the action,” said Bassett.

In addition to this great new structure going up, a push for a new fence around the soccer stadium is taking place. Even greater news is that there is an opportunity for anyone to get involved. People have the ability to purchase a brick for the new walkway to the stadium or even a permanent chair back at the new stadium. The name and/or message of the donor will be engraved in either the brick or chair back. Interested persons may contact the athletic department. All these new features bode well for the future of JU soccer.

“All this will help increase the prestige associated with the soccer program at JU,” said Tafuri. “Throughout the years I have seen the program become more competitive through scheduling and results against nationally ranked teams. This will only help.”

The newest addition to the JU family will no doubt cause quite the buzz for everyone involved with the university. Once Southern Oak Stadium is finished, go enjoy a game and support your Jacksonville soccer teams.

The Jacksonville University men’s soccer team lost their season finale 2-0 to Eastern Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN.  The match pitted the 6^th-seeded Buccaneers against the 3^rd-seeded Dolphins.  The loss knocked the Dolphins (9-8-2) out of the first round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament which began Nov. 9^th.

The Bucs (10-6-3) scored in the fourth minute when David Geno passed to David Haba on a fast break.  ETSU netted its insurance goal 15 minutes later, putting them up 2-0.

The Fins attempted a total of 14 shots during the game, with none of them getting past the opposing goalie, Ryan Coulter.

Senior Stefan Durr said it best, “We played a very good conference season but unfortunately we lost two games to Stetson and FGCU which meant we had to face the host ETSU in the quarter finals.  We were confident because we beat them already once this season.  We thought we had the most talented team but unfortunately on the day of the match we didn’t have our A game.”

The JU men’s Soccer squad had two recipients honored to the all-conference team for play.  Senior Tobias Hottner was named to the first team, while fellow senior Predrag Ivonovic was named to the second team.

Hottner will be graduating this December, and then he plans on moving back to his hometown of Munich, Germany, where he will continue his prominent soccer career.

“We didn’t quite meet our expectations as a team, we really were confident that we could become champions,” said Hottner.

Hottner started all three years he was at JU after transferring from Virginia Tech.

This was only the second time all season JU suffered a shutout loss.

Photo courtesy of JU Athletics

The post-season was finally underway in the Atlantic Sun conference this past Friday, Oct. 28 for the Women’s Soccer team. The Lady Fins, who came into the tournament scorching, played their way into a three way victory for the regular season A-sun championship. They split these honors with East Tennessee State and Florida Gulf Coast University all boasting a (7-1-1) conference record.

The Dolphins opened up their A-sun tourney play against a familiar foe, Mercer University, in the quarterfinals right here at JU’s Ashley Sports Complex.

JU spent very little time igniting the action in this game, getting on the board in the fourth minute. Freshman Kaitlyn Basset who led the team this season eight goals, found the back of the net on a Liz Fink corner kick. After that goal the game remained in cruise control for both teams, the action went back and forth but JU remained on top.

This all changed in the 58th minute when the Bear’s scored off the foot of Casey Barrett. This knotted the game at one goal apiece and it stayed that way. Both teams fought each other so ferociously that the game stayed even through the end of regulation and two overtimes. Due to the fact that this was a postseason game, the score required a shootout. The Dolphins who out shot the Bears 20-9 during the game could not transfer that edge into the shootout. Mercer led with strong goalkeeper play, beating the Dolphins 4-2 on the kicks. This gave the Bears the victory and abruptly ended the season for JU. The Fins Head Coach Brian Copham could do nothing but appreciate the fight and heart showed by his team.

“I am extremely proud of the girls and their efforts tonight, I want to thank the seniors and all the contributions they have given to the program over these past several years,” said Copham.

On the bright side of things for JU, they had five players represented on the A-Sun All-Conference and All-Academic teams. Redshirt senior midfielder Liz Fink and junior defender Emily Culbreth received first team honors. They were joined by senior midfielder Jessica Hurtado and Bassett on the second team. Junior midfielder Becca Massip was the lone selection to the all-academic team for JU.

These accolades reflect how successful and hard working the Lady Fins were on and off the field this year. Even though JU’s season ended sooner then expected. The women’s efforts will not be forgotten and the team hopes to be back on top of the A-sun once again, come next season.

Photo by Grace Singer

The recipe was simple for the Lady Fins on Friday, Oct. 14. Strike early and often, then play suffocating defense. All of this in the mix stirred together to create a tasty dish of victory for JU over Atlantic Sun opponent, Lipscomb University.

The Women’s soccer team darted in swift motion across the field, offensively taking the first half. This aggressive attack led to two goals for the dolphins in the first 17 minutes. Senior Liz Fink took the first score with her fourth goal of the season at the 5:55 mark.

The Fins continued to control the flow of the game and 11:04 later they struck again off the foot of junior Emily Culbreth. JU goalkeeper Sarah Sierra logged her seventh shutout of the season with two saves. This was a great overall effort by JU as they had a 25-6 shot advantage against LU.

Two days later, facing another conference foe from the state of Tennessee, Belmont University, the offense did not shy away from the back of the net. A 26-11 shot advantage in this match boded extremely well for JU.

“We held the ball well, all over the field we connected well and held good possession,” said Fink.

Sophomore Raquel Weckhurst, who leads the team in goals, added two to that total Sunday afternoon. Her first goal was scored in the twenty-third minute off of a penalty kick when BU goalkeeper ran into Weckhurst as she was in pursuit of the ball.  Her second goal came directly after halftime when Fink blasted a ball that was blocked but was followed up by the sophomore to put in the rebound goal.

An early goal by freshman Kaitlyn Basset gave JU a 3-0 lead over the Bruins. Belmont’s lone goal came in the sixty-sixth minute to break the shutout bid for both goalies Sierra and Susanne Kluntveit.

The shutout was out of the picture but the victory was clearly in the portrait as JU took a 3-1 victory. This win locked up a spot in the six-team A-Sun tournament for JU as the regular season is nearing the end.

The Lady Fins will be back on the field come Friday Oct. 21 when they confront Jacksonville rival UNF. It will also be senior night, marking the last home appearance for the senior Lady Dolphins.

Photo by Grace Singer

Entering the weekend, JU Men’s Soccer team was riding a four game winning streak into its matchup with A-Sun opponent, Lipscomb University. The Fins faced off against their opponent in Nashville, Tennessee on Friday, Oct. 14.

Both teams played each other rather close with tight play and not a huge advantage in possession early on. This all came to a halt when freshman Florian Scheck netted his first career goal. It was perfect timing because it gave JU a 1-0 lead against a conference opponent. Scheck struck in the forty-third minute and that seemed to give the JU offense the spark it needed offensively.

Swiftly following this, Stefan Durr, who leads the team in goals, scored in the sixty-fifth minute to give the Fins a comfortable two-goal lead with less then thirty minutes to play.

Strong defense allowed JU to play their game as time ticked, but the Bison’s found the net in the seventy-ninth minute to bring it within one. However, as time ran out JU secured their fifth straight victory in 2-1 fashion over Lipscomb.

Two days later on Sunday, October 16 the Dolphins planned to continue riding that winning wave against Belmont University.  It did not look promising for the Fins when the Bruins scored first in the twenty-seventh minute to go up 1-0.

That completed the scoring in the first half, but whatever was said in the locker room at half seemed to have worked for JU.

Before the first minute from the start of the second half, Durr scored his fifth goal of the year, knotting the game in a 1-1 tie.  Although it registered into a tie, the Dolphins claimed the edge in shots on goal with a 21-8 advantage. This was the end to a long road trip in Tennessee for the Dolphins.

“We just have to take the positives out of a long road trip and we’ll look to finish the regular season strong,” JU Head Coach Mike Johnson said.

The first place Dolphins plan to finish strong just like coach Johnson stated come this Friday when they play host to Crosstown Rival UNF on Friday Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.

Photo by Grace Singer

JU Men’s Soccer hit the road to play their last non-conference match Wednesday, September 28. Jacksonville University (3-5-1) traveled to Statesboro, Georgia to face-off with Georgia Southern University (5-3-1).

Action started rather early in this game with GSU striking first at the 8:48 mark. The Eagles scored off of a corner kick, with Alex Evert coming through on the opportunity. The lead was short-lived as JU answered right back in the 21^st minute. Senior Pedrag Ivanovic launched a shot near the 18-yard box and beat the goalkeeper to tie the score up at 1-1.

That was all the scoring action for the first half, but in the second half JU took little time to take the decisive lead. In the 59^th minute sophomore Nick Rodriguez received the assist from freshman Ashton Pett to put the Fins ahead 2-1.  That turned out to be all JU needed, as that was the final score of the match. JU Head Coach Mike Johnson was very pleased with his team after the game.

“It’s not the way we wanted to start, but I’m proud of our guys for how they came back,” said Johnson.

The Fins had a few days to cherish the win before they opened conference play on Sunday, October 2, against Mercer University.  This time around JU jumped out first on its opponent in the 33^rd minute with a goal from senior Daniele Campailla. It was Campailla’s afternoon as he notched a second goal in the 70^th minute of the match.

This was the first time he had a multi-goal game this season. Mercer did not go away quietly though as Josh Shutter scored with 16:39 left in the match. The Bears could not pull off the comeback though in part to sophomore goalkeeper Gavin Carlin. Carlin played all 90 minutes and had two saves in the game to complete a solid debut as the Dolphin goalie.

JU won their game 2-1 to start the Atlantic Sun season of on the right foot. Senior Defenseman Casey Tafuri as very impressed with his teams efforts.

“I think we came out with a lot more energy from the start and were able to carry that out for the entire game which was the first time we’ve done that all year,” said Tafuri.

The Dolphins will face their second conference foe Friday, October 7, when they face USC Upstate, home at the Ashley Sports Complex.

Photo by Grace Singer

The Jacksonville University Womens Soccer team looks poised to make another post-season run. The girls are looking to return to the Atlantic Sun Tournament and hopefully a second straight A-Sun title game.

As of September 21, the ladies had lost two straight leading up to their A-Sun opener vs Stetson on September 23 at 7p.m. in DeLand, Florida.

Their previous matches consisted of a (1-1) record in the University of South Florida Tournament. They opened on September 9 with a 2-0 win over Florida Atlantic University but followed that on the eleventh with a loss to host USF 2-1 in overtime, thus eliminating them from the tournament. Their last game before opening conference play was against University of Central Florida in which they fell 2-1 on the sixteenth.

Starting on the September 23, the Dolphins have 9 games left, all conference games. They begin on the road at Stetson followed by a trip to Ft. Myers, Florida to take on Florida Gulf Coast University at 1p.m. on the twenty-fifth.

Thus far, the Lady Fins have posted a (4-4-1) record while being (2-0-0) at home, (0-3-1) on the road, and (2-1-0) at neutral sites. Five of the remaining 9 games are home games where they will look to continue their success at the Ashley Sports Complex.

Aside from the undefeated home record, the play to this point has been somewhat average. The team has shown signs of light but can’t seem to put it all together. They’ve posted zero wins in away games but have two wins at neutral site games.

This year’s team is lead by four seniors. They are looking to return to the Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship game for the second consecutive year, except this time, they want to win.

In order for this to occur, the women must put together a good run throughout conference play. In doing so, they would be able to secure a high seed for the A-Sun tournament and potentially home field advantage, which would be huge for a team who is undefeated on their home turf. A potentional low seed and road match does not look appealing to a team that is struggling mightly away from home.

With October looming right around the corner, the ladies need to put everything together to make a good last run at it. It’s up to the leaders of this team to make sure everyone is on the same page and has their head in the game every minute of every match. If they don’t get everything straightened out almost immediately, it could be a much shorter season then they were hoping for.

Photo by Grace Singer

The Jacksonville University Men’s Soccer team season has not started how most would have hoped. In this young season The Dolphins are just (1-4-1). The Fins just concluded a rough weekend suffering a loss Friday September 16 to Temple University in DeLand, FL and yet another loss two days later on Sunday to Furman University here at the Ashley Sports Complex.

There are three non-conference games are left before JU opens up Atlantic Sun Conference play October 2. There are two home games starting September 23 against George Washington University at 7pm and concluding with a mid-day matinee with UC Riverside on September 25 at 2pm. Lastly, there is a road game at Georgia Southern University.

Most recently the Dolphins fell to Furman. It was a well fought, even played match until Furman broke through in the 76^th minute. With 14 minutes left, Furman found the back of the net giving them a 1-0 lead.

Despite the struggles this season, the guys aren’t playing bad soccer. They were in it to the end with Furman a team that now holds a six game winning streak (6-1-1) overall record.

The game before that, JU lost another one-goal affair, falling 3-2 to Temple University. The game, played in DeLand, Florida, was part of the Stetson Soccer Classic.

The first conference match for JU is against Mercer University in Macon, Ga. On October 2. They are looking to get a few more wins under their belt before conference games start.

With the level of play up to this point being fairly decent, the record serves them no justice. There is no reason why this team couldn’t be (4-1-1) at this point. The good part is that there is still time to turn it around. There are three non-conference games and then the home stretch of 10 conference games. If all goes well the guys will be looking to do well in the A-Sun tournament and then possibly even a NCAA Tournament spot.

This 2011 mens team includes 10 seniors who are looking to have one final dance with collegiate soccer. Losing 10 guys after this year due to graduation will be a very difficult task but the younger members of the team have a great group of guys to learn from in the mean time. With such senior leadership present on this team, the possibilities for the conclusion of the 2011 campaign are endless. This squad will not go down without a fight.

JU is eighth in the conference but it’s a wide-open race. A good record during conference play could put them as high as third or fourth in a matter of a few games. They are playing better every game and they just need a few things to roll in their favor then those one-goal losses could be one-goal wins.

Once Atlantic Sun play starts, be sure to attend the home games located at the Ashley Sports Complex to cheer on the guys. Be there to support them as they try and turn this season around and reach the postseason.

Photo by Grace Singer

The Jacksonville University and University of Tampa Men’s Soccer game scheduled for Thursday, September 1, 2011 was canceled due to scheduling conflicts on the Jacksonville end.

The University of Tampa’s student run newspaper, The Minaret, attempted to take a deeper look into the situation. Research indicated that there were scheduling difficulties for JU, which had already been established.

UT Head Coach Adrian Bush was saddened and disappointed by the decision.

“If they would have had 18 games or a game the next day and they had to move it, I could understand,” said Bush “there was absolutely no reason for them to cancel this game. The only thing that is there is that it would effect their RPI (Ratings Percentage Index).”

The coaches and the athletic departments exchanged emails dating as far back as December 2010. It is understood that the two sides had set a tentative agreement for the respective soccer teams to partake in a match at the JU sports complex.

Two weeks before UT was to head to Jacksonville to take on the Dolphins, JU Head Coach Mike Johnson unfortunately had to withdraw the tentative agreement due to conflicts.

This cancellation put the UT team at 16 games, 2 games under the NCAA requirement for eligibility for the NCAA Tournament. To offset this lack of games, the UT staff scheduled 2 games for September 6th, both for the same time and ninety miles apart. This caused them to field split squads to attempt to even out their schedule.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, they dropped both games in OT starting the season 0-2.

Coach Johnson sent an email expressing his feelings and sincerest apologies to Coach Bush for any inconvenience JU’s cancellation may have cause their program.

“Due to scheduling conflicts that happened in the past week, we will not be able to play this season. I am sorry for the inconvenience that this causes for you guys,” the email read. “I hope you guys have a great year and wish you the best of luck”

There are always two sides to every story. While UT may be upset and feel like they got the short end of the stick, there was nothing that could have prevented the outcome. No wrongdoing was done. There was no game set in stone, the schedule at the time of cancellation was tentative.

Jacksonville University Associate Athletic Director of External Operations, Joel Lamp was quite familiar with the situation.

What Lamp and the rest of the JU Athletic Department staff gathered is that the two teams had discussed a potential match starting last year. That is as far as any of it went. They signed no contracts and the game was not on the JU schedule, posted by the end of June.

UT proclaimed that JU probably did not want to play them in case they were to lose to a Division II opponent. The truth of the matter is Division II games do not affect the RPI of the Dolphins, a Division I program.

To further back the Dolphins case, the lack of a signed contract was a major role in this outcome. All non-conference games require signed contracts. JU does not produce their schedule until all contracts are signed. Their schedule was released in June without a game against UT on it. No contract between the two was ever signed, hence, no game.

Once the teams get in full swing with their seasons, this will all be an after thought. The Dolphins (1-2-1) and the Spartans (0-4) have both started off slow but hope to have successful winning seasons, despite early difficulties and all this preseason drama.