Sept. 1, 2000

Rocky Rococo-UW Classic @ Madison, WI
Friday, September 1
5 p.m. PST - Drake University vs. University of Wisconsin
Saturday, September 2
1 p.m. PST - Gonzaga University vs. University of Wisconsin
Sunday, September 3
11 a.m. PST - Gonzaga University vs. Drake University

BULLDOGS OPEN AGAINST BADGERS: Gonzaga University will be on the road to open the 2000 men's soccer season Saturday, facing the host University of Wisconsin in the Rocky Rococo-UW Classic in Madison, WI. The Bulldogs will conclude the tournament Sunday against Drake University in a battle of Bulldogs. The host Badgers and Drake will meet Friday night in the opening round of the tourney.

BADGERS WON 1995 NCAA TITLE: Even though the University of Wisconsin has struggled in recent years, the Badgers have a storied soccer history that peaked with the 1995 NCAA championship. The Badgers were 20-4-1 that season, 4-1-0 in the Big Ten Conference. UW won the title with a 2-0 victory over Duke University in Richmond, Va., the last of seven straight shutouts to end the season. UW allowed just 11 goals that season.

THE BADGERS IN 1999: The University of Wisconsin went 6-13-1 in 1999, including a 1-4-0 Big Ten Conference mark. UW began the season 3-1-1, riding a shutout string of 424:14 by sophomore keeper Moriba Atiba Baker. Sophomore forward Valentine Anozie paced the team with 16 points on 6 goals and 4 assists, the highest point total for a Badger since 1995.

DRAKE IN 1999: Drake University went 4-13-1 last season. Freshman Brian Duax led the squad with 13 points and 6 goals in earning All-Mid-Valley Conference second-team honors. Sophomore midfielders Josh Murad (8 points), Joe Sithannorath (7) and Jason Longhauser (6) were the other offensive sparkplugs for the Bulldogs.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN: With nine starters among 21 returning letterwinners, the University of Wisconsin looks to rebound from last year's 6-13-1 mark. In addition to the aforementioned Valentine Anozie, the Badgers return senior forwards Narcisco Fernandes, a first-team All-Big Ten pick, and Abraham Bull, a '99 second-team All-Big Ten honoree.

SCOUTING DRAKE: Last season Drake University's roster sported 25 freshmen. This season the Bulldogs return 10 starters, including the top four scorers from a year ago. Junior Dusty Grau, a first-team All-Mid-Valley Conference pick in 1997 as a freshman, and sophomore midfielders Josh Murad, Joe Sithonnorath and Jason Longhauser continue the young trend. Senior Chris Scanlon, the lone senior on the team, scored 24 points in his first two seasons prior to moving to the defense last year. He's back at a forward this year and looks to be an integral part of the offense. Junior keeper Nick Bratt returns for his third season as a starter.

THORARINSSON ON THE COMPETITION: "I honestly don't know much about the teams we'll see," Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson said as he prepares to embark on his sixth season at the helm. "I know Wisconsin has been in a rebuilding stage since their national championship year of 1995. But I know they've done some good recruiting and will field a good team this year. Drake plays in a tough conference with Creighton and hasn't been able to come out of that conference and advance to the NCAA Tournament. I will get more information on the teams as the week progresses. It will be tough to travel to Wisconsin and play that kind of competition."

CHING REPORTS HEALTHY: Senior forward Brian Ching has reported to camp healthy for the first time in three seasons. Ching, who sat out 1998 after an early-season knee injury, reported to camp last year after undergoing cheek surgery following a collision with a keeper while playing for the Spokane Shadow. This year Ching took the summer off except for training. He scored 13 goals and had 8 assists last season for a team-high 34 points. He has 26 career goals and 68 points to rank second on the all-time Gonzaga charts behind Jeff McAllister (45 and 102), and his 17 career assists are a school record.

THORARINSSON ON CHING: "Brian Ching has been setting his entire collegiate career up for this. It just happened that way, not intentionally," Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson said. "He's kind of peaking as a senior, and in more ways than on the field. He's matured, his body is strong, he's healthy, he's had a great summer and I've never seen him quite so hungry."

KUSKA GIVES 1-2 PUNCH: Senior midfielder Jason Kuska gives Gonzaga University a dynamic 1-2 punch on offense. Kuska scored 12 goals and had 6 assists a year ago for 30 points, second on the team in all three categories. He has 21 career goals and 58 points for third on the all-time Bulldogs list, and his 16 assists tie him with current assistant coach Mike Thompson for second.

GRANDPA MARKS: Some players are referring to senior midfielder Joe Marks as "Grandpa," and rightfully so as he returns for his sixth season in a Gonzaga University uniform. He suffered a season-ending and at the time thought career-ending knee injury after four matches of the 1999 season. But Marks personally petitioned the NCAA to regain his year of eligibility and was granted another season. He's been moved from defender to midfielder this season.

MARKS' RETURN WILL INSPIRE BULLDOGS: "Joe Marks' approach and work ethic is contagious to everybody. For the young players to see a player like that who has had to go through so much adversity does rub off on them," Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson said of the player who has turned into his inspirational leader to go with his soccer skills. "He's quiet, but extremely effective as a leader. Everything he does, from his studies to his personal habits to his soccer, is all first class. His game has been changing, and there have been players coming in who can play as good as he can in the back. But we've been lacking the player who can play both a defensive role and an attacking role and he can do that as a midfielder. He's become very valuable to the team. Next year - and I hate to think about next year - I have to start looking for somebody like that when he leaves."

STRONG SENIOR CLASS: "The senior class is strong, both in the leadership category and what they can do on the field," Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson said of his talent-laden group of seven seniors. "You always want your seniors to be your leaders, not necessarily your best players but that is, obviously, a plus. And a minus. The minus is you only have your best players one more year. The process of having them four years means they should be getting better each year. If they were her five or six years they should be even better, and that's the case with Joe Marks. He's six years better than he was as a freshman."

GIMME A "D": While Gonzaga University is strong offensively, the Bulldogs will also field a solid defense. Senior Justin Franson, juniors Danny Huet and Zach Scott, and sophomores Matt Prichard, Tryggvi Bjornsson and Chuck Wells will all see plenty of minutes. Huet has been a starter since his freshman season, Franson started 13 of his 15 appearances a year ago, Scott's minutes will increase over his sophomore season and Prichard had nine starts a year ago. Bjornsson and Wells will battle for time on one of the outside spots.

FRANSON HAS SPEED: "Justin Franson is the fastest player on the team. He's a senior who is tough. I haven't seen a player tougher than him, and when you talk about tough you're talking about mental and physical toughness," Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson said of his senior midfielder/defender. "He has it all. He's a very fast player, a very talented player and he will take part in the offense."

DEFENSE UNDERSTANDS THE GAME: Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson likes the chemistry of his defense. "This defense understands each other very well for being so young. I don't know if it's the best defense individually, but as a whole maybe the best defense we've had."

BATTLE RAGES IN GOAL: With five goalkeepers in camp, Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson and first-year keepers coach Josh Fouts have plenty to choose from. Trevor Yost is the veteran in camp, having started 15 of 19 matches a year ago and playing nearly 1,275 minutes in the nets. Mike McCarthy, who played the second half of two matches a year ago, Chad Beadell, who had three starts among his four appearances last season, Joe Smith, a sophomore who played for Gonzaga's developmental squad a year ago, and Gunnar Magnusson, a freshman from Thorarinsson's native Iceland, are all waging a battle for the job. McCarthy and Smith split the duties in Gonzaga's 3-0 exhibition victory over Brigham Young University's club team last week. "The battle rages on at keeper. Whenever you have a good keeper like we had with Josh, it always takes time to fill those shoes again, sometimes a year or two. Hopefully, it won't take that long this year until we have a solid guy. Ideally you only want one keeper, and go with that one. That's what I intend to do," Thorarinsson said. As of early this week he had not made a decision on his Saturday starter for the season opener against the University of Wisconsin.

Head Coach Einar Thorarinsson Speaks Out On...

PLAYING ON THE ROAD: "It's a matter of preparation and talk about it, and talk about it and talk about it - how home field is not that important to us and how we have to jump on teams when we are away from home. Luckily we play a lot of teams in these tournaments that are in the same situation we are, teams that are far away from home. In the two California tournaments there are teams coming from father away than us. We just have to make it into our home field, which we can because we've played on those fields before and we are familiar with those surroundings."

CONSISTENCY: "Consistency is one area we need to get better. We have to sustain the rigors of the game longer. We go in spurts for 5-10 minutes where we are doing well, then we have a letdown. Then we become a team that can be scored on in those letdowns. We need to score on our opportunities. We had some opportunities against Brigham Young (exhibition match) where we should have scored a couple of more goals. When I say opportunity I mean players with the ball in front of the goal with our opponent, that's opportunity that should be used better than we did against BYU."

TEAM DEPTH: "Depth of the team is adequate. Probably not as ideal as you would like it. The young players I see helping us this year are Connor Quinn, Scott Yuska and Arni Ingi Pjetursson who will probably compete for a starting spot. Ion defense. Tryggvi Bjornsson and Chuck Wells will be switching back and forth, Randy Pratt will help us in the back and Scott Bertram will see some playing time."

ASSISTANT COACHES: Gonzaga University alumni Josh Fouts (1998) and Mike Thompson (2000) have joined Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson's staff as assistant coaches. "Josh has had experience playing the game at the (keeper) position. Keeper is usually where I need the most help coaching. That position requires a different kind of coaching than the field players. He has already helped me tremendously in keeping the players sharp and selecting each day who is doing what and telling me how they are coming along. That's very valuable to a team to have a good goalkeeper trainer and coach. I see a big future in that for Josh. He's likeable, personable and keeps things moving and light. Everybody likes him. Mike is my second set of eyes and does a lot of things that need to be done for the management of the team. I see him continuing to grow and develop into a very capable coach. He wants to do that."