MEC Men's Soccer Tournament Semifinal Preview: #4 Frostburg State vs #1 Charleston

FROSTBURG, Md. - The Frostburg State Men's Soccer team settles in as the No. 4 seed in the Mountain East Conference Tournament, as they travel to regular season champions Charleston (WV) on Wednesday night in the semifinal round.
 
How They Got Here: Frostburg comes in with a 10-7-1 overall record, and a 7-6-1 MEC record.  The Bobcats started the season 5-1 for their best start since the 2015 season.  They garnered their first-ever MEC Tournament victory with a 2-0 decision over five seed West Liberty on Sunday evening.
 
UC polished off a 16-1-1 campaign, including a 13-1 mark in the conference, as they enter ranked as the No. 2 team in all of Division II by United Soccer Coaches. Their status as the top seed in the MEC gave them a bye straight into the semifinal round.
 
The Matchup: The Golden Eagles have won each of the 11 games in series history, with Frostburg coming closest to getting a result in a 2-1 loss in 2023.
 
The Players: Frostburg is led on the attack by their lone First Team All-MEC member junior Carlos Quintero Rivas, who leads the team in goals with 11, while dishing out two assists for 24 total points.  Spreading throughout the field are Second Team All-MEC honorees seniors Mateo Cuadros and Caleb Dell, with the former leading the team in assists with 10 at the midfielder position, while Dell, who leads the team in minutes with 1,350 minutes and suffered a season-ending leg injury, led the Bobcats backline all season to the fourth least goals in the league, while also providing three goals and two assists on the offensive end.  Freshman Jan Foret, another Second Team All-MEC member for Frostburg, stands in goal with 56 total saves on the season for a .737 save percentage and 1.45 goals against average.  Senior Alex Retzos, who received All-MEC Honorable Mention, also sits at midfield with the second-most minutes played on the team and 17 starts, while All-MEC Freshman Team member Andrew Denard provided on the backend in all 17 games this season as a starting defender with three goals and one assist in his first collegiate season
 
The Golden Eagles led the All-Conference awards with a whopping 11 selections, including a sweep of the major awards. On offense, Jack Kay took home Offensive Player of the Year honors as the team's leading scorer (10 goals, 4 assists) while Joao Belmudes (8 goals, 7 assists) was named to the Second Team and Caio Moraes (8 goals, 5 assists) was on the First Team as a midfielder. With the top defense in the conference, Tristen Rose was named Defensive Player of the Year as part of four First Team selections, including Freshman of the Year Joao Silva, Franco Tradatti, and goalkeeper Nicolai Gunderson.
 
The Rest of the Field: Davis & Elkins defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 3-1 in the other quarterfinal matchup to set up a semifinal match against Concord, the two seed in the MEC
 
2024 MEC Men's Soccer Championship
Sunday, November 10 - QUARTERFINALS
#6 West Virginia Wesleyan at #3 Davis & Elkins – D&E W/3-1
#5 West Liberty at #4 Frostburg State – FROST W/2-0
 
Wednesday, November 13 – SEMIFINALS
#4 Frostburg State at #1 Charleston – 7 PM
#3 Davis & Elkins at #2 Concord – 7 PM
 
Sunday, November 17 - CHAMPIONSHIP
Championship @ Highest Remaining Seed – 4 p.m.