2006 Men's Soccer Season in Review
November 28, 2006 | Men's Soccer
Boiling Springs, N.C. - The 2006 Gardner-Webb men's soccer season may be over, but it will not soon be forgotten as it proved to be one for the ages for not only the men's soccer program but for Gardner-Webb University as a whole.
"It is a special group of guys," said head coach Tony Setzer. "It was just a special team."
After starting off the season 0-5-2 and winless in their first seven games, the Bulldogs season and hopes for the postseason looked glim. Yet the 'Dogs did not give up and refused to give in, as they would pick up seven wins, including five conference victories, over the next 10 matches. The team posted a record of 7-2-1 over the 10-match span with its only two losses coming to the eventual Atlantic Sun regular season champions Stetson and to the Atlantic Coast Conference's N.C. State Wolfpack.
With their 5-1-1 conference record, the Bulldogs made their first-ever Atlantic Sun Conference Championship tournament, entering as the overall No. 2 seed. However, for the Bulldogs to come away from Deland, Fl. with the championship trophy, they would have to defeat both of the teams they failed to defeat during the regular season - Campbell and Stetson.
Setzer's squad did just that. After receiving a first round bye, GWU defeated the No. 3 seeded Campbell Fighting Camels in the semi-finals, 2-0, placing them in the championship game with the top-seeded Stetson Hatters. The Hatters had defeated GWU in the regular season 3-2 in double overtime in what was a very controversial and physical game.
However, the championship match would produce a different outcome as the 'Dogs silenced Stetson's home crowd, defeating the No. 1 seeded Hatters 2-1 in overtime, crowning the Bulldogs as the 2006 Atlantic Sun Champions and earning them an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer National Championship tournament.
In the school's first ever NCAA Division I tournament appearance the 'Dogs did not disappoint as they upset the heavily favored UAB Blazers, playing to a 1-1 tie and then advancing on penalty kicks, 3-1.
Yet Gardner-Webb's season would come to an end only a week later, as the 'Dogs fell to the nationally ranked No. 9 Clemson Tigers, 3-1 in the second round of the NCAA Division I tournament, wrapping up one of the best season's in GWU men's soccer history.
The 2006 historical season saw a number of records set both as a team and as individuals, as well as many firsts for the Gardner-Webb men's soccer program.
TEAM
- Received the first ever team sport automatic bid to an NCAA Division I Championship tournament in Gardner-Webb History.
- Advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division I tournament for the first time.
- Won their first ever Atlantic Sun Championship Tournament.
- Earned a spot in their first ever Atlantic Sun Conference Championship tournament.
- Defeated every Atlantic Sun conference team en route to their 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship.
- Picked up five wins in Atlantic Sun play, the most conference wins in one season since joining the league in 2002.
- Picked up the program's first-ever wins over Mercer, North Florida, Jacksonville, VMI and UAB.
INDIVIDUAL
- Tyler Kettering led the nation in saves for the second-time in his four-year career at GWU, recording 116 saves.
- Tyler Kettering became the All-Time Career Saves Leader in Gardner-Webb Men's Soccer History (446 career saves).
- Tyler Kettering became the Atlantic Sun Conference's All-Time Career Saves Leader.
- Head coach Tony Setzer was named Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year for the first time since GWU moved to Division I.
- For the first time since joining the A-Sun in 2002, GWU had a player named to the Atlantic Sun All-Conference First Team. (3 players - Dirk Dittrich, Boris Gatzky & Richard Godfrey)
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