Brown men's soccer makes NCAA quarters

"Long hair, team unity and love." According to Brown senior goalkeeper Tim Webb, that's what drove the Brown men's soccer team to a 14-3 regular season record and No. 3 ranking in the nation this year. Now Webb and his flowing tressed teammates are tearing their way, perhaps, to the the national title. For the second straight year, the Bears (17-3, 6-1 Ivy League) have advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Championships. Sunday they will face four-time defending national champions and top seed Virginia. If the Bears can make it past the undefeated Cavaliers (20-0-2), they will be the third Ivy League team to reach the Final Four in the past eight years. Princeton was the last team to reach the semifinals, doing so back in 1993. This year, the Tigers, Cornell and Brown all qualified for the NCAA tournament. Only the Bears progressed past the first round. In the first round, Brown hosted North Atlantic Conference champions Boston University in a rematch of last year's second-round affair. In 1994, the Bears upset the heavily favored Terriers, 3-2, ending top-ranked BU's 20-game win streak. The Bears entered the tournament with cracks showing in their armor. After starting off the season 12-0 and defeating Harvard for the first time in 12 years, the Bears lost three of their last five games. Senior Gary Hughes, the 1995 Ivy League Player of the Year, spent the last weeks of the season with a pulled hamstring. Hughes still hadn't fully recovered in time for his team's clash with the Terriers, but who could tell? Nineteen minutes into the game, Hughes put his team ahead 1-0, receiving the ball off a free kick from Chris Fox and sending a thunderous header past Terriers goalkeeper Ethan Holmes. Three minutes later, freshman Michael Rudy's kick soared past Holmes to double Brown's lead. Meanwhile, the stingy Bears defense smothered the Terriers, holding them scoreless for 55 minutes of play. BU's play improved as the game continued, but three crucial saves by Webb in the final 10 minutes secured the 2-1 win for the Bears and a second-round date with Lafayette. "Given the circumstances, we basically knew intensity was going to win the game," said junior sweeper Len Liptak. "The will to win would be the difference." Lafayette reached the second round of the tournament by beating Ivy League co-champion Cornell, one of the three teams that defeated Brown this year. But the Leopards were no match for the Bears, who battled their way to a 2-0 victory. Both teams came out attacking, but it was Brown who took the lead 28 minutes into the game, while the luckless Leopards kept firing away at Webb. By the time Brown scored again, the Leopards had faded away. Paralyzed by frustration, Lafayette managed to put together only one real scoring opportunity in the second half, which it failed miserably. "The only story you need to know is that Brown deserved to win," said Lafayette coach Nelson Rodriguez. "They executed their game plan very well and prevented us from getting into a rhythm." "There's nothing flashy about them," said Penn co-captain Andrew Kralik. "They work very hard, and they don't make a lot of mistakes." And they also have loads of talent. Eleven seniors returned from last year's squad. Hughes, a native of Ireland, represented his country this summer at the World University Games and was one of six Bears to earn All-Ivy honors this year. Liptak and senior Chris Fox were also named first-team selections. Junior Ted Foster and sophomore midfielders John Beck and Hans Witussen nabbed second-team honors. Not only can the Bears play well, but they play well together. "The strengths of this team are that we don't give up many goals and we don't have one or two outstanding players," Hughes said. "We all hold our ground and function as a team." Webb had other opinions on what makes the team tick. "As a team, long hair brings us unity," Webb said earlier this season. "And long hair brings strength. On the soccer field we need strength. I think long hair is actually the reason for our success this year. I believe long hair is more important than practice." If the Cavaliers don't play the role of Delilah, these modern-day soccer Samsons will keep their hair, their strength, and their Cinderella season alive. The Brown Daily Herald contributed to this story.