Sept. 4, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - After opening the season with back-to-back ties in the North Shore Classic at the Leonard B. Thomas Sports Complex, the Wildcats head to Mount Pleasant, S.C. this weekend for two matches in the College of Charleston's Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic.
The 'Cats will square off with host Cougars at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, then battle 22nd-ranked South Carolina Sunday at 1 p.m.
Despite coming away from the opening weekend winless, the Wildcats took a number of positives from the two matches. Freshman Daniel Chille showed why head coach Tim Lenahan predicted that he would be a dangerous offensive threat, registering his first collegiate goal in the 63rd minute of the 2-2 tie with Evansville. Chille fired six shots and was a menace to opposing defenses all weekend en route to being named to the all-tournament team.
Sophomore Kevin Earnest, who scored the lone goal in the 1-1 tie with Vanderbilt, was also named to the all-tournament team.
Sophomore Brian Heckenbach stopped 10 shots in his first two games as NU's starting goalkeeper.
The meetings with both College of Charleston and South Carolina will be firsts in the history of the NU program. The host Cougars fell to Davidson 2-1 in their first match of the season, while the Gamecocks moved to 22nd in both the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/Adidas and Soccer Times polls after blanking Stetson 2-0 in their season opener.