GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro will honor five individuals and two teams during halftime ceremonies of Friday night’s UNCG-Georgia Southern men’s soccer match, enshrining them in the UNCG Soccer Stadium’s Wall of Honor.
Former players Randi Patterson, Scott Jones, Doug Hamilton and Chris Goos and longtime supporter Frank Land will be placed upon the wall, along with last year’s men’s and women’s soccer teams.
The match kicks off at 8 pm and will be televised nationally by Fox Soccer Channel as part of the NSCAA’s Game of the Week package. It will be a key match for both Georgia Southern (6-8-0) and UNCG (6-7-2). The teams are tied at 2-3-0 in conference play and are battling, along with Appalachian State, for the fourth position in the upcoming conference tournament and home field in the quarterfinals.
The team inductions are part of a tradition that each Spartan team that earns a bid to the NCAA Tournament receives recognition. The women’s team finished with a mark of 13-8-2, while the men finished with a mark of 16-8-0. The women were unbeaten in conference play, going 9-0-1 during the regular season and continuing that through the conference tournament with three more wins. The men were 5-1 in league play last season and swept through the SoCon tournament with three shutout wins, eventually advancing to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year.
Hamilton will be honored posthumously. He was a defender for the Spartans in the 1981, 1982 and 1985 seasons. He went on to a successful career as a professional soccer executive, serving as the General Manager of the Los Angeles Galaxy. He was selected as MLS’ Executive of the Year three times and, after his death in March 2006, had the award named after him – the Doug Hamilton Executive of the Year Award. He developed the Galaxy into the flagship franchise of MLS during his tenure, setting attendance records, garnering a television contract for the franchise and developing community outreach and youth training programs. Former UNCG teammates have already created an annual scholarship at the University. He will be represented by his wife Paige, a 1990 UNCG graduate, and son Aeden.
Land was an avid supporter of UNCG athletics and, in particular the UNCG men’s soccer and rugby programs during his tenure as a professor in the Bryan School of Business. He served as a professor at UNCG from 1979-2001. During a portion of his tenure at UNCG, he also volunteered his time and abilities on game day at UNCG soccer events, running the game clock and serving as bench area security.
Patterson was a two-time All-American and earned 2004 and 2005 Southern Conference Player of the Year honors while at UNCG. He finished fifth on the UNCG all-time scoring list with 141 points and fifth on the school’s career goal scoring list with 61. A candidate for the Hermann Trophy each of his last two seasons, including a semifinalist in 2005, Patterson was a three-time first-team All-SoCon honoree. He was the team’s top goal scorer all four seasons. Last season, he had 27 points on 13 goals and one assist. Currently, he is playing for Red Bull New York in MLS.
Goos is a member of the exclusive 20/20 club – becoming just the 25th player in college soccer history to record 20 goals and 20 assists in the same season. The 2002 Southern Conference Player of the Year and a second-team All-American that year, he led the nation in goals with 20, including five game-winners. For his career, he recorded 43 goals and 53 assists for a total of 139 points – a mark that still sits sixth all-time at UNCG.
Jones, currently playing for FC Dallas in MLS, will go down as one of the greatest all-around players to ever play for the Spartans. The first player in the illustrious history of UNCG men’s soccer to earn first team all-conference honors all four years. The 28th pick of the 2007 MLS Superdraft, he is currently a member of FC Dallas, playing this season in the reserve division. A two-time All-American and a candidate for the Hermann Trophy his last two seasons, Jones finished his career fifth all-time at UNCG in assists with 41. He also had 25 goals in his collegiate career to give him 91 points. Last year, he had 23 points with seven goals and nine assists. Two of his seven goals came in dramatic fashion as game-winners in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, eliminating Virginia Tech in the final minute of regulation and upsetting sixth-seeded West Virginia in double-overtime.
- UNCG -