Ilhan earns national accolades, Spartans ranked nationally

Hakan Ilhan

GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG forward Hakan Ilhan has earned a pair of national honors after leading the Spartans to an upset of No. 12 Duke on Friday, while UNCG has jumped into the national rankings in one men's soccer poll.

Ilhan earned spots on the TopDrawerSoccer.com Men's College Team of the Week and the College Soccer News National Team of the Week after his impressive season debut.

The junior from Stuttgart, Germany, had a pair of goals and narrowly missed out on a hat trick, putting another shot off the post, as the Spartans defeated the Blue Devils 3-2. Ilhan scored on a penalty kick in the 16^th minute to put UNCG up 2-0 then added another score in the 56^th minute as UNCG picked up its third win in the last four tries against Duke, who entered the contest ranked 12^th nationally by Soccer America.

Including three exhibition matches, UNCG is 5-2 against Duke since 2005.

With Friday's win over the Blue Devils, UNCG jumped into the College Soccer News Top 30 National Poll at No. 19. The last time the Spartans were ranked was in the 2007 preseason, when UNCG was No. 23 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and No. 28 in the CSN poll.

UNCG, the preseason pick to win the Southern Conference, returns to action Wednesday when it hosts East Tennessee State at the UNCG Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

AGATE

TopDrawerSoccer.com Men's College Team of the Week – Week One
GK: Brian Holt, Creighton
D: Eric Schoenle, West Virginia
M: Nicolas Abrigo, William & Mary
F: Darren Mattocks, Akron
F: David Opoku, UC Santa Barbara
F: Charlie Rugg, Boston College
F: Christian Hernandez, UC Irvine
F: Andy Craven, College of Charleston
F: Hakan Ilhan, UNCG
F: Darnell King, Florida Atlantic University
F: Bryan Gaul, Bradley
Player of the Week: Bryan Gaul, Bradley

College Soccer News Top 30 National Poll
Rank    School                   Record       Rank last week
1.         Louisville                1-0-0           1
2.         North Carolina         1-0-0           3
3.         Akron                     1-0-0           4
4.         UCLA                      0-1-0           2
5.         Creighton                1-0-0           6
6.         Connecticut             1-0-0           7
7.         Maryland                 1-0-0           8
8.         UC Santa Barbara    1-0-0           9
9.         SMU                       0-1-0           5
10.        Brown                     0-0-0           10
11.        California                1-0-0           14
12.        Notre Dame            0-0-1           11
13.        Boston College       1-0-0           13
14.        West Virginia           1-0-0           22
15.        William & Mary        1-0-0           NR
16.        Indiana                    0-0-1           15
17.        Virginia                   0-1-0           12
18.        Penn State              1-0-0           20
19.        UNCG                     1-0-0           NR
20.        Ohio State              0-0-1           17
21.        South Florida          1-0-0           NR
22.        Duke                      0-1-0           16
23.        Charlotte                 0-0-0           23
24.        Monmouth              1-0-0           27
25.        LMU                       0-1-0           19
26.        Old Dominion          0-0-0           26
27.        UCF                        1-0-0           28
28.        Michigan State        0-1-0           18
29.        Kentucky                2-0-0           NR
30.        Denver                    0-1-0           29

Others receiving votes: College of Charleston, Santa Clara, Penn, Georgetown, Furman, Wake Forest, Bradley, UC Irvine, Sacramento State, Princeton, Dartmouth, UMBC, High Point, South Carolina, FGCU

- UNCG -