Ricardo Velazco (Louisville)

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – The 2013 Men’s Division I College Cup kicks off on Thursday and amongst the forty-eight team field, nineteen Grande Sports Academy graduates at fourteen programs have advanced to postseason play with a few GSA graduates matched up against their former teammates.

Nine graduates had already clinched an automatic berth by winning their respective conference tournament: Coco Navarro (Marquette; Big East Conference), Danny Gavin (Washington; Pac-12), Brian Hoyt (Denver; Summit League), Miggy Salazar (Elon; Southern Conference), David Flores (Loyola Marymount; West Coast Conference), Elliot Farmer (UCI), Kostas Kotselas, Isaias “Junior” Juarez and Augustine Rey (Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Horizon League).

The remaining GSA graduates had to anxiously await for their team to be announced as an at-large bid, and ten graduates were named: Phanuel Kavita (Clemson), Riggs Lennon, Jordan Allen (Virginia), Trevor Hyman (Stanford), Josh Goss, Lucas Seligman (New Mexico), Andrew Brody, Ricardo Velazco (Louisville), Cole Nagy (UCLA) and Brandon Marquez (Seattle U).

The first round of the College Cup is Thursday night and three matches will feature GSA graduates playing against each other. GSA graduates who attend: UCLA, Marquette, Virginia, UCI, New Mexico and Stanford have earned a first-round bye and may eventually face a former teammate in the later rounds.

This will be the first College Cup appearance for all the GSA graduates. Last year, however, Salazar advanced to the College Cup, but did not play due to a season ending injury he suffered in Elon’s conference tournament run. Nagy and UCLA advanced as well, but Nagy sat out due to redshirting.

This year over 40 GSA graduates combined to score 32 goals and notch 64 assists in season play.

Click here to see the complete College Cup bracket.

*=Home team

Thursday, November 21st – First Round
*Elon (Salazar) vs. Clemson (Kavita) 5:00 PM. Winner plays #1 UCLA (Nagy) on Sunday, November 24th.

*Wisconsin vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Juarez, Kotselas, Rey) 6:00 PM.

*Louisville (Brody, Velazco) vs. Denver (Hoyt) 5:00 PM.

*Stanford (Hyman) vs. Loyola Marymount (Flores) 8:00 PM.

*Creighton vs. Seattle U (Marquez) 6:00 PM. Winner plays #2 Washington (Gavin) on Sunday, November 24th

Sunday, November 24th – Second Round

*#1 UCLA (Nagy) vs. Elon (Salazar)/Clemson (Kavita) 9:00 PM.

*#9 Marquette (Navarro) vs. Indiana/Akron 12:00 PM.

*#8 Virginia (Lennon, Allen) vs. Deleware/St. John’s 11:00 AM.

*#7 New Mexico (Goss, Seligman) vs. William & Mary/George Mason 5:00 PM.

*#3 Washington (Gavin) vs. Seattle (Marquez)/Creighton 6:00 PM.