guard Damon Lynn entered the game as the active scoring leade

HOUSTON -- Stanford got off to a rough start this year, but rebounded in a season where everyone wanted to take the Cardinal down to make it back to the College Cup.After winning the first national championship in program history last season, No. 5 Stanford continues its title defense in the second semifinal on Friday night against No. 9 North Carolinas. In the first semifinal, No. 2 Wake Forest faces undefeated No. 6 Denver.Stanford had with three ties and a loss in its first six games before winning 13 of its next 16 games to win a third straight Pac-12 championship and return to the College Cup.I think it was kind of a wakeup call seeing how hard we were going to get played and I think we adapted to that as the season progressed, said defender Tomas Hilliard-Arce, who was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year last month.Stanford hopes to become the first team since Indiana in 2003-04 to win consecutive national championships. Coach Jeremy Gunns team is the first to return to the College Cup the season after winning the national championship since Wake Forest returned in 2008 after winning it all in 2007.Stanford lost some key players from last season, including MLS Rookie of the Year and the reigning Hermann Trophy winner Jordan Morris. But it returns six starters from last seasons team. Five of those players were named to the All-Pac-12 first team last month, and one was on the second team.We had some great players leave after last year and I think some people wanted to write us off this year, Gunn said.Stanford is led by Co-Pac-12 player of the year Foster Langsdorf. The junior forward has led the teams attack this season, scoring 15 goals, including one in each of Stanfords three tournament games. In their 10 Pac-12 games, Langsdorf scored 12 goals.North Carolina comes to Houston for its first College Cup appearance since winning a national championship in 2011. The Tar Heels also reached the national semifinals in 2009-10.Some things to know about the College Cup.H-TOWN CONNECTION: The Tar Heels come to Houston with many connections to the area. Three Houston Dynamo players, defenders Jalil Anibaba and Sheanon Williams and goalkeeper Tyler Deric, played at North Carolina, while head coach Carlos Somoano is from nearby Seabrook, Texas. The Tar Heels leading scorer, Tucker Hume, said players from the Dynamo have reached out to them and that theyll be at Fridays game.My formative soccer years and experiences were done right here in Houston, Somoano said. So for me its very special to be back here.YOUTH MOVEMENT: After losing key players from last season, including three who were selected in the top 12 of the MLS SuperDraft, North Carolina has had to rely on its youth in 2016. The Tar Heels have 12 players who have appeared in all 20 games this season, six of whom are either freshmen or sophomores. Sophomore forward Nils Bruening leads the team in goals with eight, while redshirt sophomore goalkeeper James Pyle has allowed just 10 goals this season.Theyve been a bit of a revelation for us, Somoano said. Its just fascinating to see how they evolve through the year. Theyre not the same players now than they were in August.FAMILIAR FACES: Denver head coach Jamie Franks and Wake Forests Bobby Muuss have plenty of history. Muuss was an assistant coach for the Demon Deacons during Franks freshman season in Winston-Salem and was the coach at Denver from 2007-14, with Franks serving as his assistant for three seasons. When Muuss took over at Wake Forest before the 2015 season, Franks took his place at Denver.I love Wake Forest . but at the end of the day, these are my boys, Franks said. These are my kids, and Wake Forest is standing in our way.WAKE EYES REDEMPTION: Last season, Wake Forest was the No. 1 team in the country with a 17-2-2 record before falling in the quarterfinals to the eventual national champions Stanford in overtime. This season, the Demon Deacons enter the College Cup with an 18-2-3 mark with a pair of shutouts in wins over Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech.DOMINANCE REWARDED: Since Franks took over as the Denver head coach, the Pioneers have lost just one game, a defeat to SMU that ended the 2015 season. The team feels its 35-1-6 record under Franks it has not received enough credit, mostly because the Pioneers play in the Summit League. This is Denvers first appearance in the College Cup and the players are embracing their underdog role.Its more a historical thing than an actual thing because no one in our locker room is surprised to be here, we expected to be here, sophomore forward Andre Shinyashiki said. Quinnen Williams Jets Jersey . 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Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. MINNEAPOLIS -- Akeem Springs came off the bench to score 19 points and Nate Mason added 18 for Minnesota, which came from behind in the second half and escaped with a 74-68 victory against NJIT on Tuesday night.Springs and Mason each hit four 3-pointers as Minnesota was 9 of 21 from beyond the arc. Freshman Amir Coffey added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Gophers (8-1), who have equaled their win total from last season.A back-and-forth affair saw 13 lead changes, but NJIT never led by more than three points before Minnesota used a 7-0 run to take a 65-61 lead.This is a scary time of year in the sense of, you know, you get a lot of home games, obviously the names are not as big as some of the other big ones, so youve got to get your guys to understand you can lose to anybody, Gophers coach Richard Pitino said. You see it every single night, and you try to tell your guys over and over again, and sometimes just feeling it is a nice wake up call.Rob Ukawuba led the Highlanders (5-5) with 18 points. NJIT committed just seven turnovers but shot 34.2 percent from the field and was 8 of 32 from 3.Were a program thats on the rise and were past moral victories, to be honest with you, Highlanders coach Brian Kennedy said. This is a game that hurts a lot to lose because we felt if we played the way we know were capable of playing, it was going to be a good game.BIG PICTURENJIT: The Highlanders continued to show they can hang with the Big Ten. Two years ago on the same day, NJIT went on the road and beat No. 17 Michigan. Earlier this season, the Highlanders went to Purdue and had the game within single digits in the final minutes before losing 79-68. NJIT averaged 61.1 per gaame and forced 16.dddddddddddd44 turnovers per game heading into Tuesday. Against Minnesota, the Highlanders shot 73 times and forced 14 turnovers.Minnesota: Pitino tried to beef up the nonconference portion of the schedule. After posting wins against St. Johns, Arkansas and on the road at Vanderbilt, the Gophers stumbled against the Highlanders, who entered the game 267th in the nation in the Ratings Percentage Index.KEY MATCHUPNJIT guard Damon Lynn entered the game as the active scoring leader in Division with 1,927 points. He had scored at least 20 in six of the teams first nine games.Mason took the brunt of the defensive responsibility and helped hold Lynn to 12 points on 5-of-24 shooting.Never really let him get an open look the whole night, Kennedy said of Mason. Damons had a great, great career for us. I wouldnt trade that kid for anybody in the country. He just had an off night shooting tonight.HE SAID ITI think tomorrows really going to help the team; seeing how we respond, seeing if were hungry, Springs said. We got hit in the mouth and its good for us. I think tomorrow is whats really going to see if we respond the way we should respond. If we come in hungry, and like coach says, if we work.UP NEXTNJIT: A road-heavy month continues for the Highlanders, who play at Kent State on Dec. 10. NJIT has just one home game in the month of December.Minnesota: Tuesdays game was the start of five straight nonconference games at home before the Gophers open the Big Ten at home against Michigan State. Minnesota hosts Georgia Southern on Dec. 9. ' ' '