D3 PRO LEAGUE
Ben Crawley lost his bid for a third U.S. Open Cup title in three years when the Austin Lone Stars fell to the A-League’s New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers 1-0 in the second round of the Open Cup. Crawley had played for ’96 champion D.C. United and the ’95 champion Richmond Kickers. After being dropped this spring by D.C. United, Crawley returned to his native Austin. “It’s nice to be home,” said Crawley. “It is a little disappointing from where I was last year, but we have a really strong team with some great players. They just don’t have big-time experience.” The Lone Stars have managed to attract around 1,500 fans a game to watch such favorites as
Chris Veselka, the leading scorer in the USISL in 1994,
Judd Willmann, who has experience in the NPSL, and
Gabe Jones, the ’95 Premier League goalscoring champion who made one appearance for MLS’s Dallas Burn this spring.
PREMIER LEAGUE
After making the playoffs in each of his first four years as a coach in the USISL,
Ken White is in danger of missing out this year. His Colorado Springs Stampede has recovered from a very slow start, gaining an impressive 3-0 league win over Albuquerque of the D3 Pro League and beating both Jackson and South Florida, but it still lies in a tie for fourth in the Central Division with just one league game remaining. The top three teams advance to the playoffs. “[The] balloon is blown and the pin is in it,” White says. “We’re just hoping it doesn’t burst.” With a minimal budget, White still has a solid group of players ù all Americans ù highlighted by captain
Dean Laird, Dan Duryee and leading scorer
Robbie Leger from the University of Evansville. Although the defense suffered when it lost goalkeeper
Mike LeBerge in the A-League draft, it has an effective man marker in
Nick Arter, who has shut down Jackson’s
Lester Felician, the Premier League’s leading scorer, and also put the clamp on Zairean
Ignace Moleka, the former FIU star now playing for South Florida.
W-LEAGUE
The 8-0 California Storm, one of the oldest amateur clubs in the country, has been the class of the West in the early going. The return of
Julie Foudy and
Brandi Chastain, unavailable last season during their run to the Olympic gold medal, has been a key to the Storm’s success. Owner
Jerry Zanelli says the Storm is well-balanced, though. “Every win this season has been a team victory,” Zanelli said. “Each game, a different three or four players have stepped up to lead the team. There has been no individual superstar play.” The Storm, which won the U.S. Amateur Cup title in 1994 and 1995, has a showdown coming up in the U.S. Open Cup against the Dallas Lightning, which beat it in last year’s U.S. Open Cup.
CISL
The Sacramento Knights ended
Tatu’s 105-game streak of scoring one or more points when they beat Dallas 5-2 July 1. Goalie
Dan Madsen had 22 saves for the Knights.
Lee Edgerton, Jon Parry and
Paul Hansen scored within a space of 191 seconds to seal the win for the Knights. The loss extended the Sidekicks’ road-losing streak to nine games dating back to last August.
