Author Archives: Paul Kennedy

WOMEN’S NEWS … The 2009 women’s season begins Friday. The weekend play is highlighted by four matches in which both teams are ranked in the Soccer America Women’s Preseason Top 25.

FRIDAY: #11 Virginia at #6 Penn State: The Nittany Lions are looking to break the Jeffrey Field record crowd for a women’s game set in 2006 (3,206 for Penn State-UCLA on opening day).

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The game will mark the collegiate debut of Christine Nairn, who delayed her enrollment at Penn State to represent the USA at the 2008 U-20 World Cup. She has since become the first member of the U.S. world champion team to earn a cap at the senior level.

SATURDAY: #3 UCLA at #1 North Carolina: The game is a rematch of last year’s College Cup semifinal the Tar Heels won, 1-0, to send the Bruins home from the College Cup without a trophy for the sixth straight year.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Junior Kylie Wright will have to play a bigger role in the UCLA midfield following the departure of playmaker Tina DiMartino.

SATURDAY: #12 USC at #9 Texas A&M: The Trojans return to College Station, where they won the NCAA title two years ago. This will be the first-ever meeting between USC and Texas A&M.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: With Olympic gold-medalist Amy Rodriguez having departed, junior Megan Ohai will be counted upon to spark the USC attack. She spent the summer with the U.S. U-23s, playing with USC goalie Kristin Olsen and Aggies Kristin Arnold and Bri Young.

SATURDAY: #24 Oklahoma State at #17 Colorado (Radio: KSBI, 780 AM). The match is a rare conference match to open the season. Both teams are expected to challenge for the Big 12 title with co-favorites Missouri and Texas A&M.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Shaye Marshall joins older sister Nikki Marshall, who was named to the Soccer America Women’s Preseason All-American team, in the Colorado lineup. Shaye, a freshman, made her presence felt in the Buffs’ final tuneup, earning an assist on the winning goal in the 2-1 exhibition victory over Northern Colorado.

* All but Boston College, Michigan State, Connecticut and Rutgers kick off their regular-season schedules this weekend:

Soccer America Top 25 Schedule

(BC and UConn meet Saturday in an exhibition. Rutgers scrimmages the University of Montreal Friday. MSU is idle.)

MEN’S NEWS … Preston Hirten, a junior at Division III Mary Washington, collapse during practice and later died on Tuesday. He collapsed during a water break, was taken by ambulance with what was described as respiratory arrest to Mary Washington Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Temperatures were hot during the late afternoon practice at the Virginia school, but a cause of death was not yet determined.

Hirten had transferred from Hobart, another Division III school, last year. He starred at Staples High School in Westport, Conn.

“Preston epitomized Staples soccer,” said Staples head coach Dan Woog. “Anyone who watched him play – who saw his combination of speed, skill, and above all determination – knew he loved the game, and loved being on the field with his friends.”

Hirten is survived by his parents, Marc and Lisa Hirten, and two sisters Ella and Justine.

A memorial service will be held this Saturday at the Unitarian Church, 10 Lyons Plains Road, Westport. The service begins at 2 p.m.

The family also notes that, in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Preston Hirten Memorial Scholarship, being organized by the Westport Soccer Association. The address is: PO Box 2561, Westport, CT 06880.

WOMEN’S NEWS … The Soccer America Women’s Preseason All-Americans were released today. Heading the team is Casey Nogueira, the 2008 Soccer America Women’s Player of the Year and one of three North Carolina seniors on the Preseason All-American first team along with Whitney Engen and Tobin Heath. Florida State, Notre Dame and UCLA are the only teams with two players named to the first and second teams.

Of note, seven of the Preseason All-Americans missed the 2008 postseason because they were with the U.S. under-20 national team that won last year’s world championship in Chile. UConn’s Brittany Taylor, a first-team preseason selection, was injured and missed the entire season.

* No women’s coach is more excited than Portland’s Garrett Smith that there will be no international championships during the 2009 postseason. Just about every major program lost at least one player during the NCAA Tournament to the U.S. U-20s. The Pilots, whose record 19-game winning streak ended when they fell to Stanford in the quarterfinals, were without three starters — Elli Reed, Keelin Winters and Michelle Enyeart. Throughout her career, Sophie Schmidt has missed time to represent various Canadian teams. When you consider that Reed, Winters, Enyeart and Schmidt will be available all fall, that Kendra Chandhoke returns after redshirting last season, and U-17 defender Cloee Colohan joins the backline that returns everyone, Portland will be as deep as any team in the country. “We are going to have players on the bench this year that would start in most years,” Smith told the Oregonian. “It’s a talented group.”

* Florida is picked to repeat as SEC champion for the fourth consecutive year in the preseason poll released today. The Gators return eight starters, including All-SEC performers Ashlee Elliott and Lauren Hyde, from last season’s squad that went 11-0-0 in league play. Florida is also picked to win the East, ahead of Georgia. In the West, LSU was first, ahead of Auburn.

WOMEN’S NEWS … There’s no surprise here: Defending champion North Carolina is No. 1 in the Soccer America Women’s Preseason Top 25 rankings.

Soccer America Top 5
RANK/TEAM (2008 RECORD)
1. North Carolina (25-1-2)
2. Stanford (22-2-1)
3. UCLA (22-1-2)
4. Portland (20-2-0)
5. Notre Dame (26-1-0)

Complete Top 25 rankings

Carolina is seeking its 20th NCAA title in 28 years, though the trophies haven’t come as easily as they once did. The Heels won 16 of the first 19 championships but only three of the last nine.

The Heels sneaked up on the competition — if that’s possible — in 2006 when they won with seven freshman starters and last year they had to knock off two unbeaten teams, UCLA and Notre Dame, at the College Cup.

UNC will not be sneaking up on anyone this season. The Tar Heels return nine starters, including 2008 Soccer America Player of the Year Casey Nogueira, from last year’s College Cup championship team. They don’t include two regular-season starters — Nikki Washington and Meghan Klingenberg — who missed the postseason because of their participation at the U-20 Women’s World Cup.

The ’09 Tar Heels have a chance to be one of the great Anson Dorrance teams of all-time. They will certainly get the opportunity to prove it. Their schedule includes five 2008 elite eight teams in the first two months of the season — UCLA, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Duke and Florida State. They open Saturday at Fetzer Field against UCLA, which they beat in the ’08 semifinals.

* Carolina leads a group of five ACC teams ranked in the top 14. The rest are Florida State (No. 7), Boston College (No. 8), Virginia (No. 11) and Duke (No. 14). Led by Stanford and UCLA at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, the Pac-10 also has five teams in the Top 25. Six other conferences represented are the Big East (4 teams), Big 12 (4), Big Ten (3), WCC (2), CAA (1) and SEC (1).

* The only team ranked in the Top 25 that did not make the 2008 NCAA Tournament is Connecticut, whose absence left North Carolina as the only team to have played in all 27 tournament. The Huskies welcome back nine starters plus Brittany Taylor, who was a medical redshirt last season but could be one of the top defenders in the 2010 WPS draft.

* Soccer America’s Women’s All-Americans will appear in Wednesday’s Soccer America Daily.

WOMEN’S NEWS … There are only four days until the women’s season kicks off. Many of the top teams were in action over the weekend.

* ACC teams racked up a string of impressive victories …

— Florida State crushed Georgia, 5-1, with goals coming from five different players. Tori Huster, Becky Edwards (penalty), Lauren Switzer, Amanda DaCosta and Breezy Hupp. (Listen to FSU coach Mark Krikorian here on what he liked about the young Seminoles.)

— Georgetown is expected to be a Big East contender, but the Hoya were no match for Virginia, which won, 5-1, Sunday night at Klockner Stadium. Junior Meghan Lenczyk had a hat trick within 33 minutes of the 110-minute contest, and senior Jess Rostedt had a pair of assists.

— West Virginia, favored to win its division in the Big East, fell to visiting Maryland, picked eighth in the ACC preseason poll, 2-0, on a pair of first-half goals.

— Clemson, picked 10th in the ACC preseason rankings, buried Alabama, 4-0,

* Despite the loss of Kerri Hanks, Brittany Bock and others, Notre Dame showed it will have plenty of firepower, scoring three times in the first 14 minutes against Virginia before the Cavs rallied late to earn a 3-3 tie in a game played Friday in Maple City, Mich. Sophomore Melissa Henderson scored twice, while junior Erica Iantorno and sophomore Jessica Schuveiller each recorded a pair of assists for the Irish.

* A few other exhibition results of note: Penn States 2-1 over Pitt … LSU 2-1 over Texas … Illinois 1-0 over Cincinnati … Michigan State 2-1 over Wisconsin-Milwaukee … South Florida 2-0 over Jacksonville … Wisconsin 2-1 over Marquette in regulation (2-2 tie after 110 minutes).

WOMEN’S NEWS … Soccer America’s College Soccer Reporter is back on its daily (Monday-Friday) schedule for the 2009 college season.

* The women’s conference polls are out. But before we forget …

* Here’s the schedule for the release of Soccer America’s Preseason Top 25 rankings and All-Americans in Soccer America Daily:

— Women’s Preseason Top 25: Tuesday;
— Women’s Preseason All-Americans: Wednesday;
— Men’s Preseason Top 25: Aug. 25
— Men’s Preseason All-Americans: Aug. 26.

* Here’s how women’s coaches see things in some major conferences …

* PAC-10. UCLA won its fourth straight conference title — perfect at 9-0-0 — and advanced to the College Cup for the sixth straight year, but Stanford gets the nod (by two points) in the preseason poll.

Elsewhere, no real surprises …

* ACC. It’s unanimous: defending national champion North Carolina, winner of 20 of 22 conference titles.
* BIG EAST. Notre Dame and West Virginia get to nod to win their respective divisions. 
* BIG TEN. Coaches picked Penn State (with freshman sensation Christine Nairn) to win a record 12th straight title.
* BIG 12. Texas A&M (with two goalies, Kristin Arnold and Kelly Dyer, on the preseason all-Big 12 team) and Missouri tied for first.
* WCC. Portland (with no national team conflicts — for once) is picked to repeat.

Click here for the preseason conference rankings and all-conference teams …

* For the fifth consecutive season, the NSCAA College Game of the Week will appear on Fox Soccer Channel: eight women’s and 12 men’s matches. West Coast fans will like these women’s matchups: Oct. 30 — UCLA-USC, Nov. 1 — Santa Clara-Portland, Nov. 8 — Stanford-California.

* Sad news for Duke’s Ashley Rape. The 2008 Freshman All-American re-tore the same ACL she injured last season and had surgery on Friday. She will miss the 2009 season.

* It was the Irish over the Irish Tuesday night in Indianapolis. Ellen Jantsch gave Notre Dame a 1-0 exhibition victory over the touring Ireland national team before a crowd of approximately 2,000 fans at Kuntz Stadium.