Author Archives: Paul Kennedy

[USC PREVIEW] The Trojans are the self-described “rookies” at the Women’s College Cup, but that doesn’t mean they lack confidence heading into Friday’s match against No. 1 UCLA — a team they have lost to in their last nine meetings.

[FLORIDA STATE PREVIEW] It’s three years and three College Cups for Coach Mark Krikorian, so how do the ’07 ‘Noles compare with his other two FSU teams?

[NOTRE DAME PREVIEW] After nine years in South Bend, Coach Randy Waldrum still has a little of his North Texas drawl, which was on show on the eve of the Irish’s rematch with Florida State in the semifinals of the Women’s College Cup.

Patrick Nyarko is a big reason Virginia Tech is still alive in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament, where the Hokies face No. 2 seed UConn on Saturday. He might have never left his native Ghana if he hadn’t started watching ESPN and CNN on television and if his father hadn’t been sold on the value of Virginia Tech’s academics.

The hottest men’s team in the last month has been Ohio State, unbeaten in its last 13 games. A trio of senior stars — Xavier Balc, Eric Brunner and Casey Latchem, all home-grown players — have carried the Buckeyes on their march to the quarterfinals, where they will host Bradley on Sunday.

Bradley’s emotional season continued when it stunned Maryland, 3-2, in overtime and moved into the quarterfinals for the first time. An epic Maryland collapse sent the game into overtime, where Bradley won on a golden goal Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski called “a great imitation of the Hand of God goal.” Cirovski termed the loss the most difficult in his 15 years with the Terrapins but also lauded the effort of the Braves whose season that had begun in tragedy continued in triumph.

[ELITE 8 COUNTDOWN] With a team that includes 2006 Hermann Trophy winner Kerri Hanks and two other semifinalists, Brittany Bock and Amanda Cinalli, for the 2007 award, it’s no surprise that Notre Dame is back in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament. The surprise is how the Irish could have gone 3-4-1 in their first eight games. A big reason for Notre Dame’s postseason charge has been the return to form of Michelle Weissenhofer, the 2006 Soccer America Freshman of the Year.

[ELITE 8 COUNTDOWN] Three weeks ago, after losing in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, Duke wasn’t sure it would even make the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament. Now the Blue Devils are one win away from going to the Women’s College Cup. Regardless of the outcome at Notre Dame Friday night, Robbie Church‘s women have accomplished something they’ve never done before in the history of the program: they’ve advanced farther in the NCAA Tournament than archrival North Carolina!

Of the 32 teams left in the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament, none came from as far back as first-time entrant Central Connecticut State. After 12 games, the Blue Devils were 2-8-2 and going nowhere. But CCSU turned its season around and qualified (barely) for the Northeast Conference Tournament, which it won. With a starting lineup that included seven players from England and an eighth from the Isle of Man, CCSU did something it had not done all season. It scored as many as three goals and knocked off heavily favored Harvard, 3-2, to move into Wednesday’s second round.

In consecutive games on the first weekend of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament, Notre Dame scored back-to-back goals in 38 seconds and 75 seconds, but the Irish outdid themselves against North Carolina in Saturday’s third round. Notre Dame set an NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament record with goals 14 seconds apart in the 13th minute of its game at Chapel Hill and knocked off the defending champion Tar Heels, 3-2, to gain revenge for its loss in last year’s Women’s College Cup final.

After 29 years as men’s head coach at Duke, John Rennie‘s career came to an end Friday night when the Blue Devils fell, 1-0, at Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament.

The women’s regular season ended only 10 days ago, but there’s been an unprecedented wave of jobs open up at major programs. Alabama, Michigan and Oklahoma are just a few of the Division I women’s programs looking for new coaches. In order of longevity, here are the coaches who have resigned …