Author Archives: Paul Kennedy

MEN’S NEWS … Three Soccer America Men’s Preseason All-Americans — UCLA’s Brian Perk and Michael Stephens and Wake Forest’s Ike Opara — are among the 21 players named to the U.S. under-20 national team that will compete in the world championships in Egypt.

FC Dallas defender Anthony Wallace and Perk are the only players with prior U-20 World Cup experience.

Notre Dame is the only other team with two collegians on the team: Aaron Maund, who represented Trinidad & Tobago at the U-17 level, and Dillon Powers. Other U-20s expected to play during the ’09 college season are Brian Ownby (Virginia) and Sam Garza (Denver).

Several other collegians, notably Sheanon Williams, who started for North Carolina, aren’t playing in 2009 with the hope of earning a pro contract.

The U.S. U-20s will train in Larnaca, Cyprus, for a week, beginning Sept. 14, before traveling to Suez, Egypt. The USA will open against Germany on Sept. 26 before facing Cameroon on Sept. 29 and rounding out group play against South Korea on Oct. 2.

* Transfer midfielders Michael Farfan and Stephen McCarthy combined for a pair of first-half goals to lead North Carolina to a 2-1 win over Old Dominion in its final preseason tune-up Thursday at Fetzer Field.

McCarthy scored in the seventh and 31st minutes off corner kicks from Farfan for Carolina, ranked No. 1 in the Soccer America Preseason Top 25. McCarthy, the lone Tar Heel on the Soccer America Preseason All-American team, scored the goal in UNC’s previous game, a 10 win over VCU.
 
The Heels open the 2009 regular season Tuesday against UNC Asheville at Fetzer Field.

* Canadian Julien Edwards‘ goal off a scramble in front of the goal in the 88th minute completed Drake’s comeback and gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 win over No. 4 Indiana on Thursday evening at the National Soccer Festival. IU went ahead on Will Bruin‘s goal, but Evan Harrison evened the score in the 58th minute.

Edwards was one of four Drake players, along with Nick Foster, Hunter Kennedy and Garrett Webb, who helped the Des Moines Menace with its conference title in the PDL.

Elsewhere …

— No. 5 Wake Forest exploded for three second-half goals from Corben Bone, Ike Opara and Chris Estridge to win, 3-0, at Furman on Thursday night at Stone Soccer Stadium.

— Five different Bluejays scored for No. 6 Creighton  in its 5-0 victory over the University of Nebraska club team.

— No. 22 Tulsa had a 17-6 advantage in shots but had to settle for a 0-0 tie with city rival Oral Roberts.

* Oklahoma City University’s Brian Harvey, the most combined men’s and women’s wins (576) of any soccer coach in NAIA history, has been selected for induction into the NAIA Hall of Fame. Harvey first came to the United States in 1968 to play fort the NASL’s Dallas Tornado.

WOMEN’S NEWS … It’s still early, but there are lots of positives Coach Jerry Smith saw from Santa Clara’s opening two games, wins San Jose State (4-0) over UC Santa Barbara (2-0).

The two wins put the Broncos within two wins of matching last year’s total. Their 4-12-4 record was their first sub-.500 season since 1983.

Injuries have decimated women’s powerhouse Santa Clara in recent years, so perhaps the most encouraging news was the return of Jordan Angeli, who missed the last two seasons with injuries and was granted a sixth year by the NCAA. She converted a penalty kick to seal the UCSB win.

“We missed her the past two years,” said Smith “and she brings a lot of things to our team with her ability to start an offensive attack out of the back and her leadership and organization.”

Freshmen Lauren Matheson, Amanda Webster and former U-17 national team midfielder Olivia Klei all got their first collegiate goals last weekend. “I’m pleased with how well this rookie class is playing,” Smith added.

Next up for the Broncos is a date Friday night at Utah, coached by former Santa Clara assistant coach Rich Manning.

MEN’S NEWS … The story of Coach Oliver Weiss‘ hasty departure from Virginia Tech in June took a new twist with a Roanoke Times story that Virginia Tech reported 11 recruiting violations to the NCAA and has banned foreign recruits for three seasons.

In documents obtained by the Roanoke Times, Virginia Tech informed the NCAA of the violations 13 days after Weiss resigned.

The violations by a person who “no longer serves … at Virginia Tech” (according to the redacted documents obtained under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act) concerned entrance fees paid on behalf of recruits and later repaid by the players themselves.

According to Roanoke Times, Virginia Tech will take  “corrective actions” and stop recruiting foreign men’s players for three years — through the 2011-12 school year.

Weiss’ recruiting of foreign players produced a Men’s College Cup semifinal team in 2007 but sparked controversy, though the decision to ban foreign recruits itself has met with opposition.

The editorial board of the Collegiate Times, the Virginia Tech student paper, criticized the ban, saying “there is absolutely no reason to rub proverbial salt in the wounds with the three-year suspension.”

* Transfers will play a big role in the 2009 men’s campaign. No. 1 North Carolina’s lone selection on the 2009 Soccer America Preseason All-American team is transfer Stephen McCarthy, who will spent his senior year in Chapel Hill after playing his first three seasons at Santa Clara. Three other transfers are also on the second team: Creighton defender Chris Schuler (Indiana), St. John’s midfielder Nelson Becerra (Centenary, N.J.) and UC Irvine forward Irving Garcia (Yavapai).

* Six Soccer America Preseason Top 25 teams — No. 2 Akron, No. 4 Indiana, No. 11 Northwestern, No. 12 UIC, No. 21 Michigan and No. 23 Louisville — will take part in the 2009 National Soccer Festival, which kicks off Friday in Ft. Wayne, Ind.  All seven Big Ten teams will play in 2010 thanks in part to a $10,000 sports business development grant from the city of Ft. Wayne for the Big Ten Challenge, the working title for the preseason event.

* Thomas Campbell‘s comeback bid got off to a fantastic start. The fifth-year senior who missed all of last season after tearing knee ligaments needed only 36 minutes to score a hat trick Saturday in UNC Greensboro’s 5-3 win over Division II Lees-McRae on Saturday night.

MEN’S NEWS … The North Carolina men made a clean sweep of preseason rankings when it was ranked No. 1 in the Soccer America Men’s Preseason Top 25.

Elmar Bolowich‘s boys are coming off a runner-up finish in the 2008 Men’s College Cup.

The Heels return six starters and all four substitutes from last year’s team that lost ACC rival Maryland, 1-0, in the final.

Billy Dworsky, UNC’s leading scorer in 2007, is back in action after redshirting in 2008, and two former first-team freshman All-Americans Michael Farfan (Cal State Fullerton) and Stephen McCarthy (Santa Clara) transferred to Chapel Hill.

The freshman class is led by South Carolina prep legend Enzo Martinez (182 goals at Northwestern High School).

— Only two other ACC teams are ranked in the Top 25 — No. 5 Wake Forest and Maryland No. 8. Both teams suffered heavy losses to the pro ranks but both welcome strong freshman classes.

— The Big East led all conferences with five teams in the Top 25: No. 3 St. John’s, No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 13 Connecticut, No. 18 South Florida and No. 23 Louisville.

— Unlike the women, where a half a dozen conferences dominated the preseason rankings, the Men’s Top 25 features teams from 13 conferences. Other conferences represented are the Big West and Big Ten with three, Pac-10 with two and the Mid-American, Missouri Valley, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, CAA, Conference USA, America East and MPSF, all with one.

TRIVIA: Never has a school swept the men’s and women’s Division I titles in the same year. The Carolina women won and the men were second in 2008. The only year the Tar Heel men won the national championship was in 2001 when the women fell to Santa Clara in the final.

Soccer America Top 5
TEAM (2008 RECORD)
1. North Carolina (15-8-1)
2. Akron (17-2-4)
3. St. John’s (19-3-3)
4. Indiana (14-7-3)
5. Wake Forest (21-2-1)

Soccer America Men’s Preseason Top 25

Wednesday: Soccer America Men’s Preseason All-Americans

* Virginia’s preseason troubles continued as the Cavs fell to Old Dominion, 3-1, on Monday night. All the goals came in the last 15 minutes. Freshman Ahkeel Rodney evened the score after Nane Joseph put ODU ahead on a penalty kick, but the Monarchs won on late goals by Emmanuel Ambane and Yannick Smith. Virginia had lost, 1-0, to another state rival, George Mason, on Friday.

* Ethan Finlay had both goals for No. 6 Creighton in its 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Wizards on Monday. Former Bluejay standout Michael Kraus scored the game-winning goal for the MLS team.

* Steven Perry‘s goal was the difference as Notre Dame edged No. 11 Northwestern, 1-0, before 1,756 fans in South Bend.

WOMEN’S NEWS … Defending champion North Carolina put the nation on notice that it will be hard to beat. The top-ranked Heels opened with a 7-2 win over UCLA, scoring three goals in the first 12 minutes.

Casey Nogueira, the 2008 Player of the Year, scored a pair of goals. Sophomore forward Courtney Jones had a goal and two assists and senior Tobin Heath, junior Ali Hawkins and sophomore reserve Emmalie Pfankuch all scored a goal and an assist.

UCLA coach Jillian Ellis: “Carolina was special tonight.”

(The loss was the Bruins’ second worst defeat in their 17-year history. They fell, 8-0, to Notre Dame in the 1995 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.)

* Here’s this week’s Soccer America Women’s Top 25, released Monday morning along with the North Carolina-UCLA summary and all the weekend Top 25 results.

* Other opening weekend notables …

— Of the other winners in weekend Top 25 matchups, Texas A&M looked the most impressive. The Aggies beat USC, 3-0. The game turned on an opening goal by Mary Grace Schmidt shortly before halftime. A&M went on to outshoot the Trojans, 25-10.

— The biggest upset was Cal State Bakersfield’s 2-1 win over then-No. 15 San Diego. The Roadrunners, who had gone 5-13-1 in each of the last two seasons, fell behind the visiting Toreros in the 68th minute but evened the score 30 seconds slater on Raquel Gervas‘ penalty kick. Two minutes after that, Kassie Massey stunned USD with a header.

— Natalie LeClair scored once in each half and fellow freshman LeighAnne Baxter had the third goal to lead Richmond to a 3-0 victory at then-No. 25 James Madison. Spider coach Peter Albright also singled out another freshman, Emily Parisi, for praise.

— Senior Carrie Patterson scored in the first 35 seconds of Georgia’s 6-0 win over Kennesaw State to break the Bulldogs’ all-time scoring record. She finished with a hat trick to bring her career tally to 36 goals.

* Some women’s teams chose to open with exhibitions. South Carolina beat the touring Mexican national team, 2-0, in front of 3,000 fans at the MeSA Soccer Complex in Greenville.

Look for the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week on Tuesday in Soccer America Daily …