Category: College Soccer Reporter

[BIG EAST MEN] NCAA Tournament berths may have been on the line Wednesday when the Big East Tournament began with first-round action. St. John’s (9-6-5) improved its chances with a shootout victory over Seton Hall. Probably needing two victories to return to the NCAA Tournament, Cincinnati (9-9-1) pulled the day’s big upset with a 2-0 win at Providence. At least eight Big East teams should make the NCAA Tournament — that’s the number that ranked in the top 35 in last week’s RPI index.

Earning top ACC women’s honors in 2007 were Florida State’s Japanese international Mami Yamaguchi (Offensive Player of the Year), Virginia’s Becky Sauerbrunn (Defensive Player of the Year), Miami’s Brittney Steinbruch (Freshman of the Year) and Miami’s Tricia Taliaferro (Coach of the Year). Steinbruch and Virginia’s Sinead Farrelly were two freshmen on the All-ACC first team. Regular-season champion North Carolina (Yael Averbuch, Tobin Heath and Casey Nogueira) and Virginia (Nikki Kryzsik, Farrelly and Sauerbrunn) led all teams with three first-team selections apiece.

Regular-season champion Texas A&M led all teams with four selections to the All-Big 12 first team. Aggie senior Ashlee Pistorius, the nation’s leading scorer with 23 goals, was the Offensive Player of the Year. She was joined on the all-conference first team by sophomore goalie Kristin Arnold and midfielders Amy Berend and Allison Martino.

The Southeastern Conference women’s first team was dominated by underclass players with three juniors, including Tennessee’s Kylee Rossi, the two-time Offensive Player of the Year, and seven sophomores, including South Carolina’s Blakely Mattern, the Defensive Player of the Year, on the team.

With two weeks left in the regular season, Connecticut’s O’Brian White continues to lead the NCAA Division I men’s scoring charts.  For the Top 10 goal scorers …

Texas A&M’s Ashlee Pistorius has moved to the top of the NCAA Division I women’s scoring charts. For the Top 10 goal scorers …

Metro State begins its defense of the NCAA Division II women’s championship when it hosts West Texas A&M Friday in the opening game of the 2007 tournament. For the 48-team field …

Penn State, which wrapped up its 10th straight Big Ten women’s regular-season title on Friday, is the top-ranked team in the final RPI index the NCAA will release before the 64-team Division I Tournament field is announced next Monday. For the key RPI developments …

Senior Stephen King, who scored one goal and assisted on three others in Maryland’s 4-1 victory over Virginia Saturday night, is the Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week for games played Oct. 29-Nov. 4.

Sophomore goalkeeper Dan Williams, who had several miraculous saves in Kentucky’s 2-1 win over then-No. 1 SMU, is among the players named to the Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week for games played Oct. 29-Nov. 4 …

Texas A&M senior Ashlee Pistorius, whose four goals in the Aggies’ 4-0 win over Baylor on Friday gave her the national scoring lead, is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week for games played Oct. 29-Nov. 4.

Three freshmen — Katie Williams (Kansas), Kristin Kaiser (Penn) and Keelin Winters (Portland) — earned their first Soccer America Team of the Week honors. For the complete Team of the Week for games played Oct. 29-Nov. 4 …

Despite having its 20-game winning streak snapped on Sunday, Northern Kentucky earned the top seed and home-field advantage in the Great Lake Region in the 2007 NCAA Division II Men’s Tournament. For the 32 Division II men’s entrants …

Play in the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s Tournament begins Wednesday with seven first-round games. For the 57 Division III men’s entrants …

UCLA remained No. 1 in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25 for the fourth straight week, and there was no change in the top six spots. Purdue, USC and Notre Dame all moved up one spot following No. 7 Virginia’s 1-0 loss to No. 4 North Carolina. For the complete Top 25 …

Georgetown upset Connecticut, 1-0, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. New Hampshire and Boston University moved into next Saturday’s America East final. Form held on the first day of play in the Horizon League and Mid-American, Missouri Valley and Southern Conferences. For all the results and goalscorers …

Santa Clara extended its unbeaten streak to 13 games with wins over San Diego (2-1) and Loyola Marymount (3-1). Only Virginia Tech (15 games), a 3-0 winner over N.C. State, has a longer unbeaten streak. Red-hot Saint Louis crushed St. Joseph’s (8-0) and Temple (5-0) in Atlantic-10 action to run its winning streak to five games. For all the Top 25 weekend  results and goalscorers …

For the second time this season, Wake Forest reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the  Soccer America Men’s Top 25. The Demon Deacons have been No. 1 eight of the 10 weeks since the start of the regular season. Connecticut is No. 2, and Brown moved into the No. 3 spot, its highest ranking of the season. For the complete Top 25 …

Who says West Coast soccer doesn’t draw? For the second time in less than three weeks, defending men’s champion UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly shattered the Big West regular-season attendance record.

John Rennie will be having nightmares about Alabama A&M for many years to come. A&M has been a nemesis for retiring Duke coach John Rennie dating back to his first years as the Blue Devil coach in the 1980s when A&M was a national power. The Bulldogs no longer have an impact program, but they beat Duke for the fourth time in five meetings with a 4-3 win on Sunday in Rennie’s final regular-season home game as Duke coach.