Category: College Soccer Reporter

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.

Texas, ranked No. 11 in this week’s Soccer America Top 25, suffered a huge blow when Stephanie Logterman, whom Longhorns coach Chris Petrucelli called the best left back in the country, was lost for the remainder of the 2007 season due to a knee injury.

Portland became the first team to clinch an automatic berth in the 2007 NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament when it defeated Pepperdine, 2-0, Sunday in Malibu to clinch its ninth West Coast Conference title.

The NCAA announced the 60-team field for the 2007 NCAA Division III Women’s Tournament. (Fields for the NCAA Division II men and women and Division III men will be anncounced on Monday.)

UNC Greensboro completed a perfect 10-0-0 regular season in the Southern Conference with a 3-0 win over Elon, which it will meet again Sunday in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. William & Mary (CAA) and Ball State (Mid-American) claimed their second consecutive regular-season conference titles with wins. Kellie Jenkins led the Tribe to a 4-1 triumph at Old Dominion with a pair of goals. Ball State knocked off archrival Miami (Ohio), 2-1, on Sarah Schumacker‘s golden goal. Senior Stacey Thompson scored to help lift red-hot Cal State Fullerton to a 1-0 victory over UC Irvine,  its fifth consecutive win, and clinch the Titans’ berth in next weekend’s Big West Tournament. For all Thursday’s scores …

No. 1 UCLA, which is closing in on its fifth straight Pac-10 title, hosts Arizona State and Arizona. No. 3 Portland will clinch its ninth WCC title and claim the first NCAA Tournament berth if it wins at Pepperdine on Sunday. No. 4 North Carolina, which has wrapped up the ACC regular-season title, hosts No. 7 Virginia Friday night to kick off Homecoming Weekend. For the complete Top 25 results and weekend schedules …

This weekend’s three matches involving Top 25 teams are all intriguing. UC Santa Barbara hosts Cal Poly Saturday in a rematch of their earlier Big West match that Cal Poly won, 1-0, before a record crowd of more than 7,000 fans. Two other matches feature teams headed in opposite directons. No. 21 Maryland looks to extend its eight-game unbeaten streak against No. 18 Virginia, which has just one win in six ACC games. No. 11 Michigan State, which has lost two in a row, welcomes No. 22 Ohio State, unbeaten in seven games, on Sunday in a key Big Ten match. For the complete Top 25 results and weekend schedules …

Villanova and Rutgers, both postseason candidates, won Big East Tournament first-round games on Thursday. Binghamton and Stony Brook advanced in the America East. For all the weekend conference tournament games …

Frank Patano‘s hat trick gave him 14 goals for the season and led Butler to a 3-0 win over Wright State in the Horizon League regular-season finale for both teams. For all Thursday’s scores …

Tournament play begins Thursday in the Big East and America East. Villanova and Rutgers, both NCAA Tournament teams in 2006, may need wins to keep their 2007 postseason hopes alive. For this week’s women’s conference tournament schedules …

St. John’s moved into first place in the Big East’s Red Division thanks to a 3-1 win at Syracuse on Wednesday. Colombian transfer Omar Alfonso disappointed an Orange crowd of 1,049, the four largest at the SU Soccer Stadium, with two goals for St. John’s. Vermont stunned America East leader Binghamton, 2-0, thanks to quick goals by Jordan Crasilneck and T.J. Gore, leaving just two points between the top seven teams in the standings with one game to play. For all Wednesday’s scores …

Two goals by Annie Phillips, her 16th and 17 of the season, gave Kennesaw State a 3-1 win over Mercer that clinched the Owls’ second straight Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title. For all Wednesday’s scores …

Texas A&M senior Ashlee Pistorius is now the national leader in points and goals with two weeks remaining in the NCAA Women’s Division I regular season. For the Top 10 leaders in points, goals, assists and goals-against average …

[OFF THE POST] Knee injuries are the scourge of women’s soccer. It’s rare to find a top women’s program that hasn’t had a player go down with a knee injury. At Division I Sacramento State, so many players have suffered knee injuries of one sort or another that they formed their own club.

[NEW PROGRAM] Utah currently has no NCAA programs that sponsor varsity men’s soccer, but that should change when Division II Dixie State College adds a men’s soccer program in 2008.

Freshman C.J. Sapong scored two goals, including the game-winning goal in overtime, to give surging James Madison a 2-1 win over Towson in a key CAA game, extending the Dukes’ winning streak to four games. The loss snapped the Tigers’ 16-game home unbeaten streak, dating back exactly two years. For all Tuesday’s scores …

UC Irvine’s Kim Conlan scored from 35 yards out from the far left wing to give the Anteaters a 1-0 win over Long Beach State on Tuesday evening. Cal State Fullerton (15 points) and Cal Poly (15) remain in first place, followed by UC Irvine (13) and LBSU (12) in the tight Big West race. Monmouth clinched a Northeast Conference Tournament berth with a 2-1 win over Central Connecticut in a top-of-the-table clash. For all Tuesday’s scores …

With one week to go before NCAA Tournament pairings are announced, there was little movement in the NSCAA/adidas rankings. Teams remained the same in the top three spots in Men’s Division II and III, the top five spots in Men’s Division III and the top seven spots in Women’s Division III. For all the Top 25 rankings …

After playing sparingly in her first two seasons, UCLA midfielder Caitlyn Mac Kechnie was enjoying her best season yet. She was tied for the team lead in assists with seven and tied for third in points with 15 when she was injured in the No. 1 Bruins’ 2-0 win over USC last Friday. Mac Kechnie is out for the season after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament.

Four of the 15 largest women’s crowds this season were at games played last weekend, including a sellout crowd at Portland for the Pilots’ game against Santa Clara, the second largest crowd in UCLA history for the Bruins’ showdown with USC and two 3,000-plus crowds at Texas A&M.