Category: College Soccer Reporter

Joseph Lapira, the 2006 Soccer America Men’s College Player of the Year, heads Soccer America’s Preseason Men’s All-American Team. Defending national champion UC Santa Barbara (Andy Iro and Eric Avila), St. John’s (Jason Landers and Ryan Soroka), Virginia (Jonathan Villanueva and Yannick Reyering) and Duke (Michael Videira and Mike Grella) are the only teams with two players selected on the 23-player team.

Five players with remaining college eligibility are headed to China to represent Canada at the 2007 Women’s World Cup, which will take place Sept. 10-30. Selected were Melanie Booth (Florida), Robyn Gayle (North Carolina), Diana Matheson (Princeton), Kara Lang (UCLA) and Sophie Schmidt (Portland).

Soccer America’s College Soccer Reporter today resumes its daily (Monday-Friday) frequency during the college season. Soccer contacts are requested to e-mail releases to Managing Editor Paul Kennedy at: paul@socceramerica.com Soccer America’s Top 25s will appear in each Monday’s College Soccer Reporter and at the College Soccer Reporter section at socceramerica.com Soccer America’s Players of the […]

Defending champion North Carolina is No. 1 in Soccer America’s preseason women’s rankings, edging out Notre Dame and UCLA, which the Tar Heels beat in the final and semifinals, respectively, at the 2006 Women’s College Cup. WCC powers Portland and Santa Clara round out the Top 25. Read Thursday’s College Soccer Reporter for previews of all the teams in the Soccer America Top 25.

San Francisco senior defender Rob Valentino, the 2006 West Coast Conference Player of the Year, will miss the 2007 season after having successful knee surgery. Valentino, who has led the Dons to the NCAA playoffs in all three of his seasons, was injured working out prior to the start of official practice and underwent surgery Saturday on his left knee. He is expected to have a complete recovery.

UCLA, last year’s NCAA Division I runner-up, is No. 1 in Soccer America’s preseason men’s rankings. ACC teams Wake Forest and Duke are No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, followed by defending national champion UC Santa Barbara. Today’s College Soccer Reporter also features previews of the Top 25 teams, along with the latest news from preseason camps.

[MEN’S TOP 25 PREVIEWS: 1-10] Top-ranked UCLA lost U.S. U-20 Sal Zizzo, who signed with German club Hannover, and won’t have Soccer America Freshman of the Year David Estrada for perhaps the first three weeks of the season, but the Bruins still have plenty of firepower.

[MEN’S TOP 25 PREVIEWS: 11-20] Connecticut (winner of two national titles) and Indiana (which captured the last of its seven national championships in 2004) are both looking to return to the Men’s College Cup after exiting prematurely during the 2006 postseason.

Duke, which finished the 2006 regular-season as the No. 1 team in the Soccer America Top 25 men’s rankings, was named the 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference preseason favorite, in a vote of the league’s nine head coaches.

UC Santa Barbara was chosen to win the Big West men’s championship in the 2007 preseason coaches poll. The Gauchos, who won their first NCAA Division I national championship in 2006 and have won four of the last six Big West titles, led the way with six first-place votes and a total of 48 points.

Notre Dame, the 2006 NCAA Division I women’s runner-up, and West Virginia have been tabbed as division favorites in the 2007 Big East preseason women’s poll.

UCLA, which reached the national semifinals in 2006, has been tabbed as the favorite to win the 2007 Pac-10 women’s title by the Conference’s coaches.

Portland edged Santa Clara as the preseason favorite to take home the 2007 West Coast Conference women’s regular-season title, as voted on by the conference’s head coaches.

Texas A&M has been picked to win the 2007 Big 12 women’s championship for the fourth consecutive year in a preseason vote of league head coaches.

Notre Dame forward Joseph Lapira, the 2006 winner of the Men’s Hermann Trophy, is among the 29 players who are included in the 2007 Men’s Hermann Trophy watch list released by the NSCAA.

Carlo Acquista, who compiled an 18-57-10 record in five seasons at St. Francis (N.Y.), has been named the new Adelphi men’s head coach, replacing Bob Montgomery, who resigned his position after 29 years as head coach to head up MLS club New York Red Bulls’ youth program.

Tony Guinn was named head women’s coach at Western Illinois, replacing Kevin Sherry, who filled the Louisiana Tech vacancy. For all 2007 Division I coaching changes …

Bradley has canceled its annual preseason men’s Red-White scrimmage, scheduled for Saturday, but will open the regular season as scheduled on Aug. 31 at home against Lipscomb after the death of Danny Dahlquist in a fire allegedly set by four young men, including three teammates, a botched fireworks prank on Sunday at their home in West Peoria, Ill.

Fox Soccer Channel’s live NSCAA College Match of the Week coverage in 2007 will include eight women’s matches played on Thursdays and nine men’s matches on Fridays. There will also be bonus coverage of three men’s matches played on Wednesday evenings throughout the season.

Notre Dame’s Kerri Hanks, the 2006 Women’s Hermann Trophy winner, is among 46 players named to the 2007 Women’s Hermann Trophy watch list.

UCLA, the 2006 NCAA Division I men’s runner-up, is picked to win the Pac-10, marking the sixth straight year the Bruins are the preseason pick to win the conference title.