Category: Story

MEN’S NEWS … The Ivy League, college soccer’s oldest Division I conference and the only one that does not allow athletic scholarships, continues to thrive. Harvard and Dartmouth have been ranked in the top 10, while Brown is one of only three unbeaten teams in the country.

Started in 1955, Ivy League soccer has a rich tradition, having produced national team players and coaches, U.S. senators and Hollywood actors. Here’s a look at the Ivy League past and present.

HARVARD (8-1-0). Past star: Chris Ohiri. The Nigerian, considered the greatest college player of the early 1960s, was struck down by leukemia at the age of 28. Present star: Andre Akpan is an early candidate for national player of the year honors with seven goals and five assists in nine games.

DARTMOUTH (6-2-1). Past star: Andrew Shue became a Hollywood actor and played for the 1996 Los Angeles Galaxy. Present star: Craig Henderson represented New Zealand at the Olympics and gained All-American honors in 2008.

BROWN (5-0-4). Past star: 2000 Ivy Player of the Year Cory Gibbs played for teams in Germany, the Netherlands and England and is now with MLS’s Colorado Rapids. Present star: Goalie Paul Grandstrand was the 2007 Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

CORNELL (4-3-2). Past star: 1972 All-Ivy goalie Bruce Arena went on to coach the University of Virginia, D.C. United and the U.S. national team at two World Cups. He now coaches the Galaxy. Present star: Matt Bouaree (two goals and five assists) leads the Big Red, who have rebounded from 1-15-0 season.

PENN (4-3-3). Past star: All-time leading scorer Steve Baumann (30 goals and 39 assists in 1971-73) was until May the president of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Present star: Sophomore Christian Barreiro leads Quakers with six goals and two assists.

YALE (3-4-2). Past star: U.S. senator and 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry scored a hat trick against Harvard in 1965. Present star: Midfielder Jordan Raybould is a four-year starter.

PRINCETON (4-4-1). Past star: U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley was the Tigers’ leading scorer in 1979. Present star: Midfielder Josh Walburn leads Tigers with six goals and three game-winning goals.

COLUMBIA (2-5-1). Past star: Englishman Barry Nix was the first four-time all-Ivy pick (1978-81) Present star: Junior Bayo Adafin was the Lions’ leading scorer in 2008 (seven goals) and again leads them with four goals this season.

* MEN’S TOP 25 ACTION:
Friday, Oct. 9
ACC: No. 7 Wake Forest vs. No. 3 North Carolina
ACC: No. 6 Duke vs. No. 25 N.C. State
Big East: No. 25 West Virginia vs. No. 13 Connecticut (TV: Fox Socer Channel, live, 8 pm ET)
Sunday, Oct. 11
Big Ten: No. 24 Penn State vs. No. 12 Northwestern

Weekend Top 25 Schedule

WOMEN’S NEWS … No. 21 Wake Forest demonstrated that it is a legitimate national contender with Thursday’s 3-0 win over No. 5 Florida State. The Demon Deacons not only showed considerable attacking prowess from their 1-2 punch of Jill Hutchinson and Kaley Fountain but they shut down the ACC’s highest-scoring team.

Fountain, the former U.S. U-20, opened the scoring late in the first half with her eighth goal of the season, and Hutchinson finished off the Seminoles with her ninth and 10th goals of the campaign. “You have to give credit to Wake Forest,” said FSU coach Mark Krikorian.  “I thought they were the better team tonight.  They played harder than we did and they took advantage of their chances.”

The shutout was the third in a row for goalie Amanda Barasha. “With Laura [Morse] out, Amanda has had to step up in goal,” said Wake coach Tony da Luz, who earned his 199th career win. “She’s been really thorough about her preparation for all the games. She has studied and watched video of each opponent. I’m really happy with the way she’s played for us.”

— The only other Top 25 teams in action on Thursday both played to 2-2 ties: No. 17 Maryland at Virginia and No. 18 BYU at San Diego State.

* WOMEN’S TOP 25 ACTION:
Friday, Oct. 9
Big East: No. 12 Rutgers  vs. No. 9 Notre Dame (TV: Verizon FiOS, 7 pm ET)
SEC: No. 16 Georgia vs. No. 24 Mississippi (TV: FSS, 7 pm ET)
Sunday, Oct. 11
Pac-10: No. 25 Oregon vs. No. 1 Stanford
ACC: No. 17 Maryland vs. No. 6 Virginia Tech

Weekend Top 25 Schedule

JUNIOR COLLEGE NEWS … Yavapai, the two-time defending NJCAA Division I men’s champion, has faced some tough competition at home on the Arizona JC circuit. On Wednesday, the Roughriders lost to Scottsdale Community College, 1-0, on a penalty kick by Ryan Hall. It was Yavapai’s third loss of the season — matching the program’s 21-year high for losses — to go along with 11 wins.

The Roughriders will have a chance to get revenge for one of their earlier losses when they play Phoenix College on Saturday night at Ken Lindley Field. It will the 500th game for the Yavapai program and its coach, Mike Pantalione (454-32-13 record), who recalls his five favorite Yavapai games.

* PANTALIONE’S FAVORITES:
Game #39: Yavapai 2, Passaic 1 (1990 NJCAA final). Kurt Funkhouser scores in the second sudden-death overtime period as the Roughriders defeats the heavily favored New Jersey school 2-1 in Trenton.

Game #210: Yavapai 3, Mercer County 0 (1997 NJCAA final). The Roughriders finish an unbeaten season by scoring two goals in the first six minutes to defeat the home team and capture their third national title in the ’90s.

Game #485: Yavapai 1 San Jacinto 0 (2008 NJCAA final). Dirk Petersen‘s goal off a free kick early in the first half completes a perfect 26-0-0 season for the Roughriders. The 26 wins establish a national record at any level. It’s Yavapai’s fourth national title this decade and seventh overall.

Game #1: Yavapai 4 St. Louis-Forest Park 3 (September 1, 1989):  Edson Rico scores four goals against a nationally ranked team in the Roughriders’ first game.

Game #136: Yavapai 1 Mercer County 0 (2004 NJCAA semifinals): After 90 minutes of regulation play, it takes an additional four overtimes and 11 shootout rounds before Kevin Zimmermann, Yavapai’s goalkeeper, is inserted into the shootout by a little-known rule and scores the game-winner for a 6-5 shootout victory in Trenton.

MEN’S NEWS … It was a rough night for Top 25 teams Indiana, Boston University and George Mason. They were all playing at home and blew leads they held for long stretches, falling to unranked teams …

— No. 15 Indiana took the lead against visiting Butler in the 4th minute on Darren Yeagle‘s first goal since the 2006 season but gave up the tying goal in the 82nd minute and ended up losing, 2-1, on Connor Burt‘s header in overtime. “All credit to Butler,” said IU coach Mike Freitag. “They are a good team, and I said before the game this was going to be a tough one. We have to do some soul searching. Sometimes guys put on an Indiana jersey and they think it is just going to happen for them.”

— New Hampshire was undeterred by Michael Bustamante‘s goal in the 12th minute, rallying for second-half goals by Jordan Thomas and Chris Banks on counterattacks to defeat No. 17 Boston University, 2-1. The loss ended the Terriers’ five-game unbeaten streak.

— No. 23 George Mason was also unable to hold on to a 1-0 lead, losing to ACC rival Towson, 2-1, on goals by Marco Mangione and Liam Maloney in the last 11 minutes. For the Patriots, the loss snapped a five-match winning streak.

* ZIPS LEAVE IT LATE. No. 1 Akron improved to 10-0-0 with a 3-1 victory at UIC Wednesday night. The Zips didn’t get their first goal until Blair Gavin broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute and Kofi Sarkodie made it 2-0 in the 86th minute. Kevin Stoll ended Akron’s six-game shutout streak, cutting its lead to 2-1 with less than two minutes to play. But Teal Bunbury sealed the victory just 36 seconds later on a breakaway. “With this team, I never know who’s going to score but I always know someone will find a way eventually,” Akron coach Caleb Porter said. “Tonight it was Blair who made a special play to put us ahead.”

* WEDNESDAY’S TOP 25 ACTION:
UIC 1 (Stoll 89) No. 1 Akron 3 (Gavin 72, Sarkodie 86, Bunbury 89).
Big West: No. 7 UC Santa Barbara 1 (Silva 29) Cal Poly 0.
No. 8 Harvard 2 (Tsuda 27, Akpan 37) Holy Cross 0.
Big East: No. 11  Louisville 1 (Rolfe 84) No. 5 South Florida 0.
Northern Illinois 0 No. 12 Northwestern 1 (Eliason 46),
(Wildcats win third straight game by 1-0 score.)
No. 15 Indiana 1 (Yeagle 4) Butler 2 (Pollock 82, Burt 104) (OT).
America East: No. 17 Boston Univ. 1 (Bustamante 12) New Hampshire 2 (Thomas 53, Banks 74).
No. 20 Virginia 2 (Ownby 6, Agorsor 11) Longwood 0.
CAA: No. 23 George Mason 1 (Washington 49) Towson 2 (Mangione 79, Maloney 83).

Wednesday Results

* BULLS’ UPDATE. UMBC sophomore Andrew Bulls, the nation’s leading scorer, scored his 14th goal of the season in the Retrievers’ 2-0 win over Stony Brook. He tied the UMBC record set by Giuliano Celenza in 2000 by scoring at least one point in 11 straight games.

* OWNBY RETURNS. Brian Ownby wasted no time getting back into the swing of things for Virginia after returning from international duty at the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt. The U.S. U-20 scored six minutes into the Cavaliers’ 2-0 win over Longwood.

* CROWD COUNT. Five days after breaking the Harder Stadium attendance record, UC Santa Barbara drew a crowd of 5,842 for its 1-0 win over Cal Poly.

WOMEN’S NEWS … Three days after Coach Neil McGuire left the No. 19 Cal women’s program, concerns about who was in charge were put to rest, at least for now, when he returned to work and apologized for leaving the team and missing Sunday’s 1-1 tie with nationally ranked Santa Clara.

McGuire’s absence resulted in Kelly Lindsay, an assistant volunteer coach who had been with the Bears for only two weeks, running the show against Santa Clara. Yes, that’s the same Kelly Lindsey who took over as the interim coach of WPS champion Sky Blue FC following the departure of Ian Sawyers only to suddenly quit herself shortly before the playoffs.

According to the Daily Cal, McGuire told his Bears players Friday he was “done” after their 1-0 loss to Sacramento State — their second defeat to an unranked team in a week. Two days later, they tied ranked Santa Clara — a remarkable feat considering Cal was depleted by injuries.

“I am deeply saddened I placed my team, program and administration in this unfortunate position,” he said Monday. “I had some profoundly difficult personal issues to deal with throughout last week, and I put myself ahead of our team, which goes against our ideal of program, team, individual.”

McGuire arrived at Berkeley from Texas Tech in 2007, accepting a four-year contract worth more than $250,000 a year in salary and potential bonuses and camp income. The Scotsman attended Augusta State in Georgia and later spent time coaching at Iowa State, Arizona State, Mississippi State and Texas.

“Neil McGuire is the right coach for our program,” Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said in a statement. “I felt that more than two years ago when I hired him and I feel that today.”

* WEDNESDAY’S ACTION:
Non-Conference
Long Beach State 0 San Diego 0
Illinois State 5 SIU-Edwardsville 1
(Jessica Carlson ties Illinois State record for most goals in a game with three.)

SMALL COLLEGE NEWS … John Leaney, who has won 529 games in more than 20 years of coaching at Macalester College, will retire at the end of the 2009 season so he can devote more time to raising his 4-year-old son Jack. Leaney’s wife Carrie passed away from cancer three years ago.

Leaney, who will be inducted into the Macalester M Club Athletic Hall of Fame later this month, came to the Division III Minnesota school as head men’s coach in 1986 and two years later took over the women’s program. The Scots won the NCAA Division III women’s national championship in 1998 and finished second the following year. He gave up his men’s coaching duties to concentrate on the women’s team in 2006.

“Raising a four-year-old requires a great deal of energy, as does coaching a college team full time,” said Leaney. “Right now, my son is the most important thing in my life and he deserves my undivided attention.”