Category: Story

MEN’S NEWS … Penn State senior Jason Yeisley‘s comeback following two knee injuries and a 20-month layoff is an amazing story.

A member of the Soccer America All-Freshman Team and MVP of the Big Ten Tournament in 2005, he suffered a knee injury and was lost for the season seven games into the 2006 season. The same thing happened in 2007, only this time he went down with a month remaining in the season — he still led the Lions in scoring and earned All-Big Ten honors.

After sitting out the 2008 season, Yeisley got a jumpstart on the 2009 campaign when the Lions traveled to Brazil in the spring for a 10-day tour during which they played four games against local competition, saw Ronaldo play for Corinthians twice and visited the Pele museum. Yeisley also played for the PDL’s Reading Rage over the summer

Yeisley returned to Penn State for a fifth year — he has to only take one English class to complete his degree in business and is taking a yoga class for fun — and has gotten off to a remarkable start. He earned Soccer America Player of the Week honors with three goals and an assist in three games for the 2-1-0 Nittany Lions.

(Yeisley chronicles the buildup to the 2009 season, including the Brazil tour, at his Penn State sports blog.)

This week‘s Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week

* Clemson is going through hard times. The Tigers are coming off their first back-to-back losing seasons, they lost long-time coach Trevor Adair, who resigned in June following his arrest for allegedly assaulting his two daughters, and they opened with a 3-1 defeat to unheralded Gardner-Webb.

Still, Clemson enjoys remarkable support. Its annual match with state rival South Carolina is one of the best draws in college, as evidenced by the 6,121 fans who turned out on Friday at Riggs Field. Clemson lost, 1-0, but not without trying. In the second half, Francklin Blaise hit the post, and Mike Mattson‘s header was tipped off the crossbar and out of play.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m staying positive,” said Clemson interim coach Phil Hindson. “In the first two matches, we have not scored the first goal and that is hard.” He liked how the Tigers moved the ball around during the second half against South Carolina. “Our players cannot give any more effort,” he added. “They have played reasonably well in the first two games. I know that taking this many shots that something good will happen.”

* For the second game in a row, Aaron O’Neal scored twice for No. 14 Boston University, leading the Terriers to a 3-0 win over Providence. Also on Monday, DePaul handed No. 17 Northwestern its first loss of the season when it beat its Chicago area rival, 2-1. No. 8 UC Irvine improved to 3-0-0 when it beat Cleveland State, 2-0, to win its UC Irvine College Classic.

Monday’s results

* The shocker: LIU’s 2-0 win over Santa Clara …

WOMEN’S NEWS … One of women’s soccer’s best kept secrets is the support BYU receives. After opening with three games on the road — 0-0 tie at Hawaii and wins over West Virginia and Connecticut at the Penn State Invitational — the Cougars returned home to Provo, where they drew crowds of 3,196 and 2,292 for games Friday and Monday.

Fans certainly got their money’s worth as both games were decided in overtime. After losing to William & Mary, 1-0, BYU fell behind against Oklahoma State but rallied to beat the Cowgirls, 2-1. Freshman Carlee Payne scored the tying goal and set up sophomore Jennie Marshall for the winner in the second overtime. “Ups and downs are a part of sports,” BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “But to have a young team play with composure throughout the game says a lot.”

Payne had both game-winners last week at Penn State. The goal was Marshall’s first this year. “Carlee was brilliant today,” added Rockwood, “and did a great job getting the ball to Jennie who is a great scorer.”

Monday’s results

* PERFECT STARTS
UAB 6-0-0 (Blazers are off to best start in school history)
Wake Forest 6-0-0 (Jill Hutchinson and Kaley Fountain have 14 points apiece)
Florida State 5-0-0 (Jessica Price leads the Seminoles with 15 points)
Indiana 5-0-0 (Dating back to last season, the Hoosiers have won eight games in a row)
Kansas 5-0-0 (Jayhawks open 5-0-0 for the second year in a row)
Louisiana Tech 5-0-0 (Rachel King had back-to-back hat tricks last week)
Marshall 5-0-0 (Thundering Herd opens with three 2-0 wins and two 1-0 wins)
Maryland 5-0-0 (Five-game winning streak is the Terps’ longest in a decade)
New Mexico 5-0-0 (Redshirt freshman Kelli Cornell has four shutouts in goal)
North Carolina 5-0-0 (Heels have gotten goals from 11 different players)
Portland 5-0-0 (Sophie Schmidt and Danielle Foxhoven have 11 of UP’s 16 goals)
Purdue 5-0-0 (Won Boilermaker Challenge Cup with a 6-1 win over Ball State on Monday)
Stanford 5-0-0 (Scored five goals in 26 minutes and 33 minutes in different games)
Vanderbilt 5-0-0 (Commodores also won first five matches in 2008)
… Eight teams at 4-0-0
… One team at 3-0-0
… One team at 2-0-0

* Canadian international Sophie Schmidt, who four goals in the No. 3 Portland’s 5-1 win over Columbia, is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week.

This week’s Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week.

SMALL COLLEGE NEWS … Division II Saint Leo was forced to cancel two women’s games because five players were among 17 students confirmed to have come down with swine flu.

Saint Leo, the preseason favorite to win the Sunshine State Conference, was scheduled to open with games at West Florida against the 2008 NCAA Division II runner-up and Delta State.

It marked the second straight week the UWF women had a game canceled. The Argos’ opener against Thomas was canceled because of thunderstorms A men’s game between West Florida and St. Leo went ahead in Pensacola and the UWF won, 2-1.