Category: Story

TELEVISION NEWS … Bradley has scheduled a 10 p.m. kickoff (11 p.m. ET) for Friday’s match against Memphis, the opening game of the NSCAA College Game of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel.

Eleven of the 12 men’s matches will be played on Friday nights. All but one of the eight women’s matches will be featured on Sunday afternoon. Women’s action debuts on Sept. 20 when Boston University hosts Harvard.

(Read more for the complete NSCAA College Game of the Week schedule.)

MEN’S NEWS … This year’s darkhorse in men’s soccer could be N.C. State. At the very least, the Wolfpack has a good shot of winning the ACC — something it hasn’t done since 1990 when its championship team featured future national team players Dario Brose and Henry Gutierrez and a backup goalie in Robert Gibbs, now President Barack Obama‘s press secretary.

Defending ACC and national champion Maryland, Wake Forest and Boston College face major rebuilding, Clemson and Virginia Tech lost their coaches in the offseason, Virginia and Duke begin the season with question marks. That leaves only No. 1 North Carolina and N.C. State reasonably confident about what they have to offer.

Enthusiasm is high in Raleigh, as evidenced by the 1,800 fans who turned out on opening day to watch the Wolfpack defeat Winthrop, 3-1. N.C. State was one of the best teams in the ACC over the second half of last season, winning eight of its last 11 games, and it returned everyone. Seven seniors, three juniors and one sophomore started in Tuesday’s opener.

The Wolfpack’s lineup is a mix of locals — five starters from North Carolina — and foreigners — including starters born in Cameroon, Congo, England, Venezuela and Argentina, Coach George Tarantini‘s home country (his brother Alberto starred on the 1978 World Cup championship team).

Ronnie Bouemboue, who was born in Congo and attended high school in Brooklyn, is the Wolfpack’s top scoring threat and most inspirational player. He missed most of the 2006 season and all of the 2007 season with knee injuries but recovered to score 14 goals in 2008. Bouemboue, who had a goal and an assist against Winthrop, was nominated for the 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS award, having served two terms as the president of N.C. State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and been active in charity works.

All four other foreigners are second-year seniors. Left back Korede Aiyegbusi, who was born in London to Nigerian parents and represented England in the 2009 World University Games, and Cameroonian midfielder Chrystel Bakong both took the JC route to Raleigh. Defenders Federico Nachmann, 24, and Romulo Manzano, 21, arrived last season from Argentina and Venezuela, respectively.

* No. 4 Indiana will be without Soccer America Preseason All-American Ofori Sarkodie for the rematch of its 2008 NCAA quarterfinal match with No. 3 St. John’s Friday at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic in Bloomington. Sarkodie is serving a one-game suspension for his red card in the Hoosiers’ 3-2 loss to St. John’s.

TOP 25 MATCHUPS:
Friday
No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 3 St. John’s (adidas/IU Credit Union Classic)
No. 5 Wake Forest vs. No. 10 Notre Dame (adidas/IU Credit Union Classic)
No. 8 Maryland vs. No. 9 UCLA

Saturday
No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 20 Cal Poly
No. 13 Connecticut vs. No. 24 Boston Univ.

Sunday
No. 22 Tulsa vs. No. 2 Akron (Radisson Tulsa Airport Classic)
No. 3 St. John’s vs. No. 10 Notre Dame (adidas/IU Credit Union Classic)
No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 5 Wake Forest (adidas/IU Credit Union Classic)

(Follow all the action with Soccer America’s Men’s College Weekend Scoreboard.)

WOMEN’S NEWS … North Carolina-Notre Dame ranks as the top rivalry in women’s college soccer. They’ll meet for the 17th time Friday night when the Tar Heels are the guests for the ailing Irish’s first women’s game at the new Alumni Stadium.

Five of the 16 meetings have been for the national championship, most recently in 2008 when the Tar Heels rallied after going down, 1-0, in the first minute and won, 2-1, on a pair of world-class goals by Casey Nogueira.

Heading into Friday’s Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic, North Carolina (3-0-0) is No. 1 and Notre Dame (2-0-0) is No. 4 in this week’s Soccer America Top 25.

Carolina has arguably the deepest team Anson Dorrance has ever assembled. Nogueira, 2008 Olympic gold-medalist Tobin Heath, Courtney Jones and Nikki Washington lead the attack that has scored 13 goals in three games. The Tar Heel defense includes goalie Ashlyn Harris, who was called up to the U.S. national team camp that begins next week.

On the other hand, the Irish entered a rebuilding year, having lost two-time Hermann Trophy winner Kerri Hanks, Brittany Bock, Carrie Dew and Elise Weber to WPS. To make matters worse, the Irish have been without their two senior co-captains, Michele Weissenhofer and Courtney Rosen. Weissenhofer has been bothered with hamstring problems, while Rosen is out indefinitely after breaking her left foot during preseason training.

TRIVIA: North Carolina won all five NCAA championship games against Notre Dame and leads the series with a 10-4-2 record. Perhaps the Irish’s most memorable accomplishment involved the 0-0 tie on Oct. 2, 1994 in St. Louis. Goalkeeper Jen Renola made 11 saves for Notre Dame, which snapped UNC’s NCAA record 92-game winning streak, the third time an Irish squad had broken an NCAA-record success string (joining football’s 1957 win at Oklahoma that ended the Sooners’ 47-game streak, and the 1974 men’s basketball team that stopped UCLA’s 88-game run).

Notre Dame-North Carolina Audio UND.com

* It wasn’t for a lack of trying that Wisconsin-Milwaukee fell to Marquette, 2-0, for its first loss at home since 2006. The Panthers held a 15-2 shot advantage in the second half after falling behind by two goals. “We completely dismantled them,” said UWM coach Michael Moynihan. “It was as good as I think I have ever seen our team play.” The game drew a women’s record crowd of 1,307 at Engelmann Field.

* Thursday night Top 25 action: Defending Big West champion UC Santa Barbara held No. 15 Michigan State to a 1-1 tie, while No. 9 West Virginia cruised past Duquesne, 4-0.

TOP 25 MATCHUPS:
Friday
No. 4 Notre Dame vs. No. 1 North Carolina (Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic)
No. 3 Portland vs. No. 23 Colorado College (Husky/Nike Invitational)
No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 10 Penn State
No. 16 Illinois vs. No. 8 UCLA (Illini Challenge Cup)
No. 14 California vs. No. 13 Texas A&M (Cal Invitational)

Sunday, Sept. 6
No. 7 Florida vs. No. 8 UCLA (Illini Challenge Cup)

(Follow all the action with Soccer America’s Women’s College Weekend Scoreboard.)