North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance says defending champion Santa Clara is king until someone knocks the Broncos off. That someone will be the Tar Heels, who have the makings of champions, as they have every year.
No, no,'' Anson Dorrance cries. ''You can't do that.''
He's just been informed his University of NORTH CAROLINA squad, national champions 17 times in 21 years – but not last year – is No. 1, again, in Soccer America's Preseason College Women's Top 25.
He's arguing for SANTA CLARA, which toppled the Tar Heels in the NCAA Division I title game last December in Dallas.
''I think what you do when someone is king,'' he advises, ''you let them reign until someone knocks them off. … I think they should be 1. Give us a break; help me motivate my team for a change.''
Sorry, Anson, but – on paper, before the first ball is booted – Carolina clearly has the makings of a champion, as it has every year since winning the AIAW title, its first national crown, in 1981.
The Tar Heels are loaded, returning 13 players with extensive experience, including U.S. national team defender Cat Reddick, and welcoming the nation's top recruiting class. In all, about a dozen of Dorrance's charges have seen time with one national team or another.
Santa Clara has the guns to defend its title. Playmaker Aly Wagner is the nation's best player, period. Veronica Zepeda, Leslie Osborne and USC transfer Megan Kakadelas are unrivaled in college soccer as an attacking trio. Devvyn Hawkins, whom Coach Jerry Smith calls his team's ''quarterback,'' is superb in support of that quartet. Replacing All-American center backs Danielle Slaton and Anna Kraus is the challenge.
''How do we deal with losing those two?'' Smith asks. ''I don't know yet, but I'm looking forward to trying to figure that out.''
His plan is to start sophomore Holly Azevedo and junior Chardonnay Poole. Osborne, a defensive midfielder with the U.S. U-19 team, is another option.
Shin splints continue to slow Zepeda, and Osborne, Kakadelas and right back Jessica Ballweg will miss preseason and the first week of the season at the U-19 world championships. Wagner and possibly Hawkins will miss about a month of the season while with the U.S. national team. The Broncos play five Top 25 teams in their first six matches, starting with No. 7 STANFORD and No. 8 NOTRE DAME.
''All that spells for us,'' Smith says, ''is a slow start.''
Other programs – particularly Carolina, PORTLAND and Notre Dame – share such handicaps.
The Broncos face a fight in the West Coast Conference from Portland, which has been to six final fours in eight years and returns its four most important players: midfielders Betsy Barr and Erin Misaki, defender Lauren Orlandos and Canadian national team forward Christine Sinclair. The Pilots also can draw inspiration from Coach Clive Charles, who returns to the sidelines following months of chemotherapy to battle prostate cancer. They might be favorites.
''You never know, you know?'' Charles said. ''You've got to win these games on the field, not in the chat room.''
When the 2002 champion is crowned Dec. 8 in Austin, Texas, it likely will be North Carolina, Santa Clara or Portland. There are a dozen teams, more each year, that could claim the fourth College Cup berth, but the game's standard-bearers remain the Big 3.
And no matter what Santa Clara conjured last fall, North Carolina always is the team to beat.
''We met our goal last year, but now we need to get better,'' said Hawkins, who is on the U.S. national team's periphery. ''We need to become the North Carolina. We need to become the dominant soccer school that they have become.''
Only the Tar Heels could lose players the caliber of Jena Kluegel, Danielle Borgman and Anne Remy – all in the WUSA – and improve. Add a healthy Susan Bush and U-19 stars Lindsay Tarpley and Lori Chalupny to an attack returning four players, including forwards Alyssa Ramsey and Anne Morrell, who scored at least eight goals last year. Jordan Walker and Maggie Tomecka may be the most underrated central midfield combo in college soccer. Reddick and goalkeeper Jenni Branam, a former national team pool player, anchor things in the back.
They're the class of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which they've won 13 successive years. It's arguably college women's soccer's most outstanding league – the WCC and Pacific 10 might argue otherwise – and it provides five of SA's Top 25 teams. So does the Pac-10, and the WCC and Big East contribute four apiece. The rest of the roster comes from the other four ''power'' conferences: Big 12, SEC, Big Ten and Ivy League.
VIRGINIA seems likeliest to challenge Carolina. The Cavaliers are young – Coach Steve Swanson adds a superb freshman group to a team that started five freshmen in 2001 – and must learn to succeed without All-American midfielder Lori Lindsey. Holding midfielder Kelly Worden and All-American forward Lindsay Gusick will be pivotal.
''One of the biggest question marks coming into the season is how do we replace Lori,'' Swanson says. ''We relied on Lori to do a lot of things for us. Maybe we replace her by committee rather than with one player.''
FLORIDA STATE has been on the rise the past few years, but this could be Coach Patrick Baker's best team yet. Cindy Schofield netted 17 goals last year, and a young midfield – led by Camie Bybee and Amber Tollefson – returns intact. The Seminoles are 17-2 at home the past two years and will host the ACC tourney.
CLEMSON and DUKE should improve in their coaches' second years at the helm. Todd Bramble's Clemson attack, returning 2000 SA Freshman of the Year Lindsay Browne, Deliah Arrington and Paige Ledford, is speedy and gifted, but All-American goalkeeper Katie Carson won't be easy to replace. The Blue Devils, whom Robbie Church guided into the NCAA Tournament last fall despite a losing record, rely on ACC Rookie of the Year Casey McCluskey and Icelandic national team goalkeeper Thora Helgadottir.
Stanford and UCLA are again the teams to watch in the deep Pac-10, but WASHINGTON and CALIFORNIA also are poised to challenge. As many as eight teams – everybody except Oregon and Arizona – are in the running for NCAA berths.
The Cardinal has exceptional talent but will miss Amy Sauer's leadership in the back. Forward Marcia Wallis is coming off a fine summer with the U-21 team, and All-American Marcie Ward should flourish with a move from midfield to the forward line. U-21 defender Ally Marquand's and U-19 pool forward Natalie Sanderson's injury troubles appear over.
UCLA, which missed a second successive final four by one game, must overcome the loss of seven seniors, including All-American forwards Mary-Frances Monroe and Stephanie Rigamat. The Bruins will benefit from Nandi Pryce's return to form and a remarkable recruiting class featuring U-19 star Jill Oakes and Mexican national team striker Iris Mora.
''We are young,'' says Coach Jillian Ellis, ''but I think we have a lot of depth at every position. We're deeper than we've ever been.''
Washington returns 10 starters from a squad that went 13-5-2 against a difficult schedule, among them All-American goalkeeper Hope Solo. That total doesn't include Canadian U-19 standout Clare Rustad nor 2000 Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year Andrea Morelli, who missed last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
The Huskies' best weapon in bidding for their second Pac-10 title in three years: home assignments against all four California foes.
Last year's indifferent campaign has lowered Cal's stock, so the Bears might be the surprise of 2002. Laura Schott, who dropped to a conference-best 15 goals after scoring 23 her sophomore year, has regained focus, and midfielder Kim Yokers' game matured with the U-21s. The Bears also added second-team All-ACC midfielder Carly Fuller, a Duke transfer, and a freshman class Coach Kevin Boyd calls ''much better than people know.'' Depth no longer is a liability.
''We're extremely talented from the first player to the last player,'' Boyd says. ''I feel this year's team may be our best team to date.''
ARIZONA STATE looks ready to leap into the top tier of Pac-10 teams. A sensational freshman class, featuring U-19 midfielders Manya Makoski and Stephanie Ebner, is expected to make an immediate impact, and defender Amy LePeilbet had a productive summer with the U-21s.
ST. MARY'S and PEPPERDINE are chasing Santa Clara and Portland in the WCC. The Gaels have risen to prominence the past two years behind goalkeeper Ruth Montgomery, but a lack of depth could hinder their efforts this fall. Jessica Poole, their top defender, is out with a torn ACL. Katie Frattone, their top striker, has been limited by a nerve injury. The Waves bring back nine starters, including top scorer Kristi Bissonnette. Their postage stamp of a home field offers a distinct advantage.
Big 12 champion TEXAS, returning its entire starting lineup, looks like a national contender. The Longhorns have a ton of talent – speedy U-19 striker Kelly Wilson and fellow sophs Nicole Breger and Laura Kram – and would be home should they reach the final four. ''We may actually be a year away,'' says Coach Chris Petrucelli, who guided Notre Dame to four final fours in the 1990s. We'll see.
Traditional Big 12 powers TEXAS A&M and NEBRASKA also are in the hunt. The Aggies have sensational speed and will have few problems up front, where 17-goal scorer Linsey (Johnson) Woodard stars. Nicky Thrasher's departure will allow Heather Ragsdale, A&M's 2000 offensive MVP, to resume a prominent role.
Defense is the biggest question for Nebraska, and that's with goalkeeper Erin Miller – the Big 12's best – and Canadian national team defender Breanna Boyd on the field. Playmaker Meghan Anderson will be missed, but Big 12 MVP Christine Latham – another Canadian national-teamer – thrives in the Cornhuskers' 3-3-4 system, scoring 53 goals in three seasons. Both Texas powers visit Lincoln in 2002.
A surprise second-round loss to Cincinnati kept Big East Conference champ Notre Dame from the College Cup last year, a fate that still irks. ''The disappointing thing last year was we didn't get back to the final four,'' Fighting Irish coach Randy Waldrum says. ''At Notre Dame, that's the standard.''
He's got the team to meet such standards: Defenders Vanessa Pruzinsky and Canadian national-teamer Candace Chapman anchor a solid back line, Amanda Guertin (15 goals) leads a three-pronged attack, and unsung midfielder Ashley Dryer puts it all together.
WEST VIRGINIA, coming off successive 15-win seasons, should be the Irish's prime challenger in the Big East. Katie Barnes is gone, but forward Chrissie Abbott (15 goals) isn't.
CONNECTICUT lost a strong senior class, including All-Americans Casey Zimny and Alexa Borisjuk. Top scorer Kristen Graczyk and midfielder Sarah Popper will be pivotal. ''We'll be a strong group,'' Coach Len Tsantiris says. ''I don't think we have anybody outstanding – no Zimny or an Alexa – but we have a lot of good players.''
Coach Glenn Crooks' and All-American midfielder Carli Lloyd's second years at RUTGERS promise big things.
In the SEC, TENNESSEE could overtake six-time defending champion FLORIDA. The Vols return 10 starters, including U-19 standout Keeley Dowling in midfield and potent Kim Patrick up top. The Gators must overcome the loss of Abby Wambach and Andi Sellars (a combined 167 career goals), Keisha Bell and Karyn Hall. All-American defender Danielle Murphy is a start.
PENN STATE should continue to go unchallenged in the Big Ten. Hermann/MAC winner Christie Welsh has 69 career goals and a superb supporting cast – Johanna Lohman, Heidi Drummond, Stephanie Smith, Stephanie Pezzullo. A return to the College Cup is within reach.
PENN looks like the team to beat among the Ivies. The Quakers return five all-conference selections, including All-American forward Katy Cross.
by Soccer America Senior Editor Scott French