Soccer America Archives

WOMEN’S NEWS … DePaul’s 1-0 victory over Missouri propelled the Blue Demons into the Soccer America Top 25 for the first time in their 14-year history, but Coach Erin Chastain, sister-in-law of U.S. great Brandi Chastain, says she is not paying much attention.

“Anyone is capable of beating a good team on any given day,” she said. “I think our players will gain a little confidence from the Missouri game, but right now we’re focusing on Friday’s game at Iowa State.”

Freshman keeper Claire Hanold has three shutouts in her first four games.  “This is really exciting for her,” Chastain said of Hanold. “She has been outstanding for us in goal.”

* Portland sophomore Danielle Foxhoven, who scored the first two goals in the No. 3 Pilots’ 4-0 win over California and both goals in 2-0 victory over Washington, heads the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week.

* Monday Top 25 action:

— No. 10 Penn State twice rallied from one goal down to beat Connecticut, 3-2, on Monday. Nittany Lion subs Nikki Watts and Ali Schaefer provided the offensive spark that turned the game around. Schaefer set up Watts for the tying goal in the 76th minute, and Watts found freshman Christine Nairn for the winning goal less three minutes later. Nairn debuted for the U.S. national team this summer.

— In the other game at the Penn State Invitational, No. 25 BYU defeated No. 9 West Virginia, 1-0, on freshman Carlee Payne‘s golden goal.

MEN’S NEWS … The men’s season kicks off Tuesday, and the marquee matchup pits No. 10 Notre Dame against No. 21 Michigan in the Irish’s first game at the new Alumni Stadium, which features a natural grass field, lights, locker rooms, restrooms and concession areas. The lead benefactors for the $5.7 million facility are former Irish soccer players Tom Crotty and Rob Snyder.

Both teams are loaded with young talent. Notre Dame sophomore Aaron Maund and freshman Dillon Powers will leave following the game against New Mexico on Sept. 14 to join the U.S. under-20 national team for the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt. Michigan has one of the deepest freshman classes in the country with Latif Alashe, Hamoody Saad and Kofi Opare among the standouts.

The Irish were perfect in preseason action, while Michigan was 1-0-2 in exhibition play.

Tuesday’s Top 25 Action:
No. 1 North Carolina vs. UNC Asheville
No. 5 Wake Forest vs. William & Mary
No. 6 Creighton vs. Loyola (Ill.)
No. 10 Notre Dame vs. No. 21 Michigan
Wisconsin-Green Bay vs. No. 11 Northwestern
Santa Clara vs. No. 16 UC Irvine
No. 17 Loyola (Md.) vs. Villanova
Massachusetts vs. No. 24 Boston Univ.
No. 18 South Florida vs. UCF
No. 20 Cal Poly vs. UNLV
No. 22 Tulsa vs. Missouri State

Complete Top 25 Schedule

* Virginia got some much-needed good news when sophomore Chris Agorsor was cleared to begin practicing with the Cavaliers.

Agorsor, considered the top freshman recruit in 2008, was lost with a knee injury (torn anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments) suffered in the seventh game of the season. He was held out until a question about his eligibility was cleared up with the NCAA. Agorsor, who missed Virginia’s three exhibition losses, won’t travel with the Cavs for their opening games this weekend at Portland.

Virginia is also awaiting word on the eligibility of German newcomer Ole Hengelbrock, a 21-year-old defender from VfL Osnabrueck, the same club where former Cav star Yannick Reyering played.

* With 10 returning starters, UNC Wilmington had high hopes for the 2009 season, but they suffered a major blow when Devan Carroll, the 2008 CAA Player of the Year, was suspended from the team and the university because of a violation of team rules. “Unfortunately, Devan put himself into a situation that has resulted in him no longer being a part of our soccer program this season,” said Coach Aidan Heaney

MEN’S NEWS … Virginia won’t get out of Charlottesville fast enough and get on with the regular season. The Cavaliers lost their third straight preseason exhibition, falling to West Virginia, 2-0, on Saturday night at Kloeckner Stadium. The defeat followed losses last week to George Mason (1-0) and Old Dominion (3-1).

“I think if we get guys motivated and going we will be fine,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “The other part of it is going to be getting a couple guys healthy.” The Cavs open the regular season this weekend at the Nike Portland Invitational, where they will face Portland and Washington.

* Weekend highlights from the National Soccer Festival in Ft. Wayne, Ind.: No. 2 Akron beat Wisconsin, 2-1, on Anthony Ampaipitakwong‘s free kick. Rich Balchan, Alec Purdie and Andy Adlard scored to give No. 4 Indiana a 3-0 win over DePaul.

* No. 9 UCLA and No. 16 UC Irvine battled to a 1-1 tie on Saturday afternoon. After a listless first half, play heated up after intermission. Brett Berman put the Anteaters ahead in the 48th minute, and Prince Lapnet fed freshman Evan Raynr for the equalizer in the 84th minute. “We trained hard throughout the week, so we knew they would be a little lethargic,” said UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo. “Prince and Dakota [Collins] came in and did well and had some great energy, and Michael Stephens could have scored in the overtime on a pass from Prince.”

WOMEN’S NEWS … It was not a good weekend for teams in the Soccer America Top 25. Nine lost to unranked teams.

— Duke fell twice, losing to UNC Greensboro, 1-0, and UCF, 3-2, at the Carolina Nike Invitational. The Blue Devils outshot UNCG, 22-5, but couldn’t win in a game delayed 69 minutes because of lightning. Against UCF, Duke lost starting center back Nicole Lipp in the 25th minute with an injury and did not return. Coach Robbie Church took the blame for the loss, saying he failed to readjust his defense after Lynnea Pappas equalized in the 85th minute. Less than two minutes later, Stacie Hubbard scored the winner on a UCF corner.

— USC fell to 0-2 after losing to St. John’s, 2-1, on Sunday. (Two days earlier, the Trojans lost to Mexico’s national team, 2-0, in an exhibition.) Sunday’s defeat was USC’s first at McAlister Field since 2006. The Trojans lost despite playing with a player advantage after Courtney Lane was red carded in the 54th minute for a foul that led to the tying goal on a penalty kick by Megan Ohai. Raelynne Lee later gave St. John’s the win.

— The highest ranked team to lose was Texas A&M. It took Sylvia Forbes only four seconds to score for Purdue, and the Boilermakers went on to win, 3-2, before 6,589 fans. “We’re upset with the result, but you can’t take anything away from Purdue,” said A&M coach G Guerrieri. “They played great.”

— Other wins by unranked teams over Top 25 teams: BYU-Connecticut (1-0), Utah-Santa Clara (1-0), Georgia-Minnesota (2-0), Hofstra-Richmond (1-0), Colorado College-Washington State (2-1).

* Here is this week’s Soccer America Women’s Top 25.

* As a precaution, Stanford assistant coach Jay Cooney decided to drive his own car to the No. 2 Cardinal’s game at Cal Poly, and it’s a good thing he did. He got the call after he had driven for about an hour that his wife, Greta, was in labor. He turned around, missing Stanford’s 2-1 win, and made it in plenty of time for the birth of their second son, Hayes, at 6:25 p.m. Hayes’ numbers were as healthy as the Cardinal’s: 20.5 inches, 7 pounds, 13 oz.