Five teams — Brown, California Ohio State, Santa Clara and defending national champion UC Santa Barbara — have clinched automatic berths in the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament, and 43 spots remain up for grabs with one week left in the regular season. With the new RPI index as a guide, here’s an updated look at the 48 teams that might make the NCAA Tournament.
[BIG WEST MEN] Defending national champion UC Santa Barbara again looks to be a serious postseason threat. The Gauchos wrapped up the Big West championship and an automatic berth in the 2007 NCAA Men’s Tournament with a 3-2 comeback win at Cal State Northridge on Tuesday.
A big week of Division I men’s conference tournament play began on Tuesday with wins by Virginia in the ACC, Towson and VCU in the CAA and Hartwick and Northern Illinois in the Mid-American. For all the conference tournament results and goalscorers, as well as schedules and television updates …
The USA will host Mexico on Feb. 6 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, in a friendly. The game will be shown live on ESPN2 and Univision.
[AUDIO/TRANSCRIPTS] At Tuesday’s press conference announcing the hiring of Pia Sundhage, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati explained why he believes the Swede is the right choice to get the USA back on track. Sundhage discussed how the USA can prevail in an increasingly competitive international arena: “The team is capable of keeping possession and finding the right moment to penetrate. The U.S. can be very successful this way, even playing against tough teams and organized teams. It’s about dictating the tempo; sometimes high tempo and sometimes low tempo. You have to expect that they want to keep the ball and to be comfortable with the ball.”
[THE SUNDHAGE FILE] Swede Pia Sundhage, 47, has been named U.S. women’s national team coach, becoming the first foreign coach to head the team in the 22-year history of the U.S. women’s national team program. Sundhage is charged with qualifying the USA for the 2008 Olympics and winning the gold medal a year after the Americans, under Coach Greg Ryan, finished a disappointing third-place at the 2007 Women’s World Cup. For facts and figures on Pia Sundhage. …
[MLS CUP PREVIEW] In the first installment of our stories setting up the MLS championship game between New England and Houston at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney looks at the fowards.
The Concorde Fire broke out with a 6-1 win over AFC Lightning and a 6-3 win over the Atlanta Fire against Georgia rivals in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy U17/18 division over the weekend. Brian Ownby scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season for the Richmond Strikers in their 3-1 victory over the Richmond Kickers in a battle of Atlantic Conference leaders. In U15/16 play, Justin Watson scored his league-leading eighth and ninth goals of the season to lead South Carolina’s Bridge FA to a 2-1 win at home against the Virginia Rush. For all the results, U.S. Soccer Development Academy goalscorers and lineups …
[SOUTH AFRICA ROSTER] Like his American counterpart Bob Bradley, South Africa national team coach Carlos Alberto Parreira will rely heavily on foreign-based players for Saturday’s Nelson Mandela Challenge in Johannesburg (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, Galavision, live, 9 am ET).
“I can’t remember being involved in a search and selection process where we’ve had such universal support and acclaim for a candidate. That’s from players, coaches, FIFA staff, FIFA elected officials and people at the technical level. So, I’m not going to say it was easy because we had some excellent candidates, but Pia comes with extraordinary credentials and I think the message is that we want to win the gold in Beijing and get the program to higher levels.”
— U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati on hiring Pia Sundhage as the new U.S. women’s national team coach. (USsoccer.com)
South Side, ranked No. 2 in the NSCAA/adidas High School Fall Girls Top 25, won its fourth straight Long Island Class A girls title with a 1-0 win over Islip on Molly Bralower‘s goal with 29 seconds remaining. Two other Long Island teams have excelled in postseason play. St. Anthony’s won the New York CHSAA final with a 6-2 win over Nichols of Buffalo. Sachem East won the Long Island Class 2 title with a 1-0 win over Massapequa in the final on Kelly McCabe‘s goal. For the complete Top 25 …
Led by U.S. U-18 Chris Agorsor, one of the top prospects in the country, Maryland powerhouse McDonogh School, won the MIAA A Conference championship with a 3-0 win over Archbishop Curley and climbed to No. 17 in the NSCAA/adidas High School Fall Boys Top 25. Tyler Fiorito, Peter Franklin and Agorsor scored in the final. No. 10 Magruder advanced to the MIAA 4A final with a 4-1 win over Bowie. It will be without suspended Alex Lee, who set a school single-season scoring record, in the final against Perry Hall. For the complete Top 25 …
Negotiations to play Interliga matches at the Oakland Coliseum were unsuccessful, and so additional games have been scheduled for Robertson Stadium in Houston and Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Interliga dates for Jan. 3 and Jan. 8 had been left open in the original schedule with the possibility they would be played in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Former Chicago Fire general manager Peter Wilt, who had been spearheading the effort to land an MLS franchise in Milwaukee, has left his post. As chief executive officer of Milwaukee Professional Soccer LLC, Wilt negotiated a partnership with the Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association but couldn’t bring together the necessary financial and political components to facilitate a successful expansion bid.
Staying on the theme of democratic soccer ownership, MyFootballClub, the community Web site that aimed to take over a soccer club and let fans decide on everything (we’ll explain), on Monday announced that it had successfully taken over its first team, Ebbsfleet United of the Blue Square League. The project’s 20,000 members have each paid […]
Need a yardstick to measure the success of first-year MLS club Toronto FC? How about this: the 2007 season isn’t even over and yet the expansion franchise on Monday announced that it had sold out of season seats for the 2008 MLS season. Sales were capped at 16,000, surpassing last season’s 14,000. More seats were […]
Comedian and game show host Drew Carey has invested in Seattle’s MLS expansion franchise, making him part of an ownership group consisting of Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen, Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer and Hollywood producer Joe Roth, who is the majority owner. Carey, like Allen and Hanauer, will be a minority owner. The yet-to-be-named […]
Kaka dropped his strongest hint yet that he may be set to leave AC Milan and Serie A after talking with reporters about the latest round of fan violence in Italy. The Brazilian said Serie A was “losing its credibility” in the world of soccer, and warned that the game’s best players would opt to […]
Other Major League Soccer coaches and GMs shuffle race around the country looking for the next big thing, but New England coach Steve Nicol and Houston’s Dominic Kinnear prefer a steadier course. Obviously, it’s working, says ESPN’s Steve Davis. Over the past three or four MLS seasons, Nicol and Kinnear’s teams have been a model […]
A centrally located vendor area enhances the tournament experience and can help grow profits
[ACC MEN’S AWARDS] Boston College transfer Alejandro Bedoya, who was instrumental in leading the Eagles to the 2007 ACC men’s regular-season title, was tabbed the Offensive Player of the Year, and BC coach Ed Kelly was named Coach of the Year. Four players on top-ranked Wake Forest were first-team all-ACC picks, and Demon Deacon midfielder Corben Bone captured Freshman of the Year honors. For all the ACC award winners …
Among the members of the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week are Chelsea Deptula (Hawaii), Ashley Berra (Memphis) and Katie McCoy (Sacramento State), whose play helped their teams earn their first NCAA Tournament bids. For the complete Team of the Week for games played Nov. 5-11 …
Sophomore Nikki Washington, who scored in all three games for North Carolina en route to its 18th ACC tournament title in 20 years, is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week for games played Nov. 5-11.
Trinidadian Sherron Manswell, who scored two goals and assisted on a third in Boston College’s 3-1 win over Virginia Tech, is the Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week for games played Nov. 5-11.
Santa Clara’s Peter Lowry and Ohio State keeper Casey Latchem, who helped their teams nail down conference championships, are among the players named to this week’s Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week. For the complete Team of the Week for games played Nov. 5-11 …
