[MAKING A LIST] NCAA Division I women’s play moves into its fourth week, and 19 teams remain unbeaten, ranging from Marquette and South Carolina at 7-0-0 to Houston at 3-0-1.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Big East upstarts are primed for showdowns
[FOCUS] The Big East has three men’s teams ranked among the top seven teams in the Soccer America rankings — No. 2 Connecticut, No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 7 West Virginia — and they will all be tested this weekend. As the Big East moves into full swing, four upstarts, all unranked nationally in the Soccer America Preseason Top 25, are off to great starts. South Florida (5-0-0) has broken into the Soccer America Top 25 at No. 23, while DePaul (4-0-0), Villanova (5-1-0) and Syracuse (3-0-3) could crack the Top 25 with big weekends.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Top 25 Men’s Results & Schedules
Four ACC matches involving Soccer America Top 25 teams highlight the action this weekend. No. 1 Wake Forest puts its perfect record in the line Friday night when it faces Clemson. On Saturday, No. 4 Virginia travels to N.C. State, No. 13 Boston College goes on the road to play North Carolina, and No. 17 Duke hosts No. 18 Maryland. For complete Top 25 results and schedules …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
UCLA’s mastery of USF continues
[RIVALS] UCLA continued its recent mastery of San Francisco with a 1-0 victory Thursday night in a battle of long-time West Coast powers before 3,143 fans at Negoesco Stadium. UCLA sophomore Chance Myers scored the game’s only goal in the 88th minute when he beat former Bruin Eric Conner in the Dons’ goal after Kyle Nakazawa‘s free kick into the penalty area wasn’t cleared.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
SMU recovers to put away Centenary
[THURSDAY ACTION] Junior Richard Oliva scored a pair of goals for No. 11 SMU in a 5-1 win over visiting Centenary. Two first-half goals from captain Peter Lowry led No. 14 Santa Clara to a 2-0 win over San Jose State. A second-half goal by junior Roger Espinoza provided all the scoring 23th-ranked Ohio State needed to win, 1-0, at Bowling Green. Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Horwath extended his personal shutout streak to five games, but No. 25 Wisconsin had to settle for a 0-0 draw at UW-Green Bay.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Top 25 Women’s Results & Schedules
No. 1 Santa Clara takes to the road to face Arizona State and Arizona. In the big Top 25 match of the weekend, No. 19 Penn State heads to No. 14 Notre Dame for a Sunday showdown at 12:30 p.m. live on ESPNU. For complete Top 25 results and schedules …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Time for U.S. women to shine
So far at the Women’s World Cup, the USA has been more bruising than brilliant, but it might use the quarterfinal against England to refine its game a bit. England has reached its first quarterfinal by beating Argentina and tying Japan and Germany, and while it and Australia can be considered the weakest teams to reach this stage, there’s been enough uncertainty in the U.S. game to gauge the English chances at something more than nil when they meet on Saturday (8 am ET, ESPN & TeleFutura). Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney previews the USA-England clash and the other three quarterfinals. …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
FCD looks for first road points in three months
[TV PREVIEW] Spoiler is about the only role the Galaxy can play down the stretch as it seeks to salvage some pride at home, where it has won only one of the last five league games. It has lost to Dallas twice (2-1 and 3-1) this season in the pre-Beckham era and hasn’t been able to transform its stirring effort in the SuperLiga into league success.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Midweek tie puts pressure on Fire vs. rest D.C.
[TV PREVIEW] Most of the time, a road point is cause for rejoicing, but nobody on the Fire was hopping around Thursday night at Pizza Hut Park after a 1-1 tie.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Stingy Chivas USA hosts leaky Wizards
[TV PREVIEW] The Wizards will get an up-close lesson on how to defend and still be dangerous in the attack. They have allowed 39 goals this season. Only the Galaxy has given up more. Chivas USA has conceded just 22 goals in 24 games – second only to Houston in the stingy department – yet have scored 39, one fewer than Kansas City.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
UEFA Cup Results
German giant Bayern Munich struggled to a 1-0 win over Portuguese club Belenenses at home in the first leg of theeir UEFA Cup first-round series. Italy striker Luca Toni scored the only goal for Bayern in a match watched by a crowd of 64,000 at the Allianz Arena.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Rapids need win over Real
[TV PREVIEW] Like the Crew, the Rapids have slipped in and out of the eighth playoff place and face a rugged road game against an opponent with nothing to lose.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Bulls can clinch playoff spot against Revs
[TV PREVIEW] New York can clinch a playoff spot and just as importantly prove it can beat the three-time MLS Cup finalist New England, which it has been unable to do in two previous meetings this season. These two teams could very well be paired as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Struggling Crew travels to troubled Toronto
[TV PREVIEW] The Crew are fighting for a playoff spot yet Toronto FC has yet to be officially eliminated from postseason contention, and despite a inexorable goalless streak that seems to pre-date the franchise itself, it will come out charged up, as always.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
TV PREVIEW: International weekend headliners
Deuce is on the loose: Clint Dempsey goes for goals in four straight games when Fulham hosts Manchester City. Two early-season clashes with big implications are Barcelona-Sevilla in Spain and Roma-Juventus in Italy. But the match of the week is Manchester United-Chelsea at Old Trafford, where all the attention will be on Israeli Avram Grant, who makes his debut as interim Chelsea manager in place of Jose Mourinho.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Fire frustrated by late Ruiz strike
Up until the final seconds of the match, FC Dallas defender Clarence Goodson had been almost as threatening an attacker as Carlos Ruiz. But in those final seconds, Goodson flicked on a long ball that sent Ruiz free into the penalty area, where he dodged past Chicago keeper Matt Pickens and slammed a shot through two defenders into the net for the tying goal. Chicago, seeking its first win ever in Dallas, instead settled for 1-1 tie that improved its record slightly to 8-10-7 and left it with only two-point lead over Columbus and Colorado in the race for eighth place in the overall standings. All three teams have five games to play.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Bradley scores twice in UEFA Cup win
Michael Bradley scored twice to lead Dutch club Heerenveen to a 5-3 victory over Swedish club Helsingborg in the first leg of their UEFA Cup first-round series. Bradley scored in the 20th and 60th minutes in the home win. For updates on all the Americans on UEFA Cup entrants …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“They’re saying that the ball boy was annoying him from the start.”
— Jose Quispe, spokesman for Peruvian club Cienciano, whose goalkeeper Juan Flores was red-carded and arrested for kicking a ball boy. Flores was apparently upset after the boy tossed the ball on the field instead of handing it to him. (Reuters)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
U.S. men to face South Africa in Johannesburg
The U.S. national team will play the third game on African soil in its 101-year history when it faces 2010 World Cup host South Africa Nov. 17 in Johannesburg in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Women’s World Cup Results
Cheryl Salisbury’s goal two minutes into stoppage time gave Australia a 2-2 tie with Canada and sent the Socceroos into the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup and eliminated the Canadians, fourth at the 2003 finals in the United States. Brazil was the only team to win all three games, completing its sweep in Group D with a 1-0 win over Denmark.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
OFF THE POST: Player caught in double granny-death lie
So he could leave the Irish national team camp and skip a Euro 2008 qualifier against the Czech Republic, Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland claimed his maternal grandmother, who had helped raise him from age 5, had died. The Irish federation put him on a private plane to return home. When the grandmother announced that reports of her death were greatly exaggerated, the 21-year-old said it had been his paternal grandmother who had died. And if he had known it was that grandma, he wouldn’t have skipped the game. Well, that grandmother was also able to prove her existence – and she wasn’t too pleased to learn her demise wouldn’t warrant a national team absence.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
USL First Division All-League Teams
Three players hit significant milestones in USL First Division all-league honors with Montreal’s Gabriel Gervais being selected for a sixth time. Portland’s Andrew Gregor and Rochester’s Johnny Menyongar were named all-league for the fourth time in their career. Montreal and Portland led all teams with four selections each on the two all-league teams. For the first- and second-team selections …
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
The Conflicting Models
Competitive pressures are encouraging elite clubs to professionalize training at younger and younger ages. But is this development good for youth soccer as a whole, or even the kids on the select team?
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
WWC: Neutralizing Smith the Key to U.S. Victory
ESPN’s Graham Hays says the key to victory for the U.S. women’s national team against England on Saturday is containing Kelly Smith, one of the world’s best strikers. Both Argentina and Japan failed in that regard as Smith grabbed a pair of goals in each game. However, the U.S. could take a page from Germany’s […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Inter Stunned in CL Opener
One of the more shocking results of the Champions League first round was the loss that Italian champion Inter Milan suffered at the hands of Turkish club Fenerbahce. More shocking, perhaps, than the 1-0 result was the fact that Inter’s usually dangerous attack force of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Suazo and Dejan Stankovic remained quiet for […]