One of the most intriguing first-year players in college soccer is Virginia Tech’s Robert Edmans. At 6-foot-6, the Englishman is an imposing target whom Hokie fans believe will team up with Ghanaian star Patrick Nyarko to form one of the best 1-1 combinations in the country. But Edmans demonstrated that he is just as dangerous with his feet as he is with his head when he scored from 40 yards in the 2-1 win over ranked St. John’s on Sunday.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Big Ten Men’s Results
[MAKING A LIST] In the first four days of play, Big Ten men’s teams went 4-2-1, 5-1-1, 7-0-0 and 5-1-1.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
West Virginia and UC Irvine earn shutout wins
[MONDAY ACTION] Senior Dan Stratford scored his second straight game-winning goal as West Virginia, No. 15 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25, defeated Duquesne, 1-0, in the Mountaineers’ home opener at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. No. 24 UC Irvine improved to 3-0-0 with a 3-0 win over first-year Division I program Cal State Bakersfield at Anteater Stadium.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
OBITUARY: Former UCLA soccer coach Dennis Storer
Englishman Dennis Storer, who started the UCLA men’s soccer program and was also well known as a rugby coach at UCLA and with the U.S. national team, passed away at his home in Los Angeles on Saturday after a battle with cancer. He was 75 years old.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Big Ten men are off to flying starts
No men’s conference can match the Big Ten in terms of success over the first two weekends of the season. The five teams in the Soccer America Top 25 — No. 3 Indiana, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 17 Northwestern, No. 19 Michigan and No. 20 Wisconsin — are a combined 16-1-3. Add to that unranked Michigan State, which is 4-0-0, and you have six of the seven Big Ten teams off to flying starts. Not bad for a conference that only sent two teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2006!
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
New formula to Chicago’s Toyota Park deal
As a condition of the purchase of the Chicago Fire by Andell Holdings, AEG has relinquished all interest in Toyota Park as well as the team, and the financial formula under which the team’s ownership and the Village of Bridgeview operate has been revised.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Namibia and Zambia sneak into 2008 African Nations Cup finals
Namibia and Zambia qualified for the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana with wins over the weekend. Captain Chris Katongo scored a hat trick in the opening 20 minutes to lead Zambia past 2010 World Cup host South Africa, 3-1, in Cape Town and capture Group 11 on the final day of qualifying in the group. Namibia won Group 10 when it beat Ethiopia, 3-2, on the road, coming back from 2-1 down in the last minutes on goals by Rudolph Bester and Muna Katupose. The Democratic Republic of Congo appeared to have the group wrapped up, but it was held to a 1-1 tie at home by Libya. For all the finalists …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
MLS Statistics (through Sept. 10)
D.C. United’s Luciano Emilio has pulled ahead in the MLS goalscoring race. He now has 18 goals, four more than New York’s Juan Pablo Angel and Kansas City’s Eddie Johnson.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“The message to the other teams is that they know we are in good shape now.”
— Silvia Neid, coach of defending Women’s World Cup champion Germany, after its record-setting 11-0 victory over Argentina in Monday’s opener in Shanghai.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
German star Prinz unhappy after 11-0 win in Women’s World Cup opener
Defending champions Germany set a Women’s World Cup record when it beat Argentina, 11-0, for the biggest rout in the history of the tournament, but three-time World Player of the Year Birgit Prinz was not satisfied.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
USL First Division moves into playoffs
The USL First Division begins its playoffs this weekend with four quarterfinal series. The top-seed Seattle Sounders face the expansion Carolina RailHawks. In other series, the No. 2 seed Portland Timbers meet the defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps. The Montreal Impact plays the Puerto Rico Islanders, while the Atlanta Silverbacks and Rochester Rhinos square off in a battle of No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. The second game of the Portland-Vancouver series will be televised Sunday at 8 pm ET on Fox Soccer Channel. Fans can also catch USL playoff action on usllive.com.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
U.S. U-14 girls to play first competitive games
The U.S. under-14 girls national team will play its first ever competitive matches at the Nike Women’s Friendlies Sept. 20-23 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. It will give U-15 head coach Tad Bobak an early chance to evaluate the players, all born in 1993, in game competition.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Bobak names U-15 squad for Nike Women’s Friendlies
U.S. under-15 girls national team coach Tad Bobak has named a 23-player roster for the Nike Women’s Friendlies Sept. 20-23 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The U-15s, all born in 1992, will play matches against U-17 club teams from across the country.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
U.S. Soccer welcomes 26 new U-17 residents
U.S. Soccer’s under-17 residency program’s fall semester kicked off last week with 48 players enrolled in the program at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla. There are 26 players — 22 ’92s and four ’91s — beginning their first semester of training. The group in residency includes 14 players who recently represented the USA at the 2007 Under-17 World Cup in South Korea. All 10 players born in 1990 will finish up their high school education this semester while training in the program.
Posted inGrassroots Soccer Biz, Story
Understanding Sponsorship Basics
As a club, league or other grassroots soccer organization designing corporate and business sponsorship proposals, be aware these terms are different.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ronaldo to Miss Another Month
Just two weeks after announcing to the public just how glorious the return of the original Ronaldo would be, AC Milan doctors have revealed a startling miscalculation of the severity of the striker’s thigh injury, which will now keep him from making his season debut until next month. The perennially injured Brazilian legend was supposed […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
London and Milan, A Tale of Two Cities
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune paints a tail of two cities in his review of the weekend’s Euro 2008 qualifiers. London and Milan are two of the world’s biggest soccer cities, Wembley and the San Siro two of its temples. Both stadiums have played host to some historic matches; on Saturday, both hosts […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Lalas: No Excuses Galaxy Disappointment
It’s no surprise we haven’t heard much from the Los Angeles Galaxy now that the media hubbub surrounding David Beckham’s sprained left knee has died. After all, Becks may be out of the picture for the rest of the season and the team is unlikely to make the playoffs. In fact, a kind of “weary […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
U.S. Strategy in a Quandary
J Hutcherson of USSoccerPlayers serves up a critical review of the U.S. national team’s strategy (or lack thereof) in the wake of its 4-2 loss to Brazil on Sunday. He says that this team has proved to be at its strongest in and in front of goal, in central defense and midfield. “It gets dicey […]
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer On TV
The USA opens its Women’s World Cup campaign on Tuesday, against North Korea. European Championship qualifying continues on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Mexico plays Brazil in a friendly. The Chivas USA-Galaxy clasico takes place on Thursday.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
ACC powers take it on the chin
Last week began with ACC teams ranked 1-2-3-4 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25, but only No. 1 Wake Forest emerged unscathed. Duke was tripped up by Villanova, 1-0, on Friday. Virginia got a rude welcome from SMU on its first trip to Texas in 20 years, falling, 5-1. Maryland fell at home to West Virginia, 1-0, on a goal 35 seconds into overtime.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Santa Clara women pummel Notre Dame
So much for the Santa Clara women being thin up front The Broncos inflicted a 7-1 defeat on Notre Dame Friday night at their Santa Clara adidas Classic. The seven goals were the most Notre Dame has ever allowed in a game and were two more than it allowed during the entire 2006 regular season.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Men’s Top 25
Wake Forest remained No. 1 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25 rankings for the second week in a row. Connecticut and Indiana both climbed five places each to No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Seven unranked teams moved into the Top 25.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Men’s Top 25 Weekend Results
UCLA, the preseason No. 1, has still yet to score after settling for a 0-0 tie at Creighton Saturday before a record crowd of 5,812. For complete results and goalscorers in Top 25 action …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Women’s Top 25 Weekend Results
It was a tough weekend for top-ranked women’s teams. All top five teams either lost — Portland, Notre Dame (twice), Texas A&M and Texas — or were tied — Santa Clara. For complete results and goalscorers in Top 25 action …