Soccer America Archives

JUNIOR COLLEGE NEWS … Arnaldo Salazar, considered one of the top junior college prospects in California, was in serious condition at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa, Calif., with a broken neck and two broken arms suffered in a car crash that took place Saturday and killed a friend.

“He’s probably one of the most gifted players in this area, if not the most gifted,” Santa Rosa Junior College coach Marty Kinahan told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. “One of the big boys, Stanford, Cal. He would have gotten a scholarship.” Salazar played for the NPSL’s Sonoma County Sol and at Santa Rosa JC in 2008. He was rehabilitating a hip injury this fall and concentrating on his studies.

The accident took place on Highway 101 early Saturday. It killed Sonoma State University student Maribel Raya Medina and also injured two other students.

WOMEN’S NEWS …. Central Michigan, which has the longest NCAA Division I women’s shutout streak in more than a decade, can clinch its first Mid-American regular-season title with one more victory. The Chippewas (13-3-0 overall and 8-0-0 in the MAC) have won 11 games in a row, all by shutout. Its the fifth longest shutout streak in NCAA history and the longest since Santa Clara set a record with 16 straight shutouts in 1998.

“Everyone focuses on defending as well as they can every second they are on the field,” CMU coach Tom Anagnost said. “That mentality has gotten us to where we are. Offensively, I feel we can be a little more dangerous than we have been in the last few matches in creating and finishing more opportunities.” The Chippewas, who host Bowling Green and second-place Toledo Sunday, have won their last three games by 1-0 margins. Their only losses were to Big Ten teams Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State.

* TAR HEEL HONORED. North Carolina graduate Yael Averbuch was named the recipient of the 2009 Patterson Medal, the most prestigious award presented to student-athletes at the University of North Carolina, along with Tyler Hansbrough, ACC basketball’s all-time leading scorer, and baseball star Dustin Ackley.

Averbuch, who is now with WPS champion Sky Blue FC, helped the Tar Heels win the 2008 NCAA Division I title. She won four ACC titles and two NCAA crowns in her career. She is the 11th women’s soccer player to win the award. Other winners included Shannon Higgins (1990), Kristine Lilly (1993) Mia Hamm (1994), Tisha Venturini (1995), Debbie Keller (1997), Cindy Parlow (1999), Lorrie Fair (2000), Meredith Florance (2001), Catherine Reddick (2004) and Heather O’Reilly (2007).

* LEADING SCORERS:
1. Morgan Marlborough, Nebraska  21
2. Sarah Hagen, Milwaukee 19
3. Kelley O’Hara, Stanford 17
4. Jessica Fuccello, Penn 16
5. Danielle Foxhoven, Portland  15
5. Britany Curry, Texas St. 15
5. Whitney Palmer, Oklahoma 15
8. Christen Press, Stanford 14
9. Kiersten Dallstream, Washington St. 12
9. Sydney Leroux, UCLA 12
9. Tiffany McCarty, Florida St.  12
9. Rochelle VanBuskirk, UC Davis 12
9. Sylvia Kowalski, Canisius 12
9. Marky Boyce, Charleston So.12
9. Corky Julien, James Madison 12
9. Dawn Ward, Texas Tech 12

Women’s Player of the Week: Sarah Hagen (Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Team of the Week

MEN’S NEWS … After a slow start, UIC is coming on. The Flames won back-to-back 1-0 games against ranked Ohio State and Horizon League rival Wisconsin-Milwaukee to improve to 5-4-4. Both goals came off corner kicks by Mike Giffin. “We’re battling things this year,” said UIC coach John Trask. “That’s who we are right now.”

The win over Ohio State was remarkable given the long list of absentees. Starters Robert Younger, Ian Sarachan, Matt Spiess and Ivan Stanisavljevic were out with injuries and Charlie Trout was suspended for the game. On top of that, center back Zach Tierney was injured in the first half and had to leave the game. Ohio State’s Joshua Breto was red carded for his foul on Tierney, a transfer from New Mexico.

The Flames are one of four teams in the top 12 in Soccer America’s preseason rankings who are not in this week’s Top 25. The others are St. John’s, Creighton and Notre Dame.

* MEN’S TOP 25 SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, Oct. 20
Michigan vs. No. 1 Akron
South Carolina vs. No. 3 Wake Forest
No. 5 Maryland vs. Seton Hall
Yale vs. No. 6 Connecticut
Providence vs. No. 9 Harvard
No. 12 Northwestern vs. Loyola (Ill.)
No. 15 Virginia vs. Howard
St. John’s vs. No. 22 Brown
No. 24 Duke vs. Navy

* SPARTANS END SKID. UNC Greensboro’s 3-1 over Gardner-Webb on Saturday ended the Spartans’ three-game losing streak and marked the return of long-time coach Michael Parker, who had been suspended from coaching at UNCG’s previous game, a 3-0 loss to Duke. Assistant coach Justin Maullin ran the team in Parker’s absence. Witnesses say that Parker launched a verbal assault at players and a coach at UNCG’s Southern Conference game against College of Charleston.

* LEADING SCORERS:
1. Andrew Bulls, UMBC 15
2. Matthew Skonicki, Winthrop 11
3. Issa Tall, Adelphi 11
4. JC Banks, Green Bay 11
5. Saeed Sulemana Baba, Western Mich. 10
5. Teal Bunbury, Akron 10
5. Matt Eliason, Northwestern 10
5. Levi Houapeu, UMBC 10
5. Andrew Wiedeman, California 10
5. Conor O’Brien, Bucknell 10
(Statistics through games played Oct. 18.)

Men’s Player of the Week: Austin da Luz (Wake Forest)
Team of the Week

MEN’S NEWS … It was a big week for the da Luz family at Wake Forest. On Thursday, Coach Tony da Luz earned his 200th coaching win in the Demon Deacon women’s 2-0 victory at N.C. State. On Saturday, son Austin da Luz, contributed on all four Wake Forest goals, scoring one and assisting on the other three, in a 4-1 win for the Wake men at N.C. State.

Austin da Luz set up goals by Zack Schilawski, Andy Lubahn and Ike Opara. The senior leads the ACC with 11 assists and holds the Wake career mark with 35 assists.

This week’s Top 25

* GOLDEN MOMENT. After seven ties, St. John’s finally won a game in overtime, getting a goal from Brazilian Tadeu Terra in the 99th minute to beat Louisville, 3-2. Sverre Wegge Gundhus and Pablo Punyed also scored for St. John’s, which went into the game with only 10 goals scored (and six goals allowed) in 12 games. The Red Storm (4-2-7) was ranked No. 3 in the Soccer America preseason rankings but has since fallen out of the Top 25.

* PEZZA NIGHT. Senior Mike Pezza has earned a solid reputation as a setup man in his career at Connecticut, but his game-winning goal in the Huskies’ 2-0 win over Pitt on Saturday was only the second goal of his career. And quite a goal it was. Pezza took a pass from freshman Carlos Alvarez, dribbled into the middle of the field, dodging two defenders, and took a shot with his left foot that sailed into the top left corner of the goal after slightly deflecting off a Panther defender. The shutout was the seventh in a row for the Huskies, who are 8-2-3.

MEN’S NEWS … No. 1 Stanford had a little luck in its 2-0 win over No. 4 UCLA in their much-anticipated Pac-10 matchup that drew an overflow crowd of 2,400 at Cagan Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but Coach Paul Ratcliffe insisted the Cardinal had created its own luck.

As it has done all season, Stanford had a big edge in the play but couldn’t score on the Bruins until well into the second half. Until then, the best chance fell to UCLA’s Olympic gold-medalist, Lauren Cheney, who hit the post. When the Cardinal’s first goal came, it was an own goal — scored when a clearance deflected crazily over goalkeeper Chante’ Sandiford and into the goal.

“You need a little bit of luck in soccer, and if you’re doing the right things, you create your own luck,” Ratcliffe said. “We created our own luck there. We put them in an awkward situation, putting them under pressure, and it ended up deflecting into their own goal.”

The second Stanford goal came less than two minutes later when Camille Levin, who was inserted at forward for the first time this season, headed in a cross to the far post from New Zealand international Ali Riley. “Cami had done very well in that spot, so I thought it would be a good element to throw out there,” Ratcliffe said. “I thought Cami was fantastic. She was a huge spark off the bench. She’s a player who should be starting. She’s that good.”

* GAME OF THE WEEK:
Oct. 18 in Palo Alto, Calif.
Stanford 2 UCLA 0. Goals: own goal 72, Levin (A.Riley) 73.
Stanford — Maker, Quon, A.Riley, Jenkins, Garciamendez, Noyola, Taylor, Nogueira, McCann, Press, O’Hara. Subs: Levin, Verloo, Heath.
UCLA — Sandiford, Cook, Belcher, Wilmoth, Barnes, Bywaters, Cline, Wright, Larsen, Cheney, Leroux. Subs: Williams, Smith, Metz, Zadro, Lee, Bearde.
Referee: Cory Dean.
Att.: 2,400.

This week’s Top 25

* HAGEN CARRIES MILWAUKEE. Wisconsin-Milwaukee clinched its 10th straight Horizon League regular season championship Sunday when it beat Wright State, 1-0, on a goal by Sarah Hagen, who set a school record with at least one goal in nine straight games.

Things didn’t look so great for Milwaukee earlier this season. The Panthers had gone winless with five losses and a tie in their final six non-conference games. Since then, Hagen has carried them with 15 goals in seven games, at conference wins. The sophomore sensation has 19 goals for the season, only five less than the conference-record 24 goals she scored as a freshman.

“It was a huge win for us,” UWM coach Michael Moynihan said. “We had a lot on the line today. If Wright State could have come in here and knocked us off, they would have most likely been hosting the conference tournament. It was important for us to play it here.”