Women's Soccer USA

Coverage of women's soccer in the US. If it's not here...it's not important...

November 30, 2007

Dorrance harassment case slated for jury trial in April

UNC women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance will stand trial beginning April 7 in a sexual harassment case that has bounced around the justice system since 1998.
The trial will be held at U.S. District Court after being sent back by the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court refused a request to hear the case.
The suit - filed by former player Melissa Jennings - alleges harassment and invasion of privacy between 1996 to 1998.
The suit names Dorrance, three assistant coaches, a trainer, several University officials, including Director of Athletics Dick Baddour, the deceased Chancellor Michael Hooker and the University itself.
The University will be defended by the office of N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper.

November 29, 2007

College Coach Gets a 10-Year Contract Extension

Todd Yelton, who is Samford's all-time winningest soccer coach, signed a contract extension through the 2017 season Thursday.

November 28, 2007

MYSC Lady Blues to play in WPSL

The Madison area will have an elite-level amateur women’s soccer team in 2008, as the MYSC announced today that it will enter a team in the Women’s Premier Soccer League.
The MYSC Lady Blues will be in the Midwest Conference of the 39-team league, along with River Cities FC, FC Twente3, FC St. Louis and the Chicago United Breeze. The Lady Blues replace FC Indiana, which won last year’s WPSL title—its second in three years—and has since moved to the W-League.

November 27, 2007

Courage, WUSA came, went

Some view the WUSA as a failure. From a business perspective, it’s hard to argue. But its legacy goes beyond dollars and cents when its impact on a generation of youth players is measured.
Alyson Santilli was 13 when the Courage first came to Cary. She, like former players and team officials, finds it hard to believe how long it’s been since the likes of Carla Overbeck, Birgit Prinz and Hege Riise roamed the SAS Soccer Park pitch. Santilli vividly remembers attending games with family, friends and teammates.
“It was nice after games to stay and talk to the players and get autographs,” Santilli said. “I have an autograph that says, ‘Happy birthday, Alyson’ from the team. They all signed it and Carla Overbeck wrote ‘Have a happy birthday.’ It was nice, definitely inspiring.
“I definitely looked up to the players as a whole, and I wanted to get my talent and my skills high enough so I could maybe one day play at that level, or at least the college level.”

After a standout career at Apex High, Santilli recently completed her freshman season on the N.C. State women’s soccer team.
While Santilli and other young women will always have those memories, what does the current generation have?

Patraw expands legal options

A state hearing officer ruled Monday that a former University of Nevada soccer coach may add a sexual harassment allegation to her whistleblower complaint against the athletic department.
The hearing officer also refused the university's request for dismissal of the complaint in which former women's soccer coach Terri Patraw contends her August firing was in retaliation for reporting NCAA violations by the university's golf coach and making other allegations about the athletic programs.

November 26, 2007

WUSA 2009

To reinforce, the good news is that we evolved from having a goal to launch and having a group of investors that were committed to the process, to actually having real funding in, more funding being staged in and we are actually starting the league at this point, making hires and preparing marketing budgets, etc. It’s pretty exciting.

From WSII’s perspective, we’ve had to have a lot of patience over the last two and a half years to keep these owners involved in the process and convince them of the viability of the business plan. The reality was that it took a while to get them to understand that whereas WUSA has some missteps from a business standpoint, that this business model is sound and they should invest in it and that they should commit to it. That took some time and it took getting the right group of people together on the investment side and now they’ve not only said they’re going to do it but they’ve actually put their money in, in a sizeable way to do it.

November 25, 2007

Duke 2, Indiana 0

Is the Big Ten officially the weakest major conference in the country?

November 24, 2007

Tom Sermanni

This really is a fascinating story to me. Tom Sermanni was widely seen as a number one candidate for the US job. Why?
Lets not forget that Sermanni led Australia won 1 out of 4 matches in China!!!
Once again, 1 out of 4 matches.
... and they conceded nearly 2 goals per match... and it was Lisa De Vanna's individual, late heroics against Norway and Canada that even allowed Australia to progress out of group play.
It could all easily have been 1 win, 2 losses and out.
Remember 1 win out of 4.
It really makes you wonder about Sunil...

"Australian women's coach Tom Sermanni has knocked back a rich and prestigious job in charge of the US team to remain at the helm of the Matildas for another five years.
The US federation headhunted the 53-year-old Scottish-born coach after the World Cup in China but, after weeks of soul-searching, has opted to stay in Australia. Sermanni, named Asian Coach of the Year in the wake of the Matildas' fairytale run to the World Cup quarter-finals, will now guide them through to the 2012 Olympics."

Notre Dame 3, UNC 2

North Carolina's fourth-ranked women's soccer team suffered only its seventh NCAA Tournament loss in history Saturday afternoon as it fell to No. 11 Notre Dame 3-2 before 2,202 fans at Fetzer Field. Carolina saw its season end at 19-4-1 while Notre Dame advances to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals next weekend by improving to 18-4-2.

West Virginia 1, Penn State 0

West Virginia women's soccer team advances to the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament after a 1-0 win over top seeded Penn State in State College, Pa. Krystle Kallman scored the lone goal for the Mountaineers who now advance to play at the winner of the Florida-USC game. Kerri Butler had six saves for the Mountaineers who outshot the Nittny Lions 25-16

UConn 2, Stanford 0

The University of Connecticut women's soccer team advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2003 with a 2-0 victory over number one seed Stanford. Connecticut improves to 14-5-2 with the win. Stanford finishes the season at 15-3-5.

November 23, 2007

UCLA 2, Virginia 1

Lauren Cheney scores in OT to give UCLA a 2-1 win.

FSU 4, Texas 0

Seventh-ranked Texas Soccer fell to third-seeded Florida State, 4-0, in the third round of the 2007 NCAA Soccer Championship in front of a near-capacity crowd of 1,091 at the Seminole Soccer Complex on Friday, Nov. 23.
The Longhorns (16-4-5) ended the season with the second highest win total in program history. UT won its second consecutive Big 12 Tournament Championship, and advanced to the third round for the second consecutive season and for the third time in program history.
No. 14 Florida State (16-5-3) moves on to the NCAA quarterfinals to play the winner of Friday’s third round match between Stanford and Connecticut.

WPSL expands to Georgia

The F.C. Thomasville Dragons will be joining the Women Premier Soccer League (WPSL) for the Summer 2008 season and will play in the South Conference.

November 21, 2007

Hermann Trophy semifinalists announced

The Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy semifinalists were announced. Three men's and three women's finalists will be announced on Wednesday, Dec. 14. The winners will be announced at a banquet in St. Louis, Mo., hosted by the Missouri Athletic Club on Friday, Jan. 11, where they will be presented with the prestigious crystal soccer ball which has come to symbolize the highest individual achievement in intercollegiate soccer.

2007 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Women's Semifinalists
Danesha Adams, UCLA
Yael Averbuch, North Carolina
Ashley Banks, West Virginia
Stacy Bishop, Florida
Brittany Bock, Notre Dame
Lauren Cheney, UCLA
Amanda Cinalli, Notre Dame
Christina DiMartino, UCLA
Kerri Hanks, Notre Dame
Tobin Heath, North Carolina
Stephanie Lopez, Portland
Kelley O¹Hara, Stanford
Ashlee Pistorius, Texas A&M
Mami Yamaguchi, Florida State
Claire Zimmeck, William and Mary

November 17, 2007

UConn 2, Boston College 1

After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, the University of Connecticut women's soccer team and Boston College went to penalty kicks to decide who would advance. On the eighth penalty kick, freshman Meghan Cunningham scored to give the Huskies a 5-4 victory. Connecticut is now 12-5-2 on the season. The Eagles finish 11-5-4.

Santa Clara out

No. 11 California advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season with a 2-0 victory over No. 16 Santa Clara Friday evening at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium. The Golden Bears improved to 15-5 with their seventh consecutive win and third straight over Santa Clara, while the Broncos finished their season at 12-6-3.

November 16, 2007

Ohio State 0, Hofstra 1

Junior midfielder Edel Malone scored the game's only goal as Hofstra captured a 1-0 win over Ohio State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in sub-freezing temperatures on Friday night at Penn State University's Jeffrey Field.

November 13, 2007

Sundhage

Pia Sundhage has been named the new head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, it was announced today by U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. Sundhage, 47, brings an extensive and impressive resume to the position as both a player and coach, most recently as an assistant for the Chinese National Team during the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

November 12, 2007

2007 NCAA women's soccer tournament bracket

(1) UNC* (17-3-1)
High Point (11-7-3)

Memphis (17-3-1)
UNC Greensboro (15-4-1)

Louisville (13-5-2)
Illinois (11-6-2)

Loyola (Ill.) (14-8-1)
(4) Notre Dame* (15-4-2)

(3) Georgia* (17-3-2)
Alabama A&M (10-6-3)

South Carolina (14-6-2)
Duke (8-5-6)

Indiana (12-6-2)
Toledo (14-5-3)

Oakland (10-7-2)
(2) Purdue* (19-2-2)

(2) Texas A&M** (17-3-2)
Stephen F. Austin (13-4-2)

BYU (17-3-2)
Texas (14-3-5)

LSU (11-4-7)
Samford (15-4-1)

Kennesaw St. (17-3-0)
(3) Florida St.* (13-5-3)

(4) Wake Forest (12-6-3)
Boston U. (11-6-3)

Connecticut (12-5-1)
Boston College* (11-5-3)

Santa Clara (12-5-3)
California (14-5-0)

Sacramento St. (11-3-5)
(1) Stanford* (14-2-4)

(1) Penn St.* (16-3-2)
Monmouth (12-4-4)

Hofstra (17-3-0)
Ohio St. (12-9-1)

James Madison (16-4-1)
Penn (13-3-1)

Navy (13-4-4)
(4) West Virginia* (15-4-2)

(3) Florida* (16-4-2)
Miami (Fla.) (9-6-5)

Auburn (10-7-2)
UCF (14-4-3)

Missouri* (13-7-0)
SE Mo. St. (12-2-3)

Creighton (11-7-2)
(2) USC (14-3-2)

Portland (15-3-0)
Denver (13-4-4)

Hawaii (15-4-2)
Colorado* (9-7-4)

Charlotte (16-4-1)
Clemson (9-5-5)

Furman (16-5-1)
(3) Tennessee* (13-4-2)

(4) Virginia* (11-3-6)
Loyola (Md.) (10-5-5)

Georgetown (14-7-0)
William & Mary (14-4-2)

San Diego (15-2-3)
Oklahoma St. (13-5-3)

Cal St. Fullerton (12-7-2)
(1) UCLA* (16-1-2)

Purdue 3, Ohio State 1

The Purdue Boilermakers steamrolled their way to the Big Ten women's soccer tournament championship this weekend when they defeated Ohio State 3-1 behind the play of their senior class and an emerging star sophomore.

November 11, 2007

West Virginia wins Big East

If it was a long time coming, that only made it sweeter, and if the formula for West Virginia’s University’s first Big East championship in women’s soccer was somewhat bizarre, that only magnified the depth of the emotions involved.
The end seemed so sudden, but this championship on what was technically a 1-1 tie with Notre Dame, the title being decided when the Mountaineers won a penalty kick shootout, 5-3, was 12 years in the making.

UNC 1, Florida State 0

The No. 4 North Carolina women's soccer team has grown accustomed to close games this season.
And sophomore Nikki Washington had one clear reaction immediately after she scored the lone goal in the ACC Championship game against No. 14 Florida State on Sunday - "Thank God."
The 1-0 decision was the Tar Heels' sixth straight victory in games decided by a single goal, and this most recent win gave UNC its 18th ACC Tournament title in 19 years.
While the scoreboard indicated a close game, North Carolina (17-3-1) outshot the Seminoles (13-5-3) 12-3 and kept up a constant attack on FSU with seven shots on goal.

November 10, 2007

UNC advances to the ACC final

For only the third time in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Soccer Championship, a semifinal game came down to a shootout as top-seeded North Carolina advanced to Sunday's championship game on penalty kicks, 4-2. The fourth-seeded Virginia Cavaliers, who played in a shootout for the second time this week, took the Tar Heels to a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes of play in the first semifinal game of the 2007 league tournament.

November 09, 2007

Battle of Texas

No. 2-ranked Texas A&M and No. 12 Texas advanced to Sunday's championship game of the Big 12 women's soccer tournament in San Antonio.
The Aggies beat No. 4 Missouri Tigers 4-1 to extend their winning streak to 12 games, and the Longhorns beat Oklahoma State 5-3 in penalty kicks to advance to the final for the second straight year.

November 08, 2007

WPSL expands to Maine

It is currently the off-season in the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) but when it comes to planning for Summer 2008, the proverbial light of the league is still switched on. The Atlantic Sports Group - consisting of President Cheryl Stokes and Vice President of Soccer Operations Seth Brown - will bring one of the fastest-growing soccer leagues in the world to Bangor, Maine next year, as the newly-formed Maine Tide will compete in the North Division of the WPSL East Conference.

November 05, 2007

U.S. looking at UCLA's Ellis

UCLA women's soccer coach Jillian Ellis is a candidate for the U.S. Women's National Team head coaching position.
Ellis is in her ninth season with the Bruins, who are ranked No. 1 in the country. She is also the head coach for the U.S. Under-20 team.
Ellis said U.S. Soccer asked her to submit her resume but gave her no timeframe.