College Soccer latest news

[Frank Cunha]

On Sale at the SuperDraft

TRADE TOP PICK? Picking the clear No. 1 choice in the SuperDraft, right back Marvell Wynne (UCLA), isn't the no-brainer it may seem at first glance. By all accounts, he's an amazing athlete still learning the game who will need time and patience to correct his defects.

CD Chivas USA, which holds the top pick, is riddled with holes, and if Mexican international defender Claudio Suarez signs, the team will have no more slots for senior internationals. Also by all accounts, Coach Bob Bradley is fielding some attractive offers for that top pick.

Bradley doesn't have another pick until the fourth round, and at least four teams with picks in the first round -- Kansas City (fourth), MetroStars (fifth), FC Dallas (sixth), and Houston (eighth) -- play a four-man back line at which Wynne could slot right in.

Bradley hasn't said how he'll revamp CD Chivas USA; his Chicago teams favored a 3-5-2, his Metros played more with four in the back than with three.

Kansas City also has two picks apiece in the second and third rounds, from which many teams round out their rosters. Of course, having missed the playoffs, the Wizards may do some rounding out of their own and have already traded veteran Diego Gutierrez. Sasha Victorine could also be headed out of town.

Wynne may be too good to pass up, regardless of which systems or psychologies are factored into his development. Yet one rookie right back, no matter how good, isn't going to transform CD Chivas USA.

Or Bradley can always pick him and see if any offers are forthcoming after the draft shakes out and teams have -- or haven't -- dealt with their own issues. MLS rosters are dotted with players Bradley has coached in the past.




CLASS OR CONSISTENCY? Another thorny decision is whether to take a bona fide college star who might not fit neatly into an MLS role or go with a less heralded yet fundamentally sound player.

The remarkably gifted Mehdi Ballouchy (Santa Clara) can drift in and out of games, yet has a wonderful touch and a powerful shot. He also showed at the combine a willingness to mix it up, which he didn't always relish in his college career.

If he can't play as an attacking mid, he might find himself out on the wing. As a second forward paired with a true striker is another option. But those college stats (four goals and 16 assists in 42 games his junior and senior seasons) aren't impressive even though the skills are.

How Sacha Kljestan (Seton Hall), who didn't play at the combine, fares in MLS will depend on how well he adapts to tougher, tighter marking.

At 6-foot-1 and 150 pounds, he's a bit spindly.

Straight to the gut, as it were, are players like Dax McCarty (North Carolina), Brandon Moss (New Mexico), Justin Moore (Clemson) and Justin Moose (Wake Forest). They're not destined to be stars, although McCarty is just 18 and may have the most room to grow, but teams know what they're getting.

Brian Plotkin (Indiana) has all the credentials but combine reviews were mixed. Same for Pat Ianni (UCLA). Still, both figure to be among the first 18 picks if not first-rounders.




DEFENDERS RULE. It will be interesting to see if Tyson Wahl (California) goes as high as former teammate Troy Roberts went last year. Roberts was taken by Galaxy coach Steve Sampson as the eighth overall pick, three slots behind Ugo Ihemelu, and saw a lot less playing time than the former SMU defender.

Nathan Sturgis (Clemson) surprised nobody with his intelligent, skillful play at the combine. He can get balls off the big forwards even though he's only 5-foot-10, 150 pounds, and can also knife in front of them to trap them offside or intercept passes aimed their way. Sturgis, like Ianni and a few other draft prospects, were teammates for the U.S. under-20s at the World Youth Championships, so they've been tested internationally.

Jed Zayner (Indiana, again) and Moore (Clemson) look like outside backs with bright futures.




THE SCORING CHARTS. Is there a consensus among coaches, observers, or anyone else about who is the best forward prospect? Sort of. U.S. under-17 Josmer Altidore could be nicknamed "Sara Lee," because nobody doesn't like him. But he's probably not the answer right away to teams that need goals right away.

Jacob Peterson (Indiana) has good college stats as well as under-20 and under-17 experience. He'll go high but wasn't all that effective last year in the WYC against Italy and Argentina.

Jason Garey (Maryland) doesn't seem to be the second coming of Chris Carrieri, but he has his critics. And Willie Sims (Cal State Northridge) hasn't convinced everyone he can hack it in MLS. Ditto Kei Kamara (Cal State Dominguez Hills).

Worth a gamble are Omar Jarun (Dayton) and Yura Movsisyan (Pasadena City College). Calen Carr (California) has his faults but does have blazing speed and more trickery than some coaches may have first thought. He has winger written all over him, in contrast to Jeff Rowland (New Mexico), who scored a goal on the second day of the combine while displaying no pace whatsoever. Yet he did score 35 goals in his junior and senior seasons. Karim Dietz (Birmingham Southern) could sneak onto a roster.

[Frank Cunha]

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"It was kind of a difficult situation because I have a daughter [Smantha] who swims for NAC [Nashville Aquatic Club], and I have a son [Nicholas] who plays travel soccer. I didn't know who to show my face around. My house was half and half. You talk to one kid, and the other kid doesn't like you."
-- Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor David Williams on the school’s decision drop men’s soccer and add women’s swimming. Williams cited multiple reasons for the decision to drop men’s soccer, among them Title IX issues and the fact that only two other SEC schools have men’s soccer. (Tennessean)

[Frank Cunha]

MAKING A LIST:
2. Underclassmen turning pro

DIVISION 1
Indiana
*Lee Nguyen (F) 18, Dallas
Jacob Peterson (F) 19 Portage, Mich.
Jed Zayner (D) 21 Orland Park, Ill.
UCLA
Patrick Ianni (D/M) 20 Lodi, Calif.
Marvell Wynne (D) 19 Poway, Calif.
Cal State Northridge
Willie Simms (F) 21 Los Angeles
Clemson
Nathan Sturgis (D) 18 St. Augustine, Fla.
North Carolina
Dax McCarty (M) 18 Winter Park, Fla.
Santa Clara
Mehdi Ballouchy (M) 22 Morocco
Seton Hall
Sacha Kljestan (M) 20 Huntington Beach, Calif.
DIVISION 2
Cal State Dominguez Hills
Kei Kamara (F) 21 Lawndale, Calif.
NJCAA
Pasadena City College
Yura Movsisyan (F) 18 Pasadena, Calif.
*Signed with PSV of the Netherlands. All other players have entered the MLS SuperDraft

[Frank Cunha]

TRANSFERS
6. Jacobs deals for Aces

New Evansville men’s coach Mike Jacobs is moving quickly to revitalize the Aces program.
Jacobs, who developed a reputation as one of college soccer’s best recruiters as an assistant at Duke, has added three transfers:
Alec Dufty was the starting keeper at Appalachian State. Midfielder David Fromayan played 17 games for Big East champion Connecticut. Defender Jarrett Neff captained IUPUI last fall as a sophomore. All three are enrolled at UE for the spring semester.

[Frank Cunha]

AWARDS
4. NSCAA/adidas Regional Coaches of the Year

NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year awards will be presented at the NSCAA Awards Banquet on Friday, held in conjunction with the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia. Here are the regional winners:

Division I Men
Far West, Jeremy Fishbein, New Mexico
Great Lakes, Ken Lolla, Akron
Mid-Atlantic, Barry Gorman, Penn State
Midwest, Bob Warming, Creighton
New England, Chaka Daley, Providence
New York, Richard Nuttall, Hofstra
South, George Kiefer, South Florida
South Atlantic, Sasho Cirovski, Maryland

Division I Women
Central, G. Guerrieri, Texas A&M
Great Lakes, Markus Roeders, Marquette
Mid-Atlantic, Paula Wilkins, Penn State
Northeast, Rudy Meredith, Yale
South, Mark Krikorian, Florida State
West, Jerry Smith, Santa Clara

For Small College & Junior College honorees:
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136848

[Frank Cunha]

MEN’S COACHING MOVES
5. Hennessy lands Delaware job

Boston College assistant Ian Hennessy told the Wilmington News-Journal that he has accepted the men’s head coaching position at Delaware. The 39-year-old Irishman starred at Seton Hall and played for MLS’s MetroStars. Hennessy, who has a doctorate in molecular biology from Columbia, replaces Marc Samonisky, who retired after 13 seasons as head coach. The Blue Hens have had only one winning season in the last 20 years.
According to the Akron Beacon-Journal, four assistant coaches are being interviewed for the Akron men’s soccer head coaching job Notre Dame’s Mike Avery, Indiana’s Caleb Porter, California’s Brad Agoos and Pennsylvania’s Bob Butehorn. The Zips finished first in the final Soccer America Top 25 of the 2005 regular season. Head coach Ken Lolla moved to Louisville. Assistant Mario Sanchez landed the UNLV head coaching job.

[Frank Cunha]

NEW PROGRAMS
3. Florida Gulf Coast to add men’s and women’s soccer

NCAA Division I men’s soccer will welcome its first new program in seven years when Florida Gulf Coast launches men’s and women’s soccer (along with women’s swimming) in 2007 as part of jump from Division II to Division I.
“Soccer in Southwest Florida is a no-brainer,” Florida Gulf president Bill Merwin told the Naples Daily News. “There are so many soccer moms and dads out there, and I think they’ll help us recruit, frankly, all over the place.”
FGCU, which hopes to join the Atlantic Sun, wants to find donors to help with the construction of a campus soccer family. It plans on naming head coaches this spring.
The last school to launch a new Division I men’s program was Michigan in 2000. Title IX constraints have thwarted efforts to launch varsity men’s soccer at many big Division I schools.

[Frank Cunha]

2. MLS: Who's In & Who's Out

With 24 hours to go before the 2006 MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia, here’s a team-by-team look at MLS offseason acitivity.

Chicago
IN: Diego Gutierrez (Kansas City).
OUT: Will John (Kansas City), Andy Rosenband (waivers), Demitrius White (waivers).

Chivas USA
IN: Brian Dunseth (Real Salt Lake).
OUT: Martin Zuniga (retired), Douglas Sequeira (Real Salt Lake), Christian Jimenez (Real Slate Lake), Victor Arbelaez (waivers), Javier Barragan (waivers), Armando Begines (waivers), Milton Blanco (waivers), Hector Cuadros (waivers), Shaun Kalnasy (waivers), Isaac Romo (waivers).

Colorado
IN: Cornell Glen (Columbus), Clint Mathis (Real Salt Lake).
OUT: Ritchie Kotschau (Columbus), Jeff Cunningham (Real Sale Lake), Wolde Harris (waivers), Alain Nkong (waivers), Diego Serna (waivers).

Columbus
IN: Sebastian Rozenthal (Univ. de Chile/CHI), Marcos Gonzalez (Colon/ARG), Joel Kitamirike (Dundee/SCO), Tim Ward (MetroStars), Ritchie Kotschau (Colorado).
OUT: Simon Elliott (Fulham/ENG), Chris Henderson (MetroStars), Robin Fraser (retired), Cornell Glen (Colorado), Stephen Armstrong (waivers), Devin Barclay (waivers), Ryan Kelly (waivers), Mark Schulte (waivers).

FC Dallas
OUT: Oscar Pareja (retired), Carey Talley (Real Salt Lake), Scott Garlick (Real Salt Lake), Christopher Gomez (waivers), John Pulido (waivers).

D.C. United
OUT: Dema Kovalenko (option not exercised), Kenny Arena (waivers), Nana Kuffour (waivers), Tim Merritt (waivers), Jason Thompson (waivers).

Houston
OUT: Mark Chung (retired), Troy Dayak (retired), Jon Conway (MetroStars), Danny Califf (AaB/DEN), Roger Levesque (waivers), Orlando Ramirez (waivers).

Kansas City
IN: Will John (Chicago).
OUT: Diego Gutierrez (Chicago), Preki (retired), Diego Walsh (Real Salt Lake), Dustin Branan (waivers), Daniel Dobson (waivers), Martin Hutton (waivers), Doug Lascody (waivers), Antti Sumiala (waivers).

Los Angeles
OUT: Michael Umana (waivers).

MetroStars
IN: Peter Canero (Dundee United/SCO), Chris Henderson (Columbus), Jon Conway (San Jose), Taylor Graham (Seattle Sounders).
OUT: Tim Ward (Columbus), Sergio Galvan Rey (Atl. Nacional/COL), Jeff Agoos (retired), Ramon Bailey (waivers), Chris Corcoran (waivers), Daniel Garipe (waivers), Eric Quill (waivers), Ryan Suarez (waivers), Michael Ueltschey (waivers).

New England
OUT: Connally Edozien (waivers), Gilberto Flores (waivers), Jamie Holmes (waivers), Ricardo Phillips (waivers), Marcos Romaneiro (waivers), Luke Vercollone (waivers), Easton Wilson (waivers).

Real Salt Lake
IN: Daniel Torres (Tromso/NOR), Douglas Segueira (Chivas USA), Christian Jimenez (Chivas USA), Diego Walsh (Kansas City), Carey Talley (FC Dallas), Scott Garlick (FC Dallas), Jeff Cunningham (Colorado).
OUT: Brian Kamler (retired), Brian Dunseth (Chivas USA), Clint Mathis (Colorado), Matt Behncke (waivers), DJ Countess (waivers), Rusty Pierce (waivers), Jeff Stewart (waivers), Dante Washington (waivers).




4. MLS: Final adidas Combine Statistics

STANDINGS
TEAM W-L-T GF-GA P
1. adidas Telstar 2-1-0 5-2 6
2. adidas Predator Absolute 1-1-1 3-3 4
2. adidas Plus 10 1-1-1 2-4 4
4. adidas 7406 0-1-2 4-5 2

SCORERS
1. Jorge Flor (Oral Roberts/7406) 2 goals; 2. Josmer Altidore (U.S. U-17/Telstar), Calen Carr (California/Telstar), Tony Donatelli (Temple/Predator Absolute), Duke Hashimoto (SMU/7406), Danny Kramer (Duke/Predator Absolute), Yohann Mauger (Akron/7406), Justin Moose (Wake Forest/Predator Absolute), Yura Movsisyan (Pasadena City College/Plus 10), Jeff Rowland (New Mexico/Plus 10), Darren Spicer (Princeton/Telstar), Nathan Sturgis (Clemson/Telstar), own goal (Telstar) 1.

[Frank Cunha]

PLAYERS ABROAD
6. NAIA junior signs in Portugal

You don’t need to play for an NCAA Division I powerhouse to land a pro contract abroad.
Case in point: Italian forward Francis Ikome, who played last fall for NAIA school Cumberland of Tennessee.
Ikome, who previously spent two seasons at NAIA power Lindsey Wilson and played in the PDL for the Mid-Michigan Bucks, signed a six-month contract with an option through the 2007-08 season at Portuguese Second Division leader Beira Mar.

[Frank Cunha]

AWARDS
1. Steinbrecher receives NSCAA’s Honor Award

Hank Steinbrecher, who held head coaching positions at three colleges before moving into administration, was named the recipient of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s 2005 Honor Award.
Steibrecher, who played at former NAIA power Davis & Elkins, coached NAIA school Warren Wilson before assuming positions at NCAA Division I powers Appalachian State and Boston University. He later served as director of the Harvard University soccer venue for the 1984 Olympic Games and the marketing director for Gatorade before taking on his most visible position as secretary general of U.S. Soccer, a position he held from 1990 to 2001.
Steinbrecher is currently president and owner of TouchLine Consultants, Inc., based in Glen Ellyn, Ill.

[Frank Cunha]

2. NSCAA/adidas National Coaches of the Year named

Sasho Cirovski, who led Maryland to its first men’s national championship since 1968, and Paula Wilkins, who led Penn State to an unbeaten season (23-0-2 record with two shootout losses recorded as ties), were named the winners of the NSCAA/adidas NCAA Division I Coaches of the Year.
Tracey Britton, the women's coach at Monroe Community College, and Marc Zagara, men's coach at Georgia Perimeter College, each earned NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive year.

For the names and biographies of all the winners at the college, prep and youth level:
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136872

[Frank Cunha]

CONCACAF UNDER-20 WOMEN’S QUALIFYING
4. College stars send USA and Canada to Russia

The USA got two goals from Notre Dame’s Brittany Bock and a third from USC’s Amy Rodriguez to beat Mexico, 3-0, Wednesday in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Under-20 Women’s Qualifying Tournament in Mexico and clinch a berth in this summer’s Under-20 Women’s World Championship in Russia.
Rodriguez and UCLA-bound Laura Cheney lead the USA with three goals apiece. Rodriguez was red carded against Surinam and missed the final group game against El Salvador.
Selenia Iacchelli of Nebraska and Lisa Collison of Ohio State scored to give Ohio State a 2-1 victory over Jamaica Wednesday in the other semifinal.
Mexico, whose team is dominated by U.S.-based collegians and high school players, meets Jamaica Friday in the third-place game. The winner goes to Russia.

[Frank Cunha]

WOMEN’S COACHING MOVES
5. Idaho State hires USF assistant

Idaho State filled its women’s head coaching position when it hired Alison Gibson, the top assistant at San Francisco for the past five years.
Lafayette women's head coach Wayne Miller resigned from his post that he held for the past eight seasons, The Leopards went 0-6-1 in 2005 Patriot League play.
Karrie Miller, the first and only women's soccer head coach at Coastal Carolina, will not have her contract renewed, Miller had a 47-50-16 record for the Lady Chants in her six years in Conway. Miller earned Big South Coach of the Year honors in 2000 and 2003.

For complete NCAA Division I head coaching openings:
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136873