College Soccer latest news

[Frank Cunha]

WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN
8. T&T calls in five collegians

Five collegians were called up by Trinidad & Tobago World Cup coach Leo Beenhakker for the Soca Warriors’ training camp Feb. 1-6 in Florida.
Getting a look are George Mason senior Anthony Noreiga (selected by the Kansas City Wizards in the MLS Supplemental Draft), Liberty junior Osei Telesford, Connecticut sophomore Julius James and South Florida freshman Kevon Neaves. Also called up was Liberty’s Darryl Roberts, the 2002 Big South Player of the Year who sat out the 2005 season with a broken collarbone.

* BEST OF THE WEB: Text is way to go

College recruiting has gone high-tech as college coaches are using text-messaging – the favorite communications tool of many teenagers – as a means of contacting perspective recruits.
At rising East Coast women’s power Lehigh, Coach Manny Oudin spends 30 minutes sending messages to recruits on his busiest days.
With restrictions on phone contacts, coaches are turning to text messaging -- considered electronic transmissions by the NCAA – to communicate with players.

[Frank Cunha]

MEN’S COACHING MOVES
6. Porter and Holocher land D1 jobs

Former MLS players filled vacancies at two NCAA Division I men’s programs.
Caleb Porter, who played for San Jose and Tampa Bay, left alma mater Indiana, where he was an undergraduate assistant coach on the 1998 national championship team and an assistant on IU’s most recent national championship teams (2003-04), to become the head coach at Akron, No. 1 in the final Soccer America Top 25 of the 2005 regular season. Former IU coach Jerry Yeagley said Porter was as good a recruiter as he had in Bloomington.
Paul Holocher, who played in MLS with San Jose and Chicago and before that in the Austrian Bundesliga, moves down the coast from Division III UC Santa Cruz, where he had a 109-24-8 record in seven seasons as the head soccer coach, to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.



U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
7. Ryan again dips into college ranks

Six players with college eligibility remaining were called into U.S. women’s national team coach Greg Ryan’s training camp to prepare for the Algarve Cup, which will be held March 9-15 in Portugal.
Stephanie Lopez and Angie Woznuk of NCAA Division I champion Portland head the list. Also called up were Heather O’Reilly of North Carolina, India Trotter of Florida State and Amy Rodriguez of USC. Lauren Cheney, who has graduated from high school but will not start at UCLA until next fall, also was called up.
Rodriguez and Cheney were two of the top players from the U.S. team that qualified last week for the 2006 U-20 Women’s World Championship in Russia.

[Frank Cunha]

RECRUITS
1. Majority of U-17s off to college

A majority of the players on the U.S. U-17 national team that reached the quarterfinals at the 2005 Under-17 World Championship have enrolled in college or will enroll in college to play college soccer in the fall.
According to published reports, 11 players have committed to playing college soccer. Kyle Nakawaza and David Arvizu, two of the U.S. standouts in Peru, were rumored to be planning on enrolling at UCLA if solid pro opportunities did not materialize. Two players – Brian Perk and Daniel Kelly – are still in the U.S. U-17 residency program.
Five players turned pro: Nik Besagno and Quavas Kirk entered the 2005 MLS SuperDraft, Floridians Josmer Altidore and Blake Wagner entered the 2006 SuperDraft and forward Preston Zimmerman signed with German club Hamburg.
As a matter of comparison, only five players from the '03 U-17 team led by Freddy Adu turned pro at the end of its cycle. Only two other players from that team have since turned pro.

PROS
D Blake Wagner (Tampa, Fla.) FC Dallas
M Nik Besagno (Maple Valley, Wash.) Real Salt Lake
M Quavas Kirk (Aurora, Ill.) Los Angeles Galaxy
F Josmer Altidore (Boca Raton, Fla.) MetroStars
F Preston Zimmerman (Pasco, Wash.) Hamburg (Germany)
COLLEGE
G Bryant Rueckner (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) UC Santa Barbara
G Diego Restrepo (West Palm Beach, Fla.) Santa Clara
D Kevin Alston (Silver Spring, Md.) Indiana
D Amaechi Igwe (Belmont, Calif.) Santa Clara
D Ofori Sarkodie (Huber Heights, Ohio) Indiana
D Neven Subotic (Bradenton, Fla.) South Florida
M Gabriel Farfan (San Diego, Calif.) Cal State Fullerton
M Michael Farfan (San Diego, Calif.) Cal State Fullerton
M Jeremy Hall (Tampa, Fla.) Maryland
M Ryan Soroka (Langhorne, Pa.) St. John’s
F Omar Gonzalez (Dallas, Texas) Maryland
UNCOMMITTED
G Brian Perk (Santa Margarita, Calif.)
D Daniel Kelly (Henderson, Tenn.)
M Kyle Nakazawa (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.)
F David Arvizu (Santa Ana, Calif.)

[Frank Cunha]

PROGRAM CHANGES
4. Alabama A&M could be next to go

According to the Birmingham News, the men’s soccer program at Alabama A&M is one of four programs on chopping block.
The move to cut men’s soccer, baseball and men’s and women’s tennis would save the school $500,000 annually.
Alabama A&M twice won the NCAA Division II title (1977 and 1979) before moving up to Division I. In its heyday, A&M was a major D1 power. It lost to Connecticut, 2-1, in the 1981 final.
If Alabama A&M were to drop men’s soccer, that would leave Howard as the only historically black D1 college with men’s soccer.



FACILITIES
5. Lobos get boost from governor

The University of New Mexico will get $15 million in improvements to its athletic facilities if the New Mexico legislature approves a request from Governor Bill Richardson.
The money that would come from the governor's capital outlay discretionary fund would include $1 million for soccer locker rooms, meeting rooms and offices in a facility at the south end of the existing track and soccer complex.
The Lobos’ men’s team lost in the final of the 2005 Men’s College Cup to Maryland, 1-0.

[Frank Cunha]

1. UCLA lands Nakazawa

UCLA nabbed U.S. U-17 national star Kyle Nakazawa, the headliner in Jorge Salcedo’s 10-player recruiting class.
Nakazawa was expected to turn pro after starring for the USA at the 2005 Under-17 World Championship, where he scored two goals, but he was advised to start out with the Bruins, who lost underclassmen Marvell Wynne and Patrick Ianni to MLS clubs over the winter.
Besides Nakazawa, incoming freshman Michael Stephens and Patrick Rickards also attended the U.S. U-17 residency program in Bradenton, Fla.
Former U.S. U-17 resident Jonathan Villanueva (Dallas Texans) and Matthew Mitchell (Greater Boston Bolts), one of the most dynamic strikers in the country), are headed to Virginia.




WOMEN’S RECRUITING
2. West Coast powers capture big hauls

Lauren Cheney, who has been training with the U.S. women’s national team, officially committed to UCLA. The Carmel (Ind.) United product will give the Bruins of the best frontlines in the country. The backline gets reinforcements with the addition of defenders Lauren Switzer (Eclipse Select, Ill.) and Laura Wilmoth (Dallas Texans).
Kelley O’Hara (Peachtree City, Ga., Lazers) , who played with Cheney on the U.S. team qualified for the 2006 Under-20 Women’s World Championship in Russia, inked with Stanford. The Cardinal’s outsanding freshman class also includes idfielder Kristin Stannard (Richmond, Va., Mystx)
Jerry Smith is calling the incoming class at Santa Clara one of the best ever he’s ever recruited. Former U.S. U-19 star Alexa Orand (Slammers) heads the class that also includes fellow South California standouts Kiki Bosio and Jenna Belcher (both Laguna Hills Eclipse) and Arizona Lindsey Johnson (Sereno), who all played on the U.S. U-16 and U-17 national teams. U.S. U-17 national team midfielder Gina DiMartino is one of three Long Island stars to officially commit to Boston College.
Florida State beat out Penn State, Duke and Connecticut to land Becky Edwards (West Chester Predators) is one of the best midfielders to ever come out of Pennsylvania.



MAKING A LIST
3. NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer (2005 Average Attendance)

New Mexico led all NCAA Division I schools in average and total attendance during the 2005 men’s college season.
The Lobos' 2005 average of 3,629 is the highest mark of any school since the NCAA started tracking soccer attendance numbers in 1998. They drew four of the 10 largest crowds of the season at the UNM Soccer Complex. Record crowds attended all three NCAA Tournament games in Albuquerque to push the Lobos’ total attendance to 36,288 for 10 games.
In addition, New Mexico played before a season-high of 8,645 for the Men’s College Cup semifinals in Cary, N.C.

1. New Mexico 3,629
2. Indiana 3,112
3. Maryland 2,547
4. Connecticut 2,274
5. Creighton 2,014
6. Duke 1,855
7. Saint Louis 1,714
8. Clemson 1,686
9. Virginia 1,630
10. Wake Forest 1,522
11. UC Santa Barbara 1,457
12. Notre Dame 1,259
13. North Carolina 1,238
14. Portland 1,183
15. Washington 1,139
16. Michigan 1,093
17. Louisville 1,074
18. Akron 1,064
19. Penn State 1,058
20. Kentucky 1,002
21. St. John's 992
22. Santa Clara 984
23. Bradley 983
24. UCLA 952
25. Brown 950
26. UNC Greensboro 909
27. N.C. State 900
28. Wisconsin 893
29. Virginia Tech 876
30. California 862
31. Ohio State 835
32. Old Dominion 834
33. Davidson 817
34. San Francisco 758
35. Rutgers 732
36. Dayton 728
37. Wis.-Milwaukee 727
38. Furman 720
39. Stanford 714
40. Seton Hall 700
41. Michigan State 658
42. Yale 651
43. Navy 646
44. South Florida 641
45. Drake 640
46. SMU 615
47. Cincinnati 592
48. Charlotte 591
49. Radford 579
50. Vermont 578



MEN’S COACHING MOVES
4. Jean leaves Duquesne

Wade Jean resigned after eight years as men’s coach at Duquesne to return to his home state of Vermont to coach at St. Michael’s, where he will also serve as athletic ticket manager and event supervisor.
Jean, a four-time Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year, led the Dukes to a share of the last three A-10 regular-season titles. His 2005 Dukes, which finished 13-5-0.
Stephen Ross, the men’s coach at VMI for the last 17 years, has taken an administrative position in the athletic department with the Athletic Academic Advising Office. Ross, VMI’s all-time winningest coach with 92 victories, was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2004.



U.S. UNDER-21 WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
5. Ellis takes all-collegiate team to Britain

Penn State’s Tiffany Weimer and Virginia’s Sarah Huffman, both 2005 Soccer America MVPs, head the all-collegiate U.S. U-21 national team will play three matches, including a test against Scotland’s national team, during its British tour Feb. 10-17. The tour will be a homecoming of sorts for U.S. head coach Jill Ellis. The UCLA coach was born in Folkestone, England.

U.S. ROSTER:
GOALKEEPERS: Ashley Phillips (Clemson), Kati Jo Spisak (Texas A&M).
DEFENDERS: Rachel Buehler (Stanford), Mary Castelanelli (UCLA), Kendall Fletcher (North Carolina), Holly Gault (Kansas), Hayley Hunt (Stanford), Denay Riley (Penn State).
MIDFIELDERS: Jen Buczkowski (Notre Dame), Bristyn Davis (UCLA), Sheree Gray (Penn State), Sarah Huffman (Virginia), Allie Long (Penn State).
FORWARDS: Liz Bogus (Arizona State), Natalie Budge (Portland), Kerri Hanks (Notre Dame), Ashlee Pistorius (Texas A&M), Tiffany Weimer (Penn State).

[Ricochet]

I'm surprised that Kyle Nakazawa passed up going pro to go to UCLA.

[Frank Cunha]

1. Tabatznik departs Georgetown after 22 years

Keith Tabatznik, who coached Georgetown for 22 seasons, stepped down as the Hoyas head coach.
Tabatznik is the winningest coach in Georgetown history with a 220-187-23 record. He was named Big East Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1997 and led the Hoyas to two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Tabatznik’s departure continues to shakeup in Hoya athletics. Veteran head coaches in football, men’s tennis and women’s volleyball have resigned in the last two months.

2. Fewing leaves D2 power Seattle

Seattle University coach Peter Fewing has announced his resignation after 18 seasons at the helm.
Fewing, who cited differences with the athletic department for his decision, led Seattle University to its first national title at any level when his 1997 team won the NAIA title and followed with the 2004 NCAA Division II championship. He was named the 2004 NCAA Division II Coach of the Year.

NCAA Division I Men's Coaching Moves:
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136935



WOMEN’S COACHING MOVES
3. Rainey returns to Iowa

Former Iowa Ron Rainey is returning to Ioaw City to become the Hawkeyes’ women’s head coach.
Rainey joins the Hawkeyes from Ball State University, where he served as the school's head coach since the program's inaugural season in 1999. This past season, Rainey guided Ball State to its most successful campaign. The Cardinals posted a 15-3-2 record.
Rainey replaces Carla Baker, who resigned in November after a 3-12-4 season.

NCAA Division I Women's Coaching Moves:
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136936

[Frank Cunha]

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

''When I was a kid, I was watching the Olympics, I'm not sure which one, and my mom told me that I said, ‘Mom, someday I'll be in those.' This is an amazing feeling. I knew I'd win a medal, I just thought it would be in soccer.''
-- Former BYU star Shauna Rohbock, eighth on the all-time NCAA Division I women’s scoring list with 94 goals, after winning the silver medal in bobsledding at the Torino Olympics. Rohbock, also a former college heptathlete star, made one appearance for the U.S. national team in 1998 but then switched to bobsledding. She was an alternate at the 2002 Olympics.



RECRUITING
2. NCAA Division I Men’s Signings

Team-by-Team signings with youth club affiliations:
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136957

COACHING MOVES
3. Fitness fanatic lands Columbia men’s job

Columbia’s new men's head coach, Leo Chappel, has his sights set on a national championship.
No Ivy League team has ever won a national title – the Lions came the closest, finishing second in 1983 under Chappel’s predecessor, Dieter Ficken – but Chappel says that can change.
“An Ivy League team can win the national title,” Chappel told the Columbia Spectator. “There are a lot of obstacles, but we just have to work a little harder.”
Chappel is a fitness fanatic.
“I’m not married to any system,” Chappel told the Spectator. “What I am married to is the fitness component and the mental fortitude to really get after teams, take away what they do well, win the ball higher up, and let the players take it from there.”
Chappel comes from UC Santa Barbara, where he was an assistant coach. The Gauchos finished second in the nation in 2004, employing the same physical game Chappel hopes to impose at Morningside Heights.



4. Who’s In & Who’s Out

NCAA DIVISION I MEN
TEAM OLD COACH … NEW COACH
AKRON Ken Lolla (Louisville coach) … Caleb Porter (Indiana ass’t)
BUTLER Joe Sochacki (resigned) … Kelly Findley (Charlotte ass’t)
CAL POLY SLO Wolfgang Gartner (contract not renewed) … Paul Holocher (UC Santa Cruz coach)
CAL STATE FULLERTON Al Mistri (retired)… Bob Ammann (Cal State Fullerton ass’t)
CLEVELAND STATE Pete Curtis (contract not renewed) … Ali Kazemaini (John Carroll coach)
COLUMBIA Dieter Ficken (retired) … Leo Chappel (UC Santa Barbara ass’t)
DELAWARE Marc Simonisky (resigned) … Ian Hennessy (Boston College ass’t)
DUQUESNE Wade Jean (St. Michael’s coach) … TBA
EVANSVILLE Dave Golan (resigned) … Mike Jacobs (Duke ass’t)
GEORGETOWN Keith Tabatznik (resigned) … TBA
LOUISVILLE Tony Colavecchia (resigned) … Ken Lolla (Akron coach)
MARQUETTE Steve Adlard (resigned) … Louis Bennett (Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach)
RHODE ISLAND Ed Bradley (retired) … TBA
ST. MARY’S Steve Rammel (Los Angeles Galaxy ass’t) … Adam Cooper (St. Mary's ass’t)
UNLV Barry Barto (re-assigned) … Mario Sanchez (Akron ass’t)
VMI Stephen Ross (resigned) … Ben Freakley (Erskine coach)
WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE Louis Bennett (Marquette coach) … Jon Coleman (Wisconsin-Milwaukee ass’t)



NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN
TEAM OLD COACH … NEW COACH
ALBANY Kalekeni Banda (resigned) ... Mary-Frances Monroe (interim coach)
BALL STATE Ron Rainey (Iowa coach) … TBA
COASTAL CAROLINA Karrie Miller (contract not renewed) … TBA
CORNELL Berhane Andeberhan (resigned) … Gretchen Zigante-interim coach
IDAHO STATE Mark Salisbury (relieved of duties) … TBA
IOWA Carla Baker (resigned) … Ron Rainey (Ball State coach)
LAFAYETTE Wayne Miller (resigned) … TBA
MURRAY STATE Mike Minielli (resigned) … TBA
ST. BONAVENTURE Dan Magner (contract not renewed) … Jaime Snyder (interim coach)
ST. MARY’S Paul Sapsford (contract not renewed) … Kelly Lindsey (Texas ass’t)
UC IRVINE Marino Cano (resigned) … April Heinrichs
UTAH VALLEY STATE Justin Wagar (interim coach) … Brent Anderson (Utah State ass’t)



5. Fallout from Fewing’s resignation at Seattle

Seattle University’s men’s program, one of the best Division II programs in the country, has been rocked by long-time head coach Peter Fewing’s sudden resignation.
According to the Seattle Times, citing the field project co-chairman, plans to upgrade the school’s Championship Field are threatened because alumni pulled up to $300,000 in donations. The alumni wanted their concerns about Fewing’s departure aired. Fewing cited differences with the school’s athletic department as reasons for his departure after 18 years.
Wendy Guthrie, Seattle University's athletic director, told the Seattle Times plans for the March 1 groundbreaking were proceeding.



SPRING SOCCER
6. Heels play ambitious schedule

Spring soccer is big-time at women’s programs like perennial power North Carolina.
Highlights of the Tar Heel’s offseason campaign will be international exhibitions against the Russia U-20 national team March 29 in Charlotte and against the Mexico national team April 8 in Birmingham, Ala. Also on tap are matches against Duke, Florida, UAB, Georgia and Florida State, as well as the ACC Round Robin in Cary, N.C.
This is an important spring for Anson Dorrance’s team. UNC is losing 10 seniors, including five starters, off its 2005 ACC championship squad. The last time Carolina lost a senior class this large was 1994 when nine seniors graduated off the NCAA championship team. UNC does have a big incoming freshman class in 2006 and welcomes former U.S. U-19 goalie Ashlyn Harris, who was injured and red-shirted last fall.

[Frank Cunha]

INTERVIEW
1. UConn’s Ray Reid on latest move to limit subs

For decades the debate has raged about college soccer’s liberal substitution rules. The Big East hopes to experiment with tighter limits on subbing next season. Connecticut coach Ray Reid explains.

Interview by Mike Woitalla

SOCCER AMERICA: FIFA allows three subs, no reentry. The NCAA’s only limits are restrictions on reentry in the second half and in each of the two overtime periods. What’s the problem with college soccer’s approach?
RAY REID: It disrupts the whole flow. It’s not soccer. It’s just a tactic to destroy the game. There’s no rhythm to the game. There’s no balance to the games. By limiting moves, hopefully we’ll get a little more rhythm and balance.
SA: Skilled players also seem to be at a disadvantage, because opponents can sub fresh players into the game frequently to stifle a team’s stars …
RR: Obviously the more players you can put into the game, the more it takes away from the guys who can play. Also, I think too many teams just sub too much. They take players out when they’re tired. Players need to learn to pace themselves through the match and the only way they can do that is if we don’t have the luxury to yank them out. We want to get closer to FIFA.



SA: So what’s the plan?
RR: The Big East coaches voted to experiment with a limit on substitution in regular-season conference games: Eight moves during the course of the game. And two moves in overtime. Any moves at halftime to start the second half do not count against the eight.
Believe me, I came in with a much stricter one. We had to compromise on that as a starting point.
We’re going to follow the NCAA rules in reentry. No reentry in the first half, one reentry in the second half, but they count as your move. If I start a player, bring him out in the 30th minute, that’s one move. Put him back in the second half and bring him out in the 70th minute, that’s the
second move. Put him back in following the NCAA rules, that’s a third move.
The goalkeeper move, if due to injury, is a freebie. So if you made your eighth move and your keeper breaks his leg, we’ll allow the keeper to be switched.
SA: So where does it stand at this point?
RR: We’re waiting for the [Big East Championship and Competition Committee] to approve it. If it does, we’re going to try and get this approved as an experiment by the NCAA Rules Committee.
SA: What if the Rules Committee doesn’t approve it?
RR: If they say no, then we have a handshake agreement on it -- as long the [Big East Committee] approves it -- and will follow it in the league games. If we choose to do it on a handshake, we’ll do it no matter what the NCAA says. They can’t make us substitute
SA: What’s the next step if the experiment goes well in the 2006 season?
RR: I would like to tighten it and maybe make it for our conference tournament in year two. Again, we would need approval from the coaches and our [Committee]. We've got to take baby steps here, but we’ve got to get it going.



NCAA ACADEMIC REFORM
2. Three D1 programs cited for poor academic performance

Three men’s soccer programs -- Bowling Green, Coastal Carolina and UC Santa Barbara -- were among 99 teams from 66 NCAA Division I schools that could face scholarship reductions because of poor academic performance.
The measures are part of the NCAA’s academic reform initiative. The centerpiece of the initiative is the development of a new academic measurement for sports teams, known as the Academic Progress Rate, or APR.
Nine Division I soccer programs – five men’s and four women’s – fell below the cutline of 925, though only the three men’s programs were sanctioned, and none of them potentially face significant cuts. Their total-equivalency penalties -- the total amount of athletics aid that must be deducted from the amount of athletics scholarships that may be awarded to all members of the team -- were: Coastal Carolina (0.42), UC Santa Barbara (0.27) and Bowling Green (0.07). Other programs that faced cuts escaped unpunished because of adjustments for squad sizes, waivers or extenuating circumstances.




3. Public Recognition Awards

The NCAA also honored programs with Public Recognition Awards for scoring in the top 10 percent of their sport. Here are the men’s and women’s soccer programs honored by the NCAA for academic excellence:

MEN
Belmont
Brown
Bucknell
Colgate
Columbia
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
James Madison
Loyola (Md.)
Marist
Marquette
Michigan State
Northwestern
Pennsylvania
Princeton
Richmond
St. Joseph's
William & Mary
Yale



WOMEN
Boston College
Brown
Bucknell
Butler
California
Central Connecticut State
Colorado College
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Elon
Fairfield
Lehigh
Loyola (Ill.)
Marist
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Princeton
Providence
Rice
Saint Joseph's
Seton Hall
South Carolina State
St. Mary's
USC
Utah
Western Carolina
Yale



MEN’S COACHING MOVES
4. Georgetown hires Wiese

Notre Dame associate head coach Brian Wiese was named head men’s coach at Georgetown, replacing Keith Tabatznik, who recently resigned.
Over the last 10 years Wiese has worked under Scottish coach Bobby Clark, for five seasons at Stanford and then for five years at Notre Dame. In those 10 seasons, the teams posted a combined record of 136-48-25, advanced to nine straight NCAA Tournaments and made one trip to the championship match.
Wiese played professionally for the Bulawayo Highlanders in Zimbabwe for a year after graduating from Dartmouth.



OFFSEASON
5. Friendly results

The following are results of friendly games colleges have played this winter against professional and national teams.

Feb. 4 FIU 0 Trinidad & Tobago national team 1
Feb. 7 Loyola Marymount 1 Chivas USA 4
Feb. 9 UCLA 0 Chivas USA 3
Feb. 11 Central Florida 1 Chicago Fire 1; Memphis 0 FC Dallas 2; South Florida 0 Kansas City 1
Feb. 14 Central Florida 0 Real Salt Lake 4
Feb. 15 SMU 0 FC Dallas 4; South Florida 2 Columbus Crew 5
Feb. 20 Central Florida 0 GAIS (Sweden) 4
Feb. 21 Rollins 0 GAIS (Sweden) 6
Feb. 24 FIU 0 Real Salt Lake 2
Feb. 25 FC Dallas 5 Missouri State 1; U.S. U-17 national team 2 South Florida 2
Feb. 28 FC Dallas 5 SMU 1



NOTEBOOK
6. Groundbreaking on Lady Vols’ facility

Groundbreaking was held last week on the Regal Soccer Stadium, the new home of the Tennessee women’s program. The stadium will include seating for approximately 3,000 fans, with player support facilities below the bleachers (locker rooms, lounge, video room) and a media area on the upper deck. … South Florida midfielder Kevon Neaves earned his first cap for World Cup-bound Trinidad & Tobago, coming on in the 77th minute of the Soca Warriors’ 2-0 win over Iceland on Tuesday in London. ... Minnesota-Morris will add men's soccer to its NCAA Division III program beginning in 2006, in response to increased interest in soccer among Minnesota youth. UMM’s women’s coach Christian DeVries will take on men’s coaching. New talent will be brought in to lead the Cougar women’s program.



RECRUITING
7. NCAA Division I & II Men’s Signings

Team-by-Team signings with youth club affiliations:

NCAA Division I
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136986

NCAA Division II
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136965

[Frank Cunha]

INTERVIEW
1. UConn’s Ray Reid on latest move to limit subs

For decades the debate has raged about college soccer’s liberal substitution rules. The Big East hopes to experiment with tighter limits on subbing next season. Connecticut coach Ray Reid explains.

Interview by Mike Woitalla

SOCCER AMERICA: FIFA allows three subs, no reentry. The NCAA’s only limits are restrictions on reentry in the second half and in each of the two overtime periods. What’s the problem with college soccer’s approach?
RAY REID: It disrupts the whole flow. It’s not soccer. It’s just a tactic to destroy the game. There’s no rhythm to the game. There’s no balance to the games. By limiting moves, hopefully we’ll get a little more rhythm and balance.
SA: Skilled players also seem to be at a disadvantage, because opponents can sub fresh players into the game frequently to stifle a team’s stars …
RR: Obviously the more players you can put into the game, the more it takes away from the guys who can play. Also, I think too many teams just sub too much. They take players out when they’re tired. Players need to learn to pace themselves through the match and the only way they can do that is if we don’t have the luxury to yank them out. We want to get closer to FIFA.



SA: So what’s the plan?
RR: The Big East coaches voted to experiment with a limit on substitution in regular-season conference games: Eight moves during the course of the game. And two moves in overtime. Any moves at halftime to start the second half do not count against the eight.
Believe me, I came in with a much stricter one. We had to compromise on that as a starting point.
We’re going to follow the NCAA rules in reentry. No reentry in the first half, one reentry in the second half, but they count as your move. If I start a player, bring him out in the 30th minute, that’s one move. Put him back in the second half and bring him out in the 70th minute, that’s the
second move. Put him back in following the NCAA rules, that’s a third move.
The goalkeeper move, if due to injury, is a freebie. So if you made your eighth move and your keeper breaks his leg, we’ll allow the keeper to be switched.
SA: So where does it stand at this point?
RR: We’re waiting for the [Big East Championship and Competition Committee] to approve it. If it does, we’re going to try and get this approved as an experiment by the NCAA Rules Committee.
SA: What if the Rules Committee doesn’t approve it?
RR: If they say no, then we have a handshake agreement on it -- as long the [Big East Committee] approves it -- and will follow it in the league games. If we choose to do it on a handshake, we’ll do it no matter what the NCAA says. They can’t make us substitute
SA: What’s the next step if the experiment goes well in the 2006 season?
RR: I would like to tighten it and maybe make it for our conference tournament in year two. Again, we would need approval from the coaches and our [Committee]. We've got to take baby steps here, but we’ve got to get it going.



NCAA ACADEMIC REFORM
2. Three D1 programs cited for poor academic performance

Three men’s soccer programs -- Bowling Green, Coastal Carolina and UC Santa Barbara -- were among 99 teams from 66 NCAA Division I schools that could face scholarship reductions because of poor academic performance.
The measures are part of the NCAA’s academic reform initiative. The centerpiece of the initiative is the development of a new academic measurement for sports teams, known as the Academic Progress Rate, or APR.
Nine Division I soccer programs – five men’s and four women’s – fell below the cutline of 925, though only the three men’s programs were sanctioned, and none of them potentially face significant cuts. Their total-equivalency penalties -- the total amount of athletics aid that must be deducted from the amount of athletics scholarships that may be awarded to all members of the team -- were: Coastal Carolina (0.42), UC Santa Barbara (0.27) and Bowling Green (0.07). Other programs that faced cuts escaped unpunished because of adjustments for squad sizes, waivers or extenuating circumstances.




3. Public Recognition Awards

The NCAA also honored programs with Public Recognition Awards for scoring in the top 10 percent of their sport. Here are the men’s and women’s soccer programs honored by the NCAA for academic excellence:

MEN
Belmont
Brown
Bucknell
Colgate
Columbia
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
James Madison
Loyola (Md.)
Marist
Marquette
Michigan State
Northwestern
Pennsylvania
Princeton
Richmond
St. Joseph's
William & Mary
Yale



WOMEN
Boston College
Brown
Bucknell
Butler
California
Central Connecticut State
Colorado College
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Elon
Fairfield
Lehigh
Loyola (Ill.)
Marist
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Princeton
Providence
Rice
Saint Joseph's
Seton Hall
South Carolina State
St. Mary's
USC
Utah
Western Carolina
Yale



MEN’S COACHING MOVES
4. Georgetown hires Wiese

Notre Dame associate head coach Brian Wiese was named head men’s coach at Georgetown, replacing Keith Tabatznik, who recently resigned.
Over the last 10 years Wiese has worked under Scottish coach Bobby Clark, for five seasons at Stanford and then for five years at Notre Dame. In those 10 seasons, the teams posted a combined record of 136-48-25, advanced to nine straight NCAA Tournaments and made one trip to the championship match.
Wiese played professionally for the Bulawayo Highlanders in Zimbabwe for a year after graduating from Dartmouth.



OFFSEASON
5. Friendly results

The following are results of friendly games colleges have played this winter against professional and national teams.

Feb. 4 FIU 0 Trinidad & Tobago national team 1
Feb. 7 Loyola Marymount 1 Chivas USA 4
Feb. 9 UCLA 0 Chivas USA 3
Feb. 11 Central Florida 1 Chicago Fire 1; Memphis 0 FC Dallas 2; South Florida 0 Kansas City 1
Feb. 14 Central Florida 0 Real Salt Lake 4
Feb. 15 SMU 0 FC Dallas 4; South Florida 2 Columbus Crew 5
Feb. 20 Central Florida 0 GAIS (Sweden) 4
Feb. 21 Rollins 0 GAIS (Sweden) 6
Feb. 24 FIU 0 Real Salt Lake 2
Feb. 25 FC Dallas 5 Missouri State 1; U.S. U-17 national team 2 South Florida 2
Feb. 28 FC Dallas 5 SMU 1



NOTEBOOK
6. Groundbreaking on Lady Vols’ facility

Groundbreaking was held last week on the Regal Soccer Stadium, the new home of the Tennessee women’s program. The stadium will include seating for approximately 3,000 fans, with player support facilities below the bleachers (locker rooms, lounge, video room) and a media area on the upper deck. … South Florida midfielder Kevon Neaves earned his first cap for World Cup-bound Trinidad & Tobago, coming on in the 77th minute of the Soca Warriors’ 2-0 win over Iceland on Tuesday in London. ... Minnesota-Morris will add men's soccer to its NCAA Division III program beginning in 2006, in response to increased interest in soccer among Minnesota youth. UMM’s women’s coach Christian DeVries will take on men’s coaching. New talent will be brought in to lead the Cougar women’s program.



RECRUITING
7. NCAA Division I & II Men’s Signings

Team-by-Team signings with youth club affiliations:

NCAA Division I
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136986

NCAA Division II
http://www.socceramerica.com/article...t_ID=562136965