Month: June 2012

soccer

The elephant in the women’s soccer room: NCAA

Posted on by Beau Dure

NY Fury coach Paul Riley, who led the Philadelphia Independence to two runner-up finishes in WPS, has a few thoughts about the future of the game, and it differs a bit from the Peter Wilt plan — more money, more months in the season:

The money issue is really just a question of what owners are willing to put on the table. If it’s $1.5 million per team, great. If it’s closer to the $300,000 at the low end of Wilt’s range, then that’s what it is.

The more interesting question here is the length of the season. Riley may be overstating things a bit — is Marta really going to get nine months of playing time this season between a 22-game Swedish season and the chronically undersupported Brazilian women’s team? But he’s right that these condensed summer seasons aren’t leaving much time to develop teams … or players.

Riley, like many others in the women’s soccer community, want everyone to get together and talk about it. USSF. USL. WPSL.

NCAA?

When it comes to length of the season, college soccer is the problem. A lot of this country’s top players are still in school. And the NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, has pushed its season earlier and earlier into August while cutting the spring season.

That’s a problem — primarily for college players. They could get a compressed four-month college season and perhaps two months to play with a W-League or WPSL team in the summer. That’s a lot of downtime, then a lot of games in a short time — a good recipe for injuries.

Is it a problem for a future elite league? Directly, maybe not. For leagues below Division I — including the regular WPSL and W-League — it’s a problem because college players can’t play for pro teams. The WPSL Elite experiment of having amateur (college players allowed) and pro (NCAA? Stay away!) teams is intriguing. But that means the season’s length is beholden to colleges who won’t release their players until exams are complete and will demand their return in early August.

(This is a problem for men’s soccer, too. Suppose a PDL team made the U.S. Open Cup semifinals in August. Who could play?)

So I’ll toss out a trial balloon here, based on far less research and information than Peter’s plan:

1. Have a national league for full-time pros that splits its season between the fall and spring. Set the championship for late April.

2. Also enter those pro teams in summer regional leagues like the W-League or WPSL. (The leagues could still come together for a national playoff at the end of summer.) With national team call-ups, the pro teams would likely be weakened and would need to call in other players.

3. The pro teams would establish firm roots with youth programs. That would also give them extra players to call in for summer play — we might need an NCAA/amateurism expert to weigh in, but MLS academy kids have been able to compete in MLS reserve league games without sacrificing their college eligibility. So we could see someone like Morgan Andrews “play up” with these teams for the summer. (Current college players, no — they would play for summer-only teams in these regional leagues.)

The other side of the coin — get the NCAA to back off a bit. Beef up the spring season and let them start the fall season a couple of weeks later.

That’s the balloon. Take your shots …

2
mma

The contrarian take on Silva-Sonnen

Posted on by Beau Dure

A lot is riding on the upcoming UFC pay-per-view with Anderson Silva defending his middleweight title once again against Chael Sonnen, who grounded-and-pounded Silva for four-and-a-half rounds the first time they faced off before Silva pulled off the miracle comeback two years ago.

For the UFC, it’s a chance to continue its comeback from a disappointing string of injury-riddled pay-per-view cards. The last two big ones — Jon Jones-Rashad Evans (UFC 145, April), Junior dos Santos-Frank Mir and other heavyweights (UFC 146, May) — have done well. (We’ll give the UFC a pass on UFC 147 in Brazil, which turned into a finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil with a Rich Franklin-Wanderlei Silva bout on top. That one really wasn’t about the U.S. market. The current wave of UFC growth is overseas, and they know it.)

Silva-Sonnen is the standout fight of the UFC’s overloaded year, in which it’s pumping out fight cards by the dozen for the Fox networks along with its now-standard steady flow of pay-per-view cards. The storylines are obvious. The fighters hate each other. Sonnen won’t stop talking about how he dominated Silva for all but the last few seconds of their last fight. Silva is one of the greatest fighters of all time.

So why am I not interested?

1. The first fight was dull aside from the shock value. Sonnen takedown. Silva stuck on his back. Repeat. The only interesting thing about it was the man on his back was Anderson Silva … the man who had the aura of invincibility.

2. Age. The combined age of the guys in this fight is 72. Experience can be a good thing in this sport — the complexities of martial arts can take years to master — but the 35-year-old Sonnen is still bringing essentially the same wrestling-intensive skillset he’s always had. The 37-year-old Silva might have lost a step despite his wonderful bounce-back from the first Sonnen fight, a highlight-reel KO of dangerous opponent Vitor Belfort.

3. Chael Sonnen, middleweight champion? Sonnen has had a slow climb up the middleweight ladder. He was 1-2 in his first stint in the UFC, departing after his third career loss to the ubiquitous Jeremy Horn. Some solid results in BodogFight brought him into WEC, where he lost a title fight to Paulo Filho. He got a quick rematch and won one of the oddest fights in MMA history — Filho missed weight and acted as if he were hearing voices. He moved into the UFC and immediately lost to Demian Maia.

Sonnen rebounded with a couple of wins and plowed through Nate Marquardt to earn the title shot. He looked far stronger than Marquardt, a prelude to how he would treat Silva.

Then came the scandal. Sonnen’s postfight drug test showed a 16:1 testosterone-epitestosterone ratio. The limit, depending on the overseeing body, is either 4:1 or 6:1.  There’s no need to rehash the whole case, but the end result is this: Sonnen served a suspension  and returned with a strong win over Brian Stann and a less convincing win (I’m not convinced at all, frankly) over Michael Bisping. He’ll fight Silva under a therapeutic use exemption for testosterone use, but he’ll be tested extensively, and his ratio still needs to be under 6:1.

So if Silva is the old Silva, he shouldn’t have any problem with Sonnen. The champion supposedly had a rib injury the first time they fought, and he’ll be better prepared to fend off Sonnen’s takedowns. No one doubts Silva would win if the fight remains standing. And if Sonnen derived any additional strength from testing off the charts in the first fight, he’ll have less of an advantage this time around. It’s possible, maybe even likely, that Silva is about to deliver an epic beatdown that ought to make Sonnen shut up for once.

But what if he doesn’t? What if age has really robbed Silva of his legendary explosiveness? What if the UFC ends up with a middleweight champion with a 28-11-1 record who wouldn’t have gotten this rematch without his big mouth and a massive favor from the judges to beat Michael Bisping? A champion who sneers at any reporter who dares to ask real questions or do any real reporting about his testosterone use?

To me, it looks like pro wrestling. We’re about to see the heel get his come-uppance. Or not. (And a lot of people actually like the heel, who is indeed a witty guy and, oddly enough, a pretty good TV analyst.)

There’s a reason I’ve used first person through all this. I know this is just me. The typical MMA fan is far more interested in the storylines than I am. This card is going to get a ton of media coverage. I’d be stunned if the pay-per-view numbers weren’t the biggest of what’s already a pretty good year.

But the date I’ve circled is Aug. 11. Ben Henderson. Frankie Edgar. Lightweight title rematch. Two great guys. Two great fighters. Bring it.

0
soccer

AmWoSo (W-League, WPSL) Power Rankings: June 25

Posted on by Beau Dure

We got upsets. And we’ve got teams in the W-League Western fighting for those two playoff spots.

In the East, the strange thing about the format is that the second-place team from the top seed’s division will advance. That means the Charlotte Lady Eagles and Virginia Beach Piranhas might have actually hurt themselves by getting draws with leaders Atlanta and D.C. United, who are battling for that top spot.

The Central is still a logjam, but four teams plus Ottawa will make it. Ottawa’s hosting the Final Four.

1. Pali Blues (9-0-1, W-League Western; Last Week: 1) – roster
Took the biggest win of the W-League season: 2-0 at Seattle, though Sounders lacked U.S. stars. Followed up with 4-0 win at Victoria. Then finally lost perfect record with 0-0 draw at Vancouver. Last four games are at home, and a playoff berth is all but assured.

2. Chicago Red Stars (8-1-0, WPSL Elite; LW: 2) – roster
No trouble on the Mid-Atlantic road swing — 3-1 at Chesapeake, 4-1 at Philadelphia after conceding early lead.

3. Boston Breakers (7-2-0, WPSL Elite; LW: 3) – roster
Took care of business with two home wins — 4-2 over feisty New England, 2-0 over New York.

4. Western New York Flash (6-1-3, WPSL Elite; LW: 4) – roster
Beat Philadelphia 2-0; held to 3-3 draw at New England.

5. New York Fury (5-3-1, WPSL Elite; LW: 5) – roster
Lost 2-0 at Boston.

6. Seattle Sounders Women (6-1-1, W-League Western; LW: 6) – roster
Lost 0-2 vs. Pali without national team stars. Got them back and demolished Santa Clarita 4-0 with two goals from Sydney Leroux and one from Alex Morgan. Will need to hold off Colorado Rush for playoff berth.

7. D.C. United Women (7-0-1, W-League Atlantic; LW: 7) – roster
Won 5-0 vs. Fredericksburg, knocking the Impact out of consideration for the rankings. Drew 1-1 vs. Virginia Beach Piranhas in a game that could be described as “physical.” Still nearly clinched first place in Atlantic.

8. Atlanta Silverbacks (7-0-2, W-League Southeast; LW: 8) – roster
Beat Charlotte 1-0 to take control of division; held 2-2 the next day at Central SC. Tied with Charlotte atop division, with a game in hand.

9. New England Mutiny (3-4-2, WPSL Elite; LW: 9) – roster
The class of the WPSL Elite’s amateur teams broke through with 3-3 draw vs. Western New York, with Morgan Andrews and Kate Haworth clearly ready for top-level league soccer. Lost 4-2 vs. Boston.

10. Colorado Rush (5-2-1, W-League Western; LW: 11) – roster
Made strong claim for playoff contention — won 2-1 in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Park showdown with Colorado Rapids Women; beat LA Strikers 2-1. California swing July 4-8 will be crucial.

11. Charlotte Lady Eagles (7-1-2, W-League Southeast; LW: 12) – roster
Lost 0-1 at Atlanta.

12. Ottawa Fury (7-1-0, W-League Central; LW: NR) – roster
Beat former division leader Laval 2-1, routed London 10-0 and took full command of Central with 1-0 win at Toronto.

ALSO CONSIDERED (alphabetical order)

Beach Futbol Club (3-1-0, WPSL Pacific South) – roster
Beat LA Vikings 6-0.

FC Dallas (8-0-0, WPSL Big Sky South) – roster
Beat Tulsa Spirit 3-0.

Laval Comets (5-1-2, W-League Central) – roster
Lost 1-2 at Ottawa Fury. Beat Hamilton 1-0 to remain firmly in playoff positions.

Long Island Rough Riders (6-3-0, W-League Northeast) – roster
Won 1-0 at North Jersey Valkyries. Lost 2-1 at New Jersey Wildcats, failing to put away division rival.

New Jersey Wildcats (4-2-2, W-League Northeast) – roster
Stayed in race with big 2-1 win over Long Island. Still four points back with four points to play, and second place almost certainly won’t do it.

San Diego SeaLions (5-0-0, WPSL Pacific South) – roster
Won 1-0 at Ajax America. Just one more game listed on schedule — a July 8 visit from Beach FC.

Santa Clarita Blue Heat (3-4-2, W-League Western; LW: 10) – roster
Won 4-2 at Victoria Highlanders, then lost 0-2 at resurgent Vancouver, then crushed by star-laden Seattle team 4-0. Last five are at home, so playoffs aren’t out of question.

Toronto Lady Lynx (5-3-1, W-League Central) – roster
Won 1-0 at London Gryphons; lost 1-0 vs. Ottawa.

Virginia Beach Piranhas (4-2-3, W-League Atlantic) – roster
New to the rankings after winning 1-0 vs. Northern Virginia Majestics and drawing 1-1 at runaway leaders D.C. United Women.

GAMES TO WATCH (times Eastern and possibly incorrect)

Saturday, June 30
WPSL Elite: Chicago Red Stars at Boston Breakers, 6 p.m.;  Somerville, Mass.
W-League Western: Seattle Sounders Women at Colorado Rapids Women, 6:30 p.m.; Commerce City, Colo.

Sunday, July 1
W-League Western: Seattle Sounders Women at Colorado Rush, 3 p.m.; Highlands Ranch, Colo.

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cycling

A quick look at the Lance Armstrong impasse

Posted on by Beau Dure

Cyclingnews has a solid overview, complete with some exclusive information, of the Lance Armstrong case, along with links to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s charges and Armstrong’s response.

One item Cyclingnews raises through an anonymous source — the charges are not based on testimony from the grand jury investigation that ended with no charges being filed.

Most of the USADA charges are based on testimony from as-yet-unnamed witnesses who were involved with Armstrong’s team. The Armstrong response aggressively asks for the names, last known addresses and contact information of these witnesses — perhaps not the best PR strategy when the USADA complaint already describes “the use of fear, intimidation and coercion to attempt to enforce a code of silence (or omerta)” among Armstrong’s cycling teams.

The Armstrong response is more effective in questioning two specific items in USADA’s charges — a 2001 EPO test in Switzerland (which, by itself, would fall outside a statute of limitations, anyway) and data from 2009 and 2010. Armstrong took a bunch of tests in those years and posted the results. It’ll be curious to see if USADA sees something in those results that Armstrong and company did not.

Pundits are going to be tempted to jump to conclusions before this case plays out. That’s not a good idea. This one’s going to be complicated.

0
sports culture

Title IX-related questions

Posted on by Beau Dure

I pride myself on being less cynical than the typical journalist. And I’m certainly not someone to rain on the parade of Title IX’s 40th anniversary. Griping about an anniversary commemoration is like showing up at a July 4 fireworks display to gripe about drone attacks or Guantanamo or all the Native Americans who died when Columbus came over here. Time and place. Time and place. And besides, I think we’d agree that Title IX, like the Declaration of Independence, is generally a Good Thing.

That said, this sort of celebration brings out a few groups of people:

  1. People who have legitimate concerns over Title IX enforcement.
  2. People who twist those concerns into spurious self-defeating arguments and defenses of every penny spent on football.
  3. Title IX advocates who understand some of these concerns.
  4. Title IX advocates who ignore these concerns and won’t rest until every college and high school has a women’s modern pentathlon team, no matter how many men’s sports are cut to reach that point.

(All right, I’m exaggerating slightly on groups 2 and 4. Slightly.)

I’m in no mood to write an essay. I did that 15 months ago, and I either got it right at the time or haven’t made enough intellectual progress to think of anything better.

But I’m hoping the following list of questions — to which I’m willing to listen to answers — will spur some reflection among groups 2 and 4 to ease them into groups 1 and 3. Maybe they’ll even find some middle ground and become group 13. OK, 31.

Questions:

– Shouldn’t we be more concerned with mostly male Georgia Tech adding more female students than majority-female North Carolina adding more female student-athletes to a staggeringly successful women’s sports program?

– Who’s going to speak up for traditional nonrevenue sports against plans like this while football programs bleed athletic departments dry? (Yes, they quite often do.)

– Why do we see NCAA numbers showing how few programs make money while the Business of College Sports blog ranks programs as if they were Forbes billionaires wondering which building should be rebuilt in marble?

– If you’re trying to meet the desires and aptitudes of the underrepresented gender in your student body (one of the prongs of the three-pronged Title IX test), wouldn’t a JV soccer team be better than a varsity equestrian team?

– Why is Title IX all about sports, anyway? What about us musicians? We draw bigger crowds than some sports teams. We travel a bit.

– And what about scientists? Your daughter has a better chance at a career in medicine or engineering than she does at a college soccer scholarship. Shouldn’t she be pursuing it?

– Why should college scholarship opportunities play any role in determining what counts as a sport? I can tell you right now that 95 percent of the kids in my local U8 boys soccer league have no shot whatsoever at a college scholarship. Should they quit?

– Why does the third-string tight end for the football team need a scholarship while the starting left midfielder doesn’t?

– Why are colleges adding sports such as rowing in which nearly 90% of all intercollegiate athletes had no experience before entering college? (See the study.)

– Women’s wrestling is a valid Olympic sport in which the USA is pretty good, and adding it requires little to no new equipment for a school that already has a wrestling program. Why aren’t colleges adding that rather than cutting their men’s wrestling programs?

– Why are schools so good at adding rowing and bowling but so bad at the very basics of meeting all female students’ needs? (Case in point: sexual harassment)

– College biathlon. When’s it gonna happen?

– Can’t some sports be identified as Olympic development and protected in some partnership with the USOC?

– Does anyone have patience to let sports grow? For example: When I was at Duke, women’s basketball rarely drew in the hundreds. Now they draw in the thousands.

– Why do we tolerate the corrupt college football bowl system?

Maybe that’ll get the conversation started so that we really will preserve all that’s good about Title IX and not end up with a bunch of lawsuits and a ton of program cuts blamed (rightly or wrongly) on the law’s enforcement.

2
mma, olympic sports, soccer, track and field

TV viewing for the next two weeks

Posted on by Beau Dure

How am I supposed to get any work done?

(All times Eastern)

Thursday, June 21
2:30 p.m.: Soccer, Euro 2012 quarterfinal, Czech Republic-Portugal (ESPN)
10 p.m.: Olympic trials, diving (NBC Sports Network)

Friday, June 22
2:30 p.m.: Soccer, Euro 2012 quarterfinal, Germany-Greece (ESPN)
5 p.m.: UFC, prelims (Facebook)
6 p.m.: UFC, prelims (Fuel)
8 p.m.: Bellator, light heavyweight quarterfinals (MTV2)
9 p.m.: UFC, Maynard-Guida (FX)
9 p.m.: Olympic trials, track and field (NBC Sports Network)
11 p.m.: Olympic trials, diving (NBC Sports Network)

Saturday, June 23
1:30 p.m.: Field hockey, U.S. women vs. Argentina (NBC Sports Network)
2:30 p.m.: Soccer, Euro 2012 quarterfinal, Spain-France (ESPN)
4 p.m.: Olympic trials, diving (NBC)
5 p.m.: Soccer, U.S. women’s soccer special (ESPN)
7 p.m.: UFC, prelims (Facebook)
8 p.m.: UFC, prelims (FX)
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, track and field (NBC)
10 p.m.: UFC 147, Silva-Franklin II (pay-per-view)

Sunday, June 24
2:30 p.m.: Soccer, Euro 2012 quarterfinal, England-Italy (ESPN)
3 p.m.: Olympic trials, diving (NBC)
5 p.m.: Soccer, MLS, Portland-Seattle (ESPN)
7 p.m.: Olympic trials, track and field (NBC)
7 p.m.: Soccer, MLS, New York-D.C. United (NBC Sports Network)

Monday, June 25
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, swimming (NBC)
9 p.m.: Olympic trials, track and field (NBC Sports Network)

Tuesday, June 26
7:30 p.m.: Soccer, U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals (various online streams)
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, swimming (NBC)

Wednesday, June 27
2:30 p.m.: Soccer, Euro 2012 semifinal (ESPN)
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, swimming (NBC)

Thursday, June 28
2:30 p.m.: Soccer, Euro 2012 semifinal (ESPN)
5:30 p.m.: Olympic trials, gymnastics (NBC Sports Network)
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, swimming (NBC)
9 p.m.: Olympic trials, track and field (NBC Sports Network)

Friday, June 29
6 p.m.: Olympic trials, track and field (NBC Sports Network)
8 p.m.: Soccer, MLS, Sporting KC-Chicago (NBC Sports Network)
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, swimming (NBC)
9 p.m.: Olympic trials, gymnastics (NBC)

Saturday, June 30
2 p.m.: Soccer, U.S. women vs. Canada (NBC)
4 p.m.: Olympic trials, gymnastics (NBC)
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, swimming (NBC)
9 p.m.: Olympic trials, track and field (NBC)
10 p.m.: Soccer, MLS, San Jose-Los Angeles (ESPN2)

Sunday, July 1
2:30 p.m.: Soccer, Euro 2012 final (ESPN)
7 p.m.: Olympic trials, track and field (NBC)
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, swimming (NBC)
9 p.m.: Olympic trials, gymnastics (NBC)

Monday, July 2
8 p.m.: Olympic trials, swimming (NBC)

Saturday, July 7
7 p.m.: UFC, prelims (Facebook, tentative)
8 p.m.: UFC, prelims (FX, tentative)
10 p.m.: UFC 148, Silva-Sonnen II (pay-per-view)
11 p.m.: Soccer, MLS, Seattle-Colorado (NBC Sports Network)

Sunday, July 8
3 p.m.: Soccer, MLS, Chicago-Los Angeles (ESPN)
6 p.m.: Water polo, U.S. women vs. China (NBC Sports Network)

Have I forgotten anything?

Yes! Tour de France starts June 30. And we’ll have some web streams for women’s soccer, USL and NASL.

1
olympic sports

U.S. Olympic qualifiers at a glance

Posted on by Beau Dure

Late last year and early this year, I did a bit of work compiling an Olympic qualification roundup for a website. We stopped updating the info on that site, but you didn’t think I was going to let all that work go to waste, did you?

So here it is. Every sport’s qualification saga broken down for you.

And it’s a good way of reminding everyone that we still have …

TRIALS/QUALIFIERS STILL TO COME
June 17-24: Diving, U.S. trials; Seattle (final U.S. qualification)
June 18-24: Archery, World Qualification Tournament; Ogden, Utah (quota spots)
June 22-July 1: Track and field, U.S. trials; Eugene, Ore. (final U.S. qualification)
June 25-July 2: Swimming, U.S. trials; Omaha, Neb. (final U.S. qualification)
June 27-28: Trampoline, U.S. Championships; San Jose, Calif. (final U.S. qualification)
June 28-July 1: Gymnastics (artistic), U.S. trials; San Jose, Calif. (final U.S. qualification)

TEAMS STILL TO BE NAMED
Basketball (men)
Equestrian
Rowing (women’s eight, men’s quadruple sculls, women’s quadruple sculls; due June 22)
Tennis
Volleyball
Water polo (men)

0
soccer

U.S. Women’s Open Cup 2012: Quest for results!

Posted on by Beau Dure

Yes, there is a Women’s Open Cup. No, you don’t know most of the teams involved.

But I started digging around a bit in the past two weeks, and so did some folks at BigSoccer. Here’s what we’ve found so far, and any crowd-sourcing is welcome.

The finals for this and the other USASA Cups (men’s open, men’s amateur, men’s over-30, men’s under-23, women’s under-23) will be at the Chicago Fire’s Toyota Park (Bridgeview, Ill.) July 20-22.

REGION I

First round – April 22
at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh United (W.Pa.) 7-0 Maryland Capitols FC (WPSL)

Second round – May 17
at New York
Battle Row (E.NY) 8-1 Pittsburgh United
at Rochester
Rochester Lazers (W.NY) 4-0 United German Hungarians Fury (E.Pa.)

Semifinals – June 7
at New York
Battle Row 1-0 Rochester Lazers
New York Athletic Club (WPSL) 4-0 Peninsula Aztecs (NJ)

Final – June 17
at New York
New York Athletic Club 5-0 Battle Row

NYAC
New York Athletic Club

I got some details on this game: scorers were Princeton’s Liana Cornacchio (2), Duke’s Laura Weinberg (2) and Stanford’s Allison McCann. The team picture is at right. Both courtesy Charles Spingler at NYAC.

New York Athletic Club advances

REGION II (PDF)
at Fort Wayne, Ind.

June 15
Chicago Red Stars (WPSL) 2-0 Croatian Eagles (Wisc.)
Fort Wayne SC (Ind.) 2-2 United Metro (Kansas)

June 16
Chicago Red Stars 3-0 United Metro
Croatian Eagles 2-2 JB Marine (Mo.)
Chicago Red Stars 2-0 Fort Wayne SC
JB Marine 5-0 Fort Wayne SC
Croatian Eagles 3-0 United Metro

June 17
JB Marine 2-1 United Metro
Croatian Eagles 3-1 Fort Wayne SC
Chicago Red Stars 0-0 JB Marine

Round-robin scores: Chicago Red Stars 10,  JB Marine 8, Croatian Eagles 7, United Metro 1, Fort Wayne SC 1

Chicago Red Stars advance

REGION III

May 25
Houston Challengers 2-1 Houston Aces
Turbo D’Feeters (S.Texas) 2-1 San Antonio FC

May 26
Turbo D’Feeters 3-0 Houston Challengers
San Antonio FC 5-0 Lazers (Ga.)
Houston Aces 4-1 Turbo D’Feeters
Houston Challengers 4-1 Lazers

May 27
Houston Aces 7-0 Lazers
Houston Challengers 1-1 San Antonio FC

May 28
Houston Aces 0-0 San Antonio FC
Turbo D’Feeters 6-0 Lazers

Round-robin scores: Turbo D’Feeters 9, Houston Aces 7, Houston Challengers 7, San Antonio FC 5, Lazers 0

Turbo D’Feeters advance

REGION IV

Haven’t found results; region hasn’t had qualifying tournaments in recent years.

Continue reading →

0
soccer

AmWoSo (WPSL, W-League) Power Rankings: June 19

Posted on by Beau Dure

Some order is settling into the W-League, and our rankings include the top two teams in every division along with a couple of third- and fourth-placed teams in the strongest divisions.

The WPSL Elite had an interesting week: The Philadelphia Fever became the first amateur team to take a point off a pro team, holding Western New York 0-0. And the Boston Breakers had a win scrubbed off their record.

Here’s what we have so far (at the bottom, check out the games to watch — or follow on Twitter — this week):

1. Pali Blues (7-0-0, W-League Western; Last Week: 1) – roster
Beat the WPSL San Diego SeaLions in an exhibition without several of their top players. 

2. Chicago Red Stars (6-1-0, WPSL Elite; LW: 2) – roster
Lost 3-0 at Western New York; took out frustration with 4-0 win over New England. Also advanced with split squad in U.S. Open Cup.

3. Boston Breakers (5-2-0, WPSL Elite; LW: 3) – roster
Technically dropped to fourth place in the league due to an eligibility issue, but that says more about draconian player transfer regulations than it does about the team.

4. Western New York Flash (5-1-2, WPSL Elite; LW: 5) – roster
Up-and-down week — handed Chicago its first loss, beat Chesapeake, then couldn’t get past Philadelphia defense in 0-0 draw the next day.

5. New York Fury (5-2-1, WPSL Elite; LW: 4) – roster
Won 2-0 at Chesapeake.

6. Seattle Sounders Women (5-0-1, W-League Western; LW: 6) – roster
Routine rout over LA Strikers.

7. D.C. United Women (6-0-0, W-League Atlantic; LW: 7) – roster
Lost 1-0 in exhibition vs. Paul Riley’s Supergroup (we’ll soon be forming a band by that name); won 5-1 in league play against Northern Virginia.

8. Atlanta Silverbacks (6-0-1, W-League Southeast; LW: 8) – roster
Routed VSI Tampa and moved into Southeast driver’s seat with 2-2 draw at Charlotte.

9. New England Mutiny (3-3-1, WPSL Elite; LW: 9) – roster
Won 3-0 at FC Indiana, then fell prey to Chicago. Just signed experienced pro Tiffany Weimer.

10. Santa Clarita Blue Heat (2-2-2, W-League Western; LW: 10) – roster
Modestly successful Colorado trip — 0-0 at Rapids, 1-1 at Rush.

11. Colorado Rush (3-2-1, W-League Western; LW: NR) – roster
Defended turf with 1-1 draw vs. Santa Clarita.

12. Charlotte Lady Eagles (7-0-2, W-League Southeast; LW: 11) – roster
Draws in back-to-back division showdowns: 2-2 at Central SC, 2-2 vs. Atlanta.

Continue reading →

0