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| Wednesday, August 23 Updated: August 25, 3:45 PM ET Five women's soccer teams to watch in 2000 ESPN.com |
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Based on the NSCAA/adidas preseason top 25, here's a closer look at the top five teams in the country, each of which advanced to last season's NCAA quarterfinals:
Last season: 24-2-0 Preseason NSCAA/adidas ranking: No. 1 (300 points) Opener: Aug. 25 at Texas North Carolina, the perennial powerhouse, also is the perennial favorite, returning seven starters and 19 letterwinners from last season's NCAA champion team. After suffering two losses in September (3-2 to then-No. 5 ranked Penn State, and 1-0 on an own goal to top-ranked Santa Clara), the Tar Heels went on to win 18 consecutive games to close out the season. Although UNC's entire forward line returns, the Tar Heels' midfield and back line each graduated two starters. The most significant loss is U.S. national team member Lorrie Fair, who anchored a defense that allowed just 12 goals on the season (UNC netted 91) and just one goal over the final 11 games. Season opener should be interesting as game pits UNC coach Anson Dorrance against former Notre Dame coach Chris Petrucelli, whose Irish won the 1995 NCAA title. Petrucelli, a two-time national coach of the year, is in his second season at Texas. North Carolina's history says it all. Since the NCAA sanctioned the women's soccer tournament in 1982, the Tar Heels have won 15 of 18 Division I championships, including nine consecutive titles from 1986-1994 when UNC compiled a 211-1-7 record (.963 winning percentage). Dorrance also is the winningest coach in college soccer history (466-19-11, .940 winning percentage). What other program could put six players on the 2000 U.S. Olympic soccer team? Players to watch: UNC is loaded as usual, but two players who were hampered by injuries last season -- three-time All-American Laurie Schwoy and 1999 Final Four Offensive MVP Susan Bush -- will be especially important to the Tar Heels' success in 2000. Schwoy, a senior attacking midfielder, redshirted last season because of a nagging hamstring injury from 1997. Schwoy ranks 12th in Carolina history in career points (115), 13th in career goals (41) and also has notched 33 career assists. Bush, one of the top recruits out of high school in 1999, started just eight of 21 games last season as a freshman, but came on strong late in the season. Despite not starting either game at the Final Four, Bush earned MVP honors after assisting on three goals in two games. Still, as Dorrance has said, "No one saw the real Susan Bush last season." Others to keep an eye on include sophomore Kim Patrick, who led the Tar Heels in scoring as a freshman, netting 18 goals; Meredith Florance, UNC's third-leading scorer with nine assists and 13 goals in '99; and junior Anne Remy, who scored 13 goals and led Carolina in assists (14) and game-winning goals (six). And as usual, UNC's recruiting gold mine offers two more to watch as both Maggie Tomecka (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Catherine Reddick (Birmingham Ala.) are ranked among the top five freshmen in the country. Telling stat: Last season marked the first time since 1985 that UNC suffered two losses in the same season.
Last season: 21-4-1 Preseason NSCAA/adidas ranking: No. 2 (288 points) Opener: Aug. 27 vs. Detroit Graduation hit hard in South Bend. Three All-Americans, including Notre Dame's all-time career scorer, graduated. As Irish coach Randy Waldrum has said, "The group of seniors we had (in 1999) is almost irreplaceable." Defense was hit hard, as four-time All-American defender Jen Grubb and All-American goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene, who set the school record with a 0.63 career goals against average, both graduated. Still, the most significant losses might be at the other end of the field, where the Irish will try to replace Jenny Heft and Jenny Streiffer, the only four-year teammates in NCAA Division I history to score at least 70 goals apiece. Last season they combined for more goals (39) than all of Notre Dame's 1999 opponents (24). Overall, three of last season's top five goal scorers graduated. The Irish outscored opponents 98 to 24 last season, with a 0.9 GAA. The Irish midfield, meanwhile, will continue to be team's strength. Notre Dame has produced at least one All-American midfielder in each of the past eight seasons. With the loss of six seniors, the impact from the freshman class is Notre Dame's X-factor. Eleven-day preseason trip to Brazil, where Notre Dame competed against several players from 1999 Women's World Cup semifinalist Brazilian national team, should help transition period. Notre Dame's home game with Santa Clara on Sept. 8 will tell us more. In 1999, after winning its quarterfinal match on penalty kicks, Notre Dame ended the Broncos' perfect season with a 1-0 NCAA semifinal victory. Players to watch: Senior three-time All-American Anne Makinen of Finland anchors the midfield, and the Hermann Trophy finalist returns after tallying 12 assist and 13 goals, including five game-winning goals. Senior forward Meotis Erikson, who started all 26 games last season, is the top returning scorer after netting 14 goals with 13 assists. Senior Kelly Lindsey, meanwhile, returns to anchor the defense after spending some time in the U.S. national team training camp -- including several matches at the Australian Cup -- during the offseason. Newcomers to watch include midfielder Randi Scheller, a two-time Parade Magazine All-American from Kutztown, Pa. Telling stat: Notre Dame is just one of three programs other than North Carolina to win an NCAA Division I soccer title (1995). Notre Dame, which has reached the NCAA title game four times in the past six seasons, also is the second winningest team of the 1990s.
Santa Clara Santa Clara did everything last year but win the national title. After beating UNC 1-0 Sept. 24 on an own goal to give the Broncos their first victory over the Tar Heels (UNC had won each of the previous 13 matchups, dating back to 1989), Santa Clara sat atop the polls for the rest of the season. But after capping its first undefeated regular season and clinching its fourth consecutive Final Four bid, Santa Clara's season ended with its first loss of the year -- 1-0 to Notre Dame in the NCAA semifinals. The top two scorers -- NSCAA/adidas and Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year Mandy Clemens (24 goals, 23 assists) and Jacqui Little (21 goals) -- from last season's team have graduated, but plenty of talent remains, including Danielle Slaton, a junior defender who was recently named to the 2000 U.S. Olympic soccer team, and Aly Wagner, who played in a handful of games with the U.S. national team in 1999. And with the 2000 Final Four being played at Spartan Stadium, it's a good bet Santa Clara knows the way to San Jose. Also back for his 14th season is coach Jerry Smith, who boasts a 203-51-14 coaching record after 13 seasons. Players to watch: Slaton, the only collegian on the U.S. Olympic soccer team (which also features Santa Clara assistant coach Brandi Chastain), will miss the first month of the season, but in early October, she'll be tearing up the left flank like she did last season as a first-team All-America selection. Slaton had four goals and 14 assists in 1999. Wagner, a sophomore midfielder who was among the last few players cut from the final roster before the 1999 Women's World Cup, notched 10 goals and 12 assists last season. Sophomore midfielder Devvyn Hawkins also returns after a nine-goal, 10-assist performance in 1999. In the goal, both Crystal Gordon and Alice Gleason return. Gordon, a 5-foot-8 senior, started 21 games last season, posting a 0.21 goals against average in 1,303 minutes. Gleason, a 5-10 junior, appeared in 17 games and started three matches with a 0.77 GAA in 815 minutes. Telling stat: Santa Clara hasn't lost a regular-season game since Oct. 31, 1997 (1-0 to Portland in OT). The Broncos' school-record, regular-season unbeaten streak stands at 43 games entering the 2000 season. Tough schedule that includes nine 1999 NCAA Tournament teams will challenge the record.
Penn State Coming off its best season in school history -- one that included a school-record 21 wins and its first-ever trip to the Final Four -- Penn State returns nine starters for some heavy expectations in 2000. The Lions also return one of the game's most talented players in NSCAA/adidas first-team All-American forward Christie Welsh, who rewrote Penn State's record books last fall and who earlier this month was named an alternate to the U.S. Olympic soccer team. Among last season's other highlights was a 15-game winning streak that helped Penn State, coached by 1999 national coach of the year Patrick Farmer, earn a first-round bye of the NCAA Tournament, where the Lions scored wins over Maryland (3-2), Southern Methodist (5-0) and Hartford (2-0) before a 2-0 loss to eventual NCAA champ UNC in the semifinals. Players to watch: Welsh tied for the national scoring lead with 67 points last season, and also netted school and Big Ten records with 27 goals and 13 assists. Welsh, who took off the spring semester to train with the U.S. national team, also netted a team-high nine game-winning goals, and more impressively, averaged one goal for every 3.6 shots attempted en route to scooping up awards for Soccer Buzz magazine's National Freshman of the Year, and Big Ten nods for Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Although two of the top four scorers graduated, junior Bonnie Young also returns to the forward line after 10 goals and seven assists. At the other end of the field, All-American goalkeeper Emily Oleksiuk anchors a defense that posted a school-record 11 shutouts for the second consecutive season. The junior goalie, Penn State's all-time career leader in shutouts and wins after two seasons, started all 26 matches in 1999, posting a 0.93 goals against average in 2,229 minutes. Telling stat: Welsh produced slightly more than one-third of Penn State's offense in 1999. Welsh scored 27 of the Lions' 75 goals.
Nebraska Like Penn State, Nebraska also had a monumental season in 1999, setting several records. In addition to finishing the season with the highest ranking in school history (No. 5), the Cornhuskers also notched a school-record 4.32 goals per game average, which ranked second in country. Additionally, Nebraska scored more goals than ever (108; old record was 92), allowed just 14 goals (old record was 15) and posted 13 shutouts, one short of the record, on the road to earning its second trip to the NCAA quarterfinals where the Huskers were eliminated with a 4-3 penalty-kick loss to Notre Dame after four overtimes. Despite graduating two All-Americans and Nebraska's all-time leading scorer, four of last season's top five scorers return, including junior midfielder Meghan Anderson, who tallied 21 goals and 12 assists and recently spent some time with the Under-21 U.S. national team. Overall, seven starters are back to defend Nebraska's Big 12 title. Nebraska's schedule includes seven NCAA Tournament teams. Players to watch: Senior goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc, sophomore defender Breanna Boyd and sophomore forward Christine Latham are members of the Canadian national team, and started several contests in international tournaments over the summer. LeBlanc, who made nine saves as Canada tied the U.S. national team on Aug. 20, ranked fifth nationally, led the Big 12 and tied a school record with a 0.51 GAA in 1999. Boyd, meanwhile, came up big with some clutch postseason goals in 1999, and Latham is expected to move into a starting role on the forward line. Midfielder Jenny Benson, a three-time All-Big 12 and All-Central Region midfielder a year ago, might spend some time on the back line to replace 1999 Big 12 Player of the Year and first-team All-American Sharolta Nonen. Senior defender Christine Gluck also deserves a nod after starting 47 consecutive games. Telling stat: Nebraska was 12-0-1 at home last season. |
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