Bruins Win In Final Minute

Twenty minutes after he made a key play to prevent a goal, freshman midfielder Aaron Lopez put one in the opponent's net with 1:04 remaining, sending No. 7 UCLA to its fourth NCAA championship 1-0 over ninth-ranked Stanford in the Men's College Cup before 8,498 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dalla.

By capturing the meeting of Pac-10 rivals, the Bruins (18-3-3) added the 2002 crown to national titles in 1985, 1990 and 1997 in the school's 11th Final Four appearance. Stanford (18-5-2) was also runnerup in 1998, losing 3-1 to Indiana in the final.

UCLA defeated the Cardinal three times in 2002, all by 1-0 counts, to bring the Bruins advantage in the all-time series to 28-2-4. The two regular-season matches were also decided late with senior midfielder Jimmy Frazelle netting the winner in overtime at home on October 20 and junior forward Cliff McKinley scoring the only goal in the 77th minute of a November 10 road match.

With overtime seeming imminent, UCLA junior midfielder Ty Maurin gathered steam carrying down the left flank before he was leveled by Cardinal senior defender Todd Dunivant 25 yards from the end line. After Maurin was allowed to clear his head, senior midfielder Ryan Futagaki curled his free kick to just short of the penalty spot.

Lopez, running to meet the ball, got inside position on defender Seyi Bolaji, leaping to meet the ball in the air with his left foot. The awkward-looking volley from 12 yards out, bent across the face of the goal and tucked into the right corner, well beyond the outstretched hands of sophomore goalkeeper Robby Fulton.

"I just made my run and the ball was there," Lopez said of his fourth goal of his first collegiate campaign. "Luckily, I got my foot on it and it went in."

Futagaki added, "In our set pieces, our main objective is not to hit it high, because they are so dominant in the air. I tried to play it waist high and fortunately Aaron was there."

Scoring opportunities were scarce throughout the day, but in the 69th minute, Stanford reserve sophomore midfielder Seyi Abolaji carried deep into the left corner before sending a long cross past the far post. Cardinal sophomore striker Matt Janusz bounced a header to about eight yards from the center of the net. Senior forward Roger Levesque pivoted to volley a shot home, but Lopez was a split-second quicker, jumping in and poking the ball away with his right foot to keep the match scoreless.

"I'm very pleased with the way our team played today," Stanford coach Bret Simon said. "They played like champions. As been in games against UCLA this year, we had chances to win that disappeared in a blink of the eye.

""I think both teams played conservatively. In the second half, they put more defensive players on the field and kept us bottled up. Their defenders didn't give any ground and they were a tough group to penetrate. Even though they bent today, they never broke. That is to their credit"

Each team managed only five shots as both sides played with increasing tentativeness as the match wore on. Three Stanford shots were on net to two for the Bruins.

"Every time we played (Stanford) this year, they have been a very organized team," said UCLA junior keeper Zach Wells "We have three brilliant marking backs. Stanford has four very good backs as well. They didn't make many defensive mistakes and neither did we."

Senior midfieder Jimmy Frazelle saved the Bruins an early deficit in the seventh minute. Cardinal senior midfielder Johanes Maliza placed his left-side corner kick right on the head of senior midfielder Taylor Graham who targeted his shot for the far corner of the net. Frazelle was hugging the post and knocked the shot down with his

"It was not the prettiest game these guys have ever played, but I told them, if it's going to be ugly, we need to win" UCLA coach Tom Fitzgerald said. "It was just a great gutsy performance by a great group of guys. . . I think fatigue was a factor with both teams. I know these guys are very fit. It only takes one little mistake and the whole game will change."

Nine minutes later, Futagaki ran onto a soft touch from sophomore midfielder Mike Enfield five yards above the top right of the box and blasted a left-footer off the left post.

Fitzgerald gained a measure of redemption after being fired by Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew in May 2001. "It's kind of surreal. You never think (a championship) can happen, but there's the trophy sitting there, so I guess it did," said Fitzgerald who led Tampa to a NCAA Division II title. "It's an incredible experience to win a championship. You never know what's going to happen in life. I got fired (from Columbus) and didn't know if I was going to coach again. But (it) changed my life. I'm happy to be here and plan on being around a long time."

(www.soccertimes.com)

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Wagner, Eskandarian Win MAC's Hermann Trophy

ST. LOUIS, MO. - (December 12, 2002) - Senior midfielder Aly Wagner of Santa Clara University and junior forward Alecko Eskandarian of the University of Virginia are the winners of the 2002 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy, presented to the top male and female players in NCAA Division I soccer. The winners were decided by a vote of current National Soccer Coaches Association of America members at the NCAA Division I level.

This year's honorees have the distinction of being the first to receive the newly-unified award. This summer's announcement of the unification of the M.A.C. Award and Hermann Trophy completed the merging of NCAA Division I soccer's three top honors. In 1999, the M.A.C. and NSCAA came together to create a single award recognizing the top Division I players.

Wagner won the award convincingly. Christie Welsh of Penn State, winner of the 2001 Hermann Trophy and the Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year award, was the runner-up, followed by Catherine Reddick of North Carolina and Christine Sinclair of Portland.

Wagner, a senior midfielder from San Jose, Calif., helped lead the Broncos to last Sunday's 2002 College Cup title match, where they lost in overtime to Portland 2-1. She missed seven games with SCU this season while helping the U.S. Women's National Team to the Gold Cup title and a berth in next year's Women's World Cup in China. Wagner's rise to college soccer's top honor has not been a meteoric one. She has battled through several injuries throughout her career and persevered.

Wagner is the second player from Santa Clara to win Player of the Year honors. Mandy Clemens captured the Hermann Trophy and M.A.C. award in 1999. Wagner was a finalist for both the M.A.C. and Hermann Awards in 2000 and 2001.

Last season, Wagner helped lead Santa Clara to their first national championship. She scored the lone goal in the title match to give the Broncos a 1-0 victory over North Carolina.

In addition to her accomplishments on the field, Wagner has excelled in the classroom where she carries a 3.44 GPA in combined sciences. She recently was named to the Verizon Academic All-District team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Eskandarian edged Pat Noonan of Indiana by four points to win the men's award. Noonan was also runner-up for the M.A.C. award in 2001. Finishing third in the balloting was Diego Walsh of Southern Methodist University and fourth was Mike Tranchilla of Creighton.

Eskandarian, a junior midfielder from Montvale, N.J., established himself as the most prolific goal scorer in the storied soccer history of the University of Virginia. In 2002, he scored a school-record 25 goals in 20 games. His 25th goal came in the second round of the NCAA tournament against William and Mary. The season ended for the Cavaliers that day with a heart-breaking loss on penalty kicks.

Eskandarian has posted 113 career points, sixth best all-time at Virginia. He has scored 50 goals, placing him fourth all-time at UVA. His 16 game-wining goals, rank him third on the Cavaliers career list.

Eskandarian becomes the fifth player from the University of Virginia to be recognized as college soccer's Player of the Year. He joins John Harkes, Tony Meola, Claudio Reyna and Mike Fisher as Cavaliers who have been honored by the M.A.C.

Wagner and Eskandarian will be honored at a dinner Friday, Jan. 10, 2003, at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis. Bruce Arena, head coach of the U.S. men's soccer team and former Virginia coach, will be the featured speaker at the dinner. The winners also will be recognized as part of the NSCAA All-America Luncheon, to be held Saturday, Jan. 18, as part of the 2003 NSCAA Convention in Kansas City, Mo.

All-Time Hermann Trophy Award Winners
MEN Year: Player, College
1967: Dov Markus, Long Island University
1968: Manuel Hernandez, San Jose State
1969: Al Trost, Saint Louis University
1970: Al Trost, Saint Louis University
1971: Mike Seerey, Saint Louis University
1972: Mike Seerey, Saint Louis University
1973: Dan Counce, Saint Louis University
1974: Farrukh Quraishi, Oneonta State University
1975: Steve Ralbovsky, Brown University
1976: Glenn Myernick, Hartwick College
1977: Billy Gazonas, Hartwick College
1978: Angelo DiBernardo, Indiana University
1979: Jim Stamatis, Penn State University
1980: Joe Morrone, Jr., University of Connecticut
1981: Armando Betancourt, Indiana University
1982: Joe Ulrich, Duke University
1983: Mike Jeffries, Duke University
1984: Amr Aly, Columbia University
1985: Tom Kain, Duke University
1986: John Kerr, Duke University
1987: Bruce Murray, Clemson University
1988: Ken Snow, Indiana University
1989: Tony Meola, University of Virginia
1990: Ken Snow, Indiana University
1991: Alexi Lalas, Rutgers University
1992: Brad Friedel, UCLA
1993: Claudio Reyna, University of Virginia
1994: Brian Maisonneuve, Indiana University
1995: Mike Fisher, University of Virginia
1996: Mike Fisher, University of Virginia
1997: Johnny Torres, Creighton University
1998: Wojtek Krakowiak, Clemson University
1999: Ali Curtis, Duke University
2000: Chris Gbandi, University of Connecticut
2001: Luchi Gonzalez, Southern Methodist University

WOMEN Year: Player, College
1988: Michelle Akers, University of Central Florida
1989: Shannon Higgins, University of North Carolina
1990: April Kater, University of Massachusetts
1991: Kristine Lilly, University of North Carolina
1992: Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina
1993: Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina
1994: Tisha Venturini, University of North Carolina
1995: Shannon MacMillan, Portland University
1996: Cindy Daws, University of Notre Dame
1997: Cindy Parlow, University of North Carolina
1998: Cindy Parlow, University of North Carolina
1999: Mandy Clemens, Santa Clara University
2000: Anne Makinen, University of Notre Dame
2001: Christie Welsh, Penn State University

All-Time Missouri Athletic Club Award Winners
MEN Year: Player, College
1986: John Kerr, Jr., Duke University
1987: John Harkes, University of Virginia
1988: Ken Snow, Indiana University
1989: Tony Meola, University of Virginia
1990: Ken Snow, Indiana University
1991: Alexi Lalas, Rutgers University
1992: Claudio Reyna, University of Virginia
1993: Claudio Reyna, University of Virginia
1994: Todd Yeagley, Indiana University
1995: Matt McKeon, Saint Louis University
1996: Mike Fisher, University of Virginia
1997: Johnny Torres, Creighton University
1998: Jay Heaps, Duke University
1999: Sasha Victorine, UCLA
2000: Ali Curtis, Duke University
2001: Luchi Gonzalez, Southern Methodist University

WOMEN Year: Player, College
1991: Kristine Lilly, University of North Carolina
1992: Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina
1993: Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina
1994: Tisha Venturini, University of North Carolina
1995: Shannon MacMillan, University of Portland
1996: Cindy Daws, University of Notre Dame
1997: Cindy Parlow, University of North Carolina
1998: Cindy Parlow, University of North Carolina
1999: Mandy Clemens, Santa Clara University
2000: Anne Makinen, University of Notre Dame
2001: Christie Welsh, Penn State University

All-Time NSCAA Division I Players of the Year
(Note: The M.A.C. and NSCAA merged their awards in 1999.)

MEN Year: Player, College
1996: Mike Fisher, University of Virginia
1997: Daniel Hernandez, Southern Methodist University
1998: Dema Kovalenko, Indiana University

WOMEN Year: Player, College
1996: Jennifer Renola, University of Notre Dame
1997: Sarah Whalen, University of Connecticut
1998: Danielle Fotopoulos, University of Florida

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CHRISTIAN BROTHERS UNIVERSITY
2002 NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONS

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA-It motivated them every waking moment for the past year. Coming so close a year ago when CBU lost in the final game, but yet not achieving the ultimate goal.

The Christian Brothers University Women's Soccer team need wait no more. At the 2002 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championships at the Sportsplex in Virginia Beach, VA, the Lady Buccaneers brought home the Gold to Memphis, TN with a 2-1 win over the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

The Bucs (25-1) opened the scoring at 42:42, on a play that Buccaneer fans have seen time and time again. Senior All-American forward Margaret Saurin (Dublin, Ireland), on a corner kick, crossed the ball into the box. 2001 Player-of-the-year Missy Gregg (Centerville, OH) leapt into the air, and with her patented header, knocked it home past UNO keeper Amy Price.

UNO would tie the match in the 25th minute. Senior forward Stephanie Kruse, got behind the defense and found the back of the net.

UNO got the better of the play the rest of the way in the first half, but CBU held on to keep it at 1-1 at half.
Christian Brothers Head Coach Gareth O'Sullivan made a couple of adjustments at half-time and the Lady Bucs came out flying. In the 66th minute, Gregg, with defenders on her, found junior midfielder Anna Rask (Hallstahammer, Sweden) who's blast was true. The goal sent the CBU fans into pandemonium, and propelled the Lady Bucs to CBU's first-ever national title.

The loss was the first (22-1) for Nebraska-Omaha.

The Bucs reached the championship game with a a hard fought, defensive battle in the semifinals. Christian Brothers University defeated Metropolitan State College 1-0 in overtime, to reach the title game for the second consecutive year.

The teams battled the cold, and each other to a scoreless 90 minutes, but at 2:15 of OT, Rask (Hallstahammer, Sweden) hit All-American Saurin (Dublin, Ireland) who finally found the back of the net.

While a team win, two CBU players were honored in post-game activities. Senior defender Kanae Haneishi (Tokyo, Japan), an unsung hero the entire season, was recognized as the Defensive-Player-of-the-Tournament.

Gregg, who has battled back from a torn ACL and partially torn PCL, was named the tournament's outstanding Offensive Player. A fitting end to a collegiate career that saw Gregg smash nearly every scoring mark the NCAA had to offer.

Joining Haneishi and Gregg on the All-Tournament team where Margaret Saurin, Sofia Rask, Tina Froberg, and Arna Heimlund.

Side note: Christian Brothers University President, Brother Stan Sobczyk, is a native of Omaha, Nebraska!

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Champions at last

12/09/02
JOHN NOLEN
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Pilots won it for Clive.

"Yeah, definitely," senior Erin Misaki said. "But whether he was sick or not, he's worked so hard at something he created, he deserved a national championship."

Clive Charles -- in an intense battle against prostate cancer for the past 11 months -- got his first national soccer championship Sunday in front of 10,027 at Myers Stadium and a national television audience.

A big pile, with Christine Sinclair at the bottom after she scored the winning goal, told the story as the eighth-seeded Pilots celebrated a 2-1 sudden death overtime win over defending champion and sixth-seeded Santa Clara in an all-West Coast Conference final.

"I was breathless," Charles said as he watched the celebration. "It was just a blur from there."

From there, the Pilots joyously received their first NCAA Women's College Cup championship trophy.

Charles, who took over the Portland women's soccer program in 1989, this season continued to coach the men's and women's teams despite weekly chemotherapy that keeps his cancer under control.

"Now, it's like a 10-ton weight has been lifted off me," he said.

Portland (20-4-2) played so well during the tournament, it was as if there were divine guidance at work, goalkeeper Lauren Arase said after Friday's 2-0 semifinal win over Penn State.

Sunday, the Pilots played Santa Clara off the field in the first half, outshot the Broncos 24-16 for the game and won on two goals by Sinclair, who was voted the tournament's most valuable offensive player. The Pilots were the lowest seed to win the title in the tournament's 21-year history. But they were determined nothing would stop them.

"It was meant to be," defender Kristen Moore said.

It was Moore who stole the ball and set up Sinclair's game-winner 31/2 minutes into the second 10-minute overtime. Moore and fellow outside back Kristen Rogers had not been as effective in the final four at pushing the ball forward as they were earlier in the playoffs.

Before lofting a cross from the left side, "I was thinking, 'It needs to get in there because (Sinclair) is there, and she will finish it,' " Moore said.

Sure enough, Sinclair got a piece of the cross, and the ball deflected off Broncos goalkeeper Alyssa Sobolik and bounced off the right post -- directly back to Sinclair. She tapped the ball off the goal line and into the net.
And the celebration began. It was the sophomore forward's second goal of the game, her NCAA-record 10th of this year's tournament, and her 26th this season, tying her with Marilyn Marin of North Texas for the Division I lead.

"We certainly got the ball to the right person," Charles said.

Sinclair laughed and said, "It was probably not the prettiest goal ever. But they all count."

Especially this one.

Sinclair's first goal was spectacular, and it erased a 1-0 Santa Clara lead in the 61st minute.

"We desperately needed a goal," she said, recalling her shot from outside the left edge of the 18-yard box that bounced, rolled to the far post and ricocheted into the goal.
Did she intend to shoot from there, she was asked.

"It went in the net, didn't it?" she said, laughing.

Sobolik said she thought a defender would get a piece of the ball, then she thought the shot would go wide.

Sinclair "did an awesome job," Sobolik said, shaking her head.

Santa Clara took a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute.

Devvyn Hawkins finished off a sequence in which Aly Wagner's corner kick was headed by Kristi Candau but deflected by Arase. Chardonnay Poole then knocked the ball off the post, directly to Hawkins.

Arase, who was one of four Pilots selected to the all-tournament team, left the game in the first overtime after being accidentally kicked in the head. Kim Head, a freshman who had played 25 minutes all season, took over for Arase for the final nine minutes.

In addition to Sinclair and Arase, other Pilots on the all-tournament team were Misaki and defender Lauren Orlandos.

The Broncos (20-5-1), who defeated the Pilots 1-0 on Nov. 3 in Portland, couldn't say enough about Charles and his team.

"I couldn't be happier for Clive," coach Jerry Smith said. "If we can't be the national champions, I would want it to be my good friend Clive and the Pilots."

Said Wagner, the 2001 player of the year: "Portland is such a great team. If we can't win it all, I am glad it was them.

"This (national championship) for them has been long overdue." John Nolen: 503-221-8211; johnnolen@news.oregonian.com

Story from Oregonlive.com

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Portland Wins First National Title

Christine Sinclair's goal in the second overtime Sunday gave Portland its first national championship in any sport. Portland beat defending champion Santa Clara 2-1 Sunday at the 2002 NCAA Women's College Cup tournament in Austin, Texas, ending the season 20-4-1 to tie the school record for wins.

The Pilots were 3-0-2 in overtimes in 2002, and improved to 15-0 when scoring two or more goals in a game.

The second of Sinclair's two goals on the day ended a flowing day of soccer between the two West Coast Conference rivals, played under intermittent drizzle and rain. After being outshot 4-1 in the first overtime, the Pilots went on the offensive in the second 10-minute extra period.

Sophomore defender Kristen Moore ran onto a long ball down the wing off a service from Erin Misaki, and created enough space to cross the ball to Sinclair. Sinclair's first shot was blocked by SCU keeper Alyssa Sobolik, but the rebound trickled back to Sinclair, who punched it home for the game-winner.

"I was completely breathless. I was sitting there dreading penalty kicks and all of a sudden, there was a break and the ball ended up to the right person," said Portland head coach Clive Charles. "It felt like 10 tons were lifted off my shoulders."

Sinclair finished the year with 26 total goals, running her 2002 playoff goal total to 10, and her career total to 14 - one behind the career record of Mia Hamm (15). Sinclair now holds or ties NCAA playoff records for goals and points in a game (3 goals, 1 assist vs. Richmond), goals in tournament (10), and points in a tournament (21).

"For the first goal, I kept the ball down the line, made the cross towards the net and it found the far post. On the second goal, Kristen [Moore] made an excellent cross. It was nice to finish off the shot," added Sinclair. "The ball was slippery and it skipped. It was not the prettiest goal, but it counted and that is all that matters."

Lauren Arase allowed just one goal in the 2002 playoffs, setting an NCAA record for playoff goals against average (0.16), allowing just one goal in six games.

Just over eight minutes after Santa Clara's Devvyn Hawkins put the Broncos ahead 1-0 in the 53rd minute, Sinclair evened the score with a brilliant bending shot from just outside the penalty area on an extreme angle to the far post.

Sinclair had taken a Santa Clara defender deep with the ball waiting for support, but instead wheeled abruptly to face the field, then fired a low skidding shot that bent around Broncos keeper Alyssa Sobolik and into the side netting behind the far post.

The Broncos nearly countered minutes later, but Chardonnay Poole's header off Aly Wagner's corner kick bounced off the crossbar then the post before Portland's Lauren Arase was able to track down the ball.

Santa Clara's goal started with a Wagner corner kick, and after Leslie Osborne headed the ball over to Kristi Candau, Candau's header was batted away by Arase, but Hawkins jumped on the loose ball and pounded it in past the scrambling Pilot defense.

The goal was the first allowed by the Pilots since Santa Clara scored in the 11th minute at Portland on Nov. 3 - a span of eight games and 809:59 minutes.

"Portland is such a great team. If we can't win it all, I am glad it was Portland," commented Santa Clara midfielder Aly Wagner. "Of course, we wanted to win, but you can't take anything away from them. This [national championship] has been long overdue for them. It's just too bad it had to be against us."
Portland outshot Santa Clara 19-12 in regulation, 14-10 in the second half, but Santa Clara held a 4-1 edge in the first overtime.

Wagner was saved in overtime by a diving Arase after Wagner had won a challenge from Lauren Orlandos. Arase later punched Osborne's long-range shot over the crossbar, but was knocked out with a head injury at 5:33 left in the first overtime, and freshman Kim Head came on after having played just 25:12 the entire season.

The #8-seeded Pilots were the lowest-seeded team to make and win the championship game since the NCAA tournament began seeding eight teams in 1994.

Sinclair, Orlandos, Misaki and Arase were named to the all-tournament team, with Sinclair winning Offensive MVP honors. Santa Clara's Wagner, Hawkins, Veronica Zepeda and Jessica Ballweg were also on the all-tourney team, as well as Penn State's Joanna Lohman, and North Carolina's Catherine Reddick and Lindsay Tarpley. Ballweg was the tournament's Defensive MVP.

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Santa Clara Beats UNC In Semifinals

Junior striker Veronica Zepeda's two goals were enough for No. 4 Santa Clara to pots a 2-1 decision over second-ranked North Carolina in an Women's College Cup semifinal before 10,040 at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Santa Clara (20-4-1) will play eighth-ranked Portland (19-4-2) for the NCAA championship Sunday at 3 p.m. (ET) in a match televised by ESPN. The Pilots advanced to the final by blanking No. 12 Penn State 2-0 in today's opener with forward Christine Sinclair leading the way. The meeting of West Coast Conference powers represents the third time two teams from the same league have net in the NCAA championship game.

"There are no secrets between Portland and Santa Clara," SCU coach Jerry Smith said. "We come from the same conference and we have had a lot of great battles over the years. We played them earlier this year in Portland and recorded a 1-0 victory. We had Aly (Wagner)and they were without Christine (Sinclair). Aly played a great game and we won."

UNC (21-2-4) missed advancing to the title match for only the second time in the 21 years of the NCAA tournament. In 1995, the Tar Heels were knocked out in the semifinals by Notre Dame en route to the national crown.

SCU scored on its only shot of the first half. Senior midfielder Devvyn Hawkins played a ball to sophomore forward Bree Horvath who redirected to Zepeda. Zepeda beat one defender before beating senior goalkeeper Jenni Branam to the far post for a 1-0 lead after 9:30.

"In the first half, North Carolina took it to us and we sat back and played conservatively," Smith said. "We were lucky to get out of the first half ahead 1-0. In the second half, I felt that we played better, created some chances and dodged some bullets.

The Tar Heels countered immediately, but an apparent tying goal was negated by offside call. Minutes later, UNC sophomore forward Anne Morrell put a header pat Broncos sophomore keeper Alyssa Sobolik, but freshman defender Micaela Esquivel dove to save the ball off the goal line.

The Broncos second shot came in the 57th minute, but senior midfielder Aly Wagner's shot was stopped by Branam.

In the 72nd minute, SCU junior forward Kristi Candau chased down a ball near the corner of the penalty area before Branam came out and punched it away. Zepeda pounced on the loose ball and found net from 15 yards for 71:10.

"Carolina's goalkeeper has a mentality where she sometimes goes after balls that she cannot always get to," said Candau, the Broncos' only reserve. "I tried to do anything -- poke it out or put it through. Veronica came out, took and amazing shot and just buried it."

Said Zepeda, "I really don't remember what happened. On the first goal, the ball was played to my feet. I just spun and took a shot. On the second goal, Kristi did a good job of making the goalie come out. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and followed it up."

Eight minutes later, UNC narrowed its deficit to 2-1 on freshman striker Lindsay Tarpley's 16th goal of the season. She put away a rebound of defender Catherine Reddick's shot.

The ball was in the right place, and I was in the right place at the right time," Tarpley said.

Though the Tar Heels could not pull even, they did avoid their first two-goal loss in 17 years. The last time North Carolina has lost a game by more than one goal was the 2-0 loss to George Mason in the 1985 NCAA championship game, a span of 425 games.

UNC outshot the Broncos 19-7, but only 6-3 on frame and the lack of marksmanship came back to haunt the Tar Heels.

After losing the first 13 matches of the series with UNC, Santa Clara has won the last three, including the last meeting in the 2001 national title match.

"It was interesting because in the first half they had a more aggressive attacking system, but they didn't attack as well in that shape," UNC coach Anson Dorrance said. "The irony was that they moved into a more defensive stance in the second half and gained more confidence."

UNC is now 19-2 in NCAA semifinal matches having advanced to all 21 Final Fours. The Tar Heels have an overall 75-5 NCAA tournament record and 16 crowns, having lost in the final three times and the semifinals twice.

(www.soccertimes.com)

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Clemson, Maryland In NCAA Quarterfinals

There will be no rematch between UNC and Indiana for the NCAA Division I men's national championship. Both have been eliminated from the 2002 playoffs.

The defending champion Tar Heels were beaten in the second round by Penn State (1-0) in two overtimes. A year ago it was Carolina that was winning the close overtime games. It did not happen in 2002.

Indiana went one round further than the Tar Heels, falling to Uconn 1-0 in the third round.

Two ACC teams did advance to the quarterfinals. Clemson, which had survived a first-round scare against Coastal Carolina, eliminated conference foe Wake Forest 2-1 in overtime. The Deacons were the #1 seed in postseason play.

Maryland, seeded #3, edged Saint Louis University 1-0 in overtime. The Terps will meet Uconn in the quarters, while the Tigers will play Stanford, which advanced with a 2-1 win over Furman in double overtime.

The Terps and Tigers are the last of six ACC teams to make the NCAA Division I men's tournament. In addition to the UNC loss to Penn State and Wake Forest's loss to Clemson, William & Mary beat Duke (2-1) in the first round, and then dropped Virginia 3-2 on PKs after playing the Cavaliers to a 1-1 draw.

Brett Branan scored both goals in leading Clemson to a
2-1 upset win over top-seeded and #1 ranked Wake Forest.

Branan scored the winning goal at the 99:28 mark (:32 seconds remaining in the first overtime period). Kenneth Cutler played a left-sided corner
kick to the right post. Branan headed the ball in the goal from nine
yards out and into the upper right corner of the goal. Branan has now
scored four goals this season.

Sophomore striker Domenic Mediate (Southlake, Texas) propelled # 2 Maryland (19-4) to the NCAA quarterfinals with his golden goal in the 95th minute against Saint Louis.

Throughout the Southeast, along with Maryland, George Washington was beaten in the opening round 1-0 by American, which fell 1-0 in the next game to the University of Maryland. UNC opened the tournament with a 6-0 win over Winthrop, and Florida International slipped past Central Florida 2-1 in the first round. FIU went out in the second round to SMU 3-1.

Furman's run to the third round started with a 2-0 win over Loyola (Baltimore), and the Paladins beat Virginia Commonwealth 4-2 on PKs in the second after playing to a 0-0 draw. Coastal Carolina dashed South Carolina's hopes in the first round, winning 2-1 in two overtimes. Old Dominion also defeated Richmond in the first round of play.

Other quarterfinal matchups have Boston College, a penalty kick winner over SMU, which will host the 2002 College Cup final, against Creighton, UCLA against Penn State.

The NCAA men's soccer College Cup will be held the weekend of December 13th and 15th in Dallas, Texas.

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Tar Heels Advance To 21st NCAA Semifinals

UNC Chapel Hill rolled to a 3-0 victory over Texas A&M to advance to the NCAA Division I women's semifinals. There has never been an NCAA Division I women's semifinals that did not include the Tar Heels, who have advanced for the 21nd consecutive year.

That would be 22 years if you count the AIAW national title the Tar Heels won the year before the NCAA held its first women's championship.

Junior Alyssa Ramsey (Charlotte) scored two of the Tar Heels' three goals, the first coming 22 seconds into the game off a one-touch knockback pass from Annie Morrell. Ramsey's corner kick was headed in by Maggie Tomecka for UNC's second goal early in the second half.

UNC (21-1-4) will meet fourth-ranked Santa Clara at Mike Myers Stadium in Dallas, TX, Friday, Dec. 6. Santa Clara defeated Michigan 3-1 in that semifinal game.

We are very excited to advance to the Final Four, beat a very competitive A&M team and also score some goals," Tar Heels coach Anson Dorrance said. "Getting a goal that early was a bit of a relief, but as the half went on we played worse and worse. It was a mixed blessing."

Carolina scored its earliest goal ever in its 79 NCAA tournament games after senior forward Susan Bush took a ball into the right corner and fed freshman striker Lindsay Tarpley just steps inside the right side of the Aggies' penalty box. Tarpley centered to sophomore attacker Morrell who held off her defender with her back to the goal and she the ball back in the path of the advancing Ramsey who finished eight yards into the right corner for a 1-0 lead.

Ramsey finished her 16th and 17th goal of the season and drew praise for her finishing ability from Dorrance.

"Alyssa has always been and extraordinary finisher. I think she should take more shots," Dorrance said. "This year she has added more pieces to her game, evolving into a more complete player. With her performances this season, she is showing that she can score against the best.

Katie Jo Spisak made nine saves for the Aggies to two for Jenni Brannam who earned the shutout in the Tar Heels' net. UNC finished the afternoon outshooting the Aggies 19-5.

Making the quarterfinals was the furthest NCAA advancement for Texas A&M in the program's nine years.

"First and foremost, the best team on that field won today," A&M coach G Guerrieri said. "Carolina came out strong and scored some typical Carolina goals with a strong attack. After the (early) goal and the first three minutes, our players did a good job in the first half of adjusting, playing good defense and creating some scoring chances up front. (UNC) is as very dangerous in the first minute as they are in the last two minutes. They have an unrelentless attack that we saw today early and late last week (in the third round) versus Tennessee."

Portland Eliminates Top-seeded Stanford

Stanford and Portland played 110 minutes without scoring a goal in a semifinal game decided on penalty kicks. Eighth seeded Portland prevailed 4-2 in the shootout and won the trip to the national semifinals.

The Pilots (18-4-2) advanced to the Final Four for the seventh time and recorded its 16th shutout of the season to tie the school record, set by the 1995 team that lost 1-0 in overtime to Notre Dame in the national championship match.

"We'd done our job in regulation and overtime, and penalty kicks are a crap shoot," said Portland coach Clive Charles whose Pilots men's team was eliminated by Stanford Wednesday evening 10-9 on penalty kicks in the tournaments second round.

Stanford held Christine Sinclair, who has 23 of Portland's 44 goals, without a shot.

"They swarmed me every time I got the ball, but I didn't waste a lot of energy because they didn't push forward much," said Sinclair, a sophomore striker.

Penn State Down UConn

Junior defender Leigh Hamilton's first career goal came in the 87th minute, propelling #12 Penn State to a 2-1 triumph over seventh-ranked Connecticut in an NCAA tournament quarterfinal at Morrone Stadium.

The Nittany Lions (19-3-1) advanced to the NCAA College Cup semifinals for the first time since 1999 to play eighth-ranked Portland.

"This was an exciting game. Either team could have won. It was a well-fought game," said Penn State coach Paula Wilkins. "It was great to see Leigh score her first-career goal and get us to the final four."

With regulation winding to an end, freshman forward Tiffany Weimer tried to penetrate the right side of the penalty area, but was taken down by two defenders. Junior midfielder Joanna served the resulting free kick into the box where it was cleared by a defender, but Hamilton was alone at the 18-yard-line to collect the ball. She nailed her shot into the top left corner to make it 2-1 with 3:28 left on the clock.

UConn (21-3-1), losing for the first time at home this season, went ahead 1-0 off the opening kick. Senior midfielder Sarah Popper and sophomore striker Kristen Graczyk moved the ball up the field to freshman forward Brittany Barakat who finished the breakaway by scoring with 46 seconds gone.

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Mobile Wins NAIA Championship

The Rams, who got into the national finals with at at-large bid, finished the season 18-4-1, and reached the championship game with a 1-0 upset of arch rival University of Auburn-Montgomery, the top-seeded team in the tournament.

Mike Fricke got the first goal in the title game for a 1-0 Mobile lead. Mobile got the goal that would be the game-winner 12 minutes into the second half when tournament MVP James Gledhill scored off an assist from Carron Williams.

Freshman Teba McKnight got the only goal in the semifinal game with UAM in the 65th minute of play, one minute after the Senators went down a man when Masego Ntshingane was shown his second yellow card of the game.

Park reached the championship game with a 3-2 win over defending national champion Lindsey Wilson College (KY) in sudden death overtime. Lindsey Wilson, the four-time defending champion, held a 2-0 lead in that semifinal game.

Mobile had to survive a penalty kick shootout in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals against Auburn-Montgomery. The Rams blew a 3-0 lead with 28 minutes left in the second half, and then had to win the shootout to advance, which they did 5-4.

The national title was the second for Rams coach Peter Fuller, who won another in 1992 while coaching Belhaven College (MS).

"This one is different than the first," said Fuller after the title game. "The first I didn't at all expect at that particular moment. I think this one is a little more of a satisfaction because I know how far this group had to come in such a short period of time."

Mobile was only seeded sixth after losing twice to Auburn-Montgomery, once during the regular season and again in the regional championship game.

Park finished the season with a 21-3-2 mark, while Auburn Montgomery was 20-2-1.

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Winthrop Beats #10 Coastal Carolina In OT

Winthrop (12-5-1, 6-1) earns the #1 seed in next week's Big South Tournament with the win and Coastal Carolina (15-1-2, 6-1) will be the #2 seed.

Things were back-and-forth with a lot of the action taking place in the midfield. Coastal had the first good scoring chance and took advantage in the 43rd minute. Jordan Hughes took a cross from John DeVae inside the 18-yard box, turned and blasted a shot into the lower left-hand corner for a 1-0 lead just before halftime.

The Eagles got the equalizer in the 76th minute. Vydra sent a through ball over the top of the defense as Francis Wakhisi and a Chanticleer defender gave chase. The defender got to the ball first and passed it back to the goalkeeper. The pass slowed up more than goalie Aaron Sanders expected, Wakhisi beat him to the ball and poked into the back of the net for his 19th goal of the season.

In the first overtime, the Chanticleers best chance came in the final seconds. Joseph Ngwenya led a three-on-one and tried to squeeze into the middle of the goal around the 18-yard box, but David Garry stuffed Ngwenya and cleared the ball away. Ngwenya, a junior forward from Zimbabwe, leads all Division I schools in scoring with 23 goals and 54 points.

The game-winner by Vydra came at the 101:18 mark. Coastal Carolina was whistled for a foul around 40 yards out near the sideline. Donald MacGregor served the ball into the box, Vydra trapped, turned and fired a shot past Sanders for the goal.

Winthrop's opponent for next week's tournament will be Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina will face High Point.

Coastal will close out the regular season on Saturday against Birmingham-Southern at 7 p.m. at CCU Soccer Stadium.

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N.C. State Shocks # 1 North Carolina

NC State has scored quickly in all of its previous matches and tonight was no exception. Senior Adrienne Barnes kicked off the scoring in the second minute with her sixth goal of the season. Senior Jenny Pearce blasted a shot at the North Carolina net. Pearce's shot was blocked by a Tar Heel defender. With the ball bouncing around, Barnes emerged from a pack of players and slipped the ball past keeper Aly Winget for the score.

NC State took its lead into halftime, but North Carolina would answer in the 57th minute. Junior Elizabeth Ball fed a pass to freshman Lindsey Tarpley. Tarpley sped towards the Wolfpack net and fired the ball over the outstretched hands of keeper Gretchen Lear. The goal was Tarpley's tenth of the season.

NC State, led by the leadership of its eleven seniors, would not settle for anything but a win. In the 65th minute, junior Lindsey Underwood would notch her fourth game-winning goal of the season. Barnes stole the ball from a Tar Heel defender and sent the ball towards the left corner of the field. Underwood collected the pass and slid the ball between Winget's legs for the score.

Lear tied a school and ACC record with 19 saves in the match. She is tied with current NC State assistant coach Lindsay Brecher (Cobb), who notched 19 saves in a 2-0 loss to North Carolina in 1988. Heather Rowe of Maryland also notched 19 saves in a 3-0 loss to North Carolina in 1989.

On a night when NC State honored its members of the ACC's 50th anniversary team, the 2002 team made history. North Carolina's last ACC loss came at the feet of Wake Forest, 1-0, on Oct. 27, 2000. NC State's two goals ties a season high for goals allowed by the Tar Heels. In a 3-2 North Carolina victory on Sept. 15, then No.3 Texas also scored two goals on the Tar Heels. NC State has outscored its opponents 31-12 on the season. With 31 goals in 12 games, NC State has surpassed its 2001 goal total of 21.

NC State twice tied North Carolina in 1988, when current NC State head coach Laura Kerrigan was a senior on the team and Cobb was a sophomore. The Wolfpack tied the Tar Heels, 1-1 on Sept. 20, 1988. NC State and North Carolina would meet again in the inaugural ACC Tournament championship that year. Again, the score was 1-1, but this time the game went to a shootout. NC State prevailed in the shootout and won the first ever ACC Tournament title. That "victory" would stand in the records as a tie.

"This was a tremendous team effort," said Kerrigan. "Senior leadership was the key for us tonight. They really wanted this, they didn't want to settle. The team showed a lot of grit. They didn't give up when they [North Carolina] tied the game.

"We're going to enjoy this one," Kerrigan said. "But we also have to get ready for Duke."

In other midweek action, #10 Wake Forest dropped a 2-0 decision to
#13 Tennessee on Wednesday in Winston-Salem; Florida State tied
Duke, 1-1, Tuesday in Durham; and #11 West Virginia (over
Georgetown in OT), Princeton (over Rutgers) and Clemson (over Furman) earned 1-0 wins wins Tuesday.

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Furman's Griffin Killed In Traffic Accident

Furman freshman Philip Gray Griffin, 18, of Huntersville, N.C., was killed
after his sport utility vehicle overturned in the southbound lanes just
south of Highway 129. A tractor-trailer driven by Neil Fournier, 46, of
Arden, N.C., then hit the SUV. The accident occurred at approximately 2:50 a.m., according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Also injured in the accident were Furman freshmen soccer players Chefik
Simo of Dallas, Texas; Josh Villalobos of Fayetteville, N.C.; and Sean
Murray of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. All three Furman students were taken to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, where Simo underwent surgery early Friday morning for a fractured pelvis and other injuries. He was listed in stable condition as of 11:05 a.m. Villalobos and Murray were also being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

"This is a great tragedy for Furman University and, more pointedly, for our
men's soccer team," said Furman Director of Athletics Gary Clark. "We mourn for the family of Gray Griffin and for his teammates and friends. It's
devastating to lose a young person whose life was so vibrant and so full of
promise."

Griffin, a product of North Mecklenburg High School, was a two-time adidas NSCAA Youth and Parade All-America selection and former captain of the United States Under-17 National Team that competed in the 2001 World Championships in Trinidad and Tobago.

He had started as a defender in 12 matches and scored one goal and two assists this season as a member of the Furman soccer team that is currently ranked 14th nationally by Soccer America,sporting a 9-2-1 overall record and 4-0 Southern Conference mark.

The tragedy has forced the indefinite postponement of Furman's Saturday
men's soccer match against Georgia Southern in Statesboro, according to
Clark.

Funeral arrangements for Griffin are unavailable at this time

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Virginia Rallies To Beat UAB Women

Neither team had many scoring chances early in the first half until
UAB's Jill Knottek recovered a rebound and scored on a vacated net in
the 18th minutes to give the Blazers the lead. Virginia would answer
just before halftime when Kelly Hammond (Bowie, Md.) scored her first
goal of the season off a give and go pass from Noelle Keselica
(Gaithersburg, Md.).

The Cavaliers would build momentum in the second half and eventually
took the lead in the 68th minute as Keselica one timed a cross from
Alyssa Benitez (Lake Mary, Fla.) into the net. Virginia would
continue to pressure the Blazers the remainder of the game and
finished the second half outshooting them 12-1 after the break.

Virginia Tech Edges ODU 2-1
The Virginia Tech women's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak on Moseley Field to six games Sunday afternoon with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Lady Monarchs of Old Dominion. With the victory, Tech improves to 3-7-1 on the year, as Old Dominion falls to 2-7-1.

The Hokies and Lady Monarchs played a scoreless first half with Tech
holding a 7-2 shot advantage. Old Dominion goalkeeper Stephanie
Miller made four saves in the opening stanza keeping the Hokies'
offense in check.

Nearly three minutes into the second half, junior Jessica Myers
(Richmond, Va.) broke the tie and scored her fourth goal of the
season. On the initial play, Myers dribbled past a Lady Monarch
defender and attempted a shot but it was blocked. She gathered the
deflection and managed to fire another shot from 18 yards out and
beat Old Dominion keeper Stephanie Miller to give Tech the lead, a
lead it would not surrender.

The Hokies added to their lead in the 63rd minute when sophomore
Kristel Jacobson (Hampton, N.H.) scored what proved to be the
game-winning goal. Junior Emily Barnhart (Columbus, Ohio) crossed
the ball from 15 yards out and Jacobson one-timed the ball into the
net giving Tech a two-goal advantage. With her assist, Barnhart now
has ten career assists, tying her with Shannon Otto (1996-99) and
Carmen Chestnut (1998-01) as the program's all-time assists leaders.

The Lady Monarchs, who outshot the Hokies 10-5 in the second stanza,
capitalized on a Tech foul in the 70th minute of play. Off a direct
kick, junior Diane Baucom served the ball into the penalty box and
freshman Heather Vaughan headed the ball into the goal for Old
Dominion's lone score.

West Virginia Knocks Notre Dame From Big East Tourney
The ninth-ranked West Virginia women's soccer team cashed in three chances in a game that produced just 12 total shots on goal, as WVU clinched the top seed in the BIG EAST Conference Mid-Atlantic Division and ended Notre Dame's chances at qualifying for the BIG EAST Tournament, 3-0, in Sunday-afternoon action at the Mountaineer Sports Complex.

Notre Dame (7-5-0, 3-3-0 BIG EAST Mid-Atlantic) remains tied
with Georgetown (3-2-0) for fourth place in the seven-team divisional
standings but the Hoyas would claim the fourth playoff spot based on
the head-to-head tiebreaker, thanks to their 4-3 win over the Irish
on Sept. 29.

The Irish still could qualify for the NCAA tournament - as Syracuse did last year, despite not qualifying from the Northeast Division for the 2001 BIG EAST Tournament - due to a challenging strength of schedule, including games remaining vs. Purdue, Connecticut, Michigan, BYU, Syracuse and Boston College. Notre Dame entered the week ranked fourth in the Great Lakes Region, behind #13 Michigan, #15 Marquette (which tied unranked South Florida, 1-1, on Friday) and #22 Purdue.

West Virginia (10-1-1, 4-0-1) - which has not lost since its first game of the season - opened the scoring in the second minute of play before adding goals midway through the first and second halves.

UNC Beats St. Mary's To Remain Unbeaten
The second-ranked North Carolina women¹s soccer team finished the non-conference phase of its 2002 schedule Sunday afternoon by
defeating the host Saint Mary¹s Gaels 3-0 in the final game of the Saint
Mary¹s Fall Soccer Classic at Saint Mary¹s Stadium.

Freshman Lori Chalupny and juniors Maggie Tomecka and Alyssa Ramsey scored for the Tar Heels and two of the goals were set up by senior striker Susan Bush.

Carolina posted its fifth straight shutout in improving to 10-0-2 on the
season. The Tar Heels have not allowed a goal in 536:20 since Marquette
scored on a penalty kick 3:40 into a 4-1 North Carolina victory over the
Golden Eagles on September 20, 2002. Saint Mary¹s fell to 5-6-1 with the loss.

Since then the Tar Heel defense and goalkeeper Aly Winget have held strong in protecting the Tar Heel goal. Winget played all 90 minutes Sunday against the Gaels and the freshman from Orinda, Calif. improved her record to 8-0-1, posting her third solo shutout of the season. She improved her goals against average to 0.58 on the season.

Carolina got on the board in only the third minute of the match as Chalupny tallied the first game-winning match of her career. Bush sent a pass to the talented freshman midfielder whose shot hit the post and bounced in at the 2:13 mark. It was Chalupny¹s second goal of the season and Bush's eighth assist.

Kentucky Beats Florida For First Time
Elizabeth Ramsey scored the game-winning goal and Liz Butler recorded her first-career Southeastern Conference shutout to lead the University of Kentucky women's soccer team to a 3-0 victory over Florida at the UK Soccer Complex Sunday. The win for the Wildcats (7-4-0/2-1-0 SEC) represents the first victory over the Gators (4-7-1/1-2-0 SEC) in the program's 11-year history, as UF entered the match with a 10-0-0 series lead over UK.

"It's just a matter of hard work and perseverance," Coach Warren Lipka said. "You can't give in to adversity - you have to fight through it and this team demonstrated today what it's capable of. Our team worked hard, it fought and I applaud the effort of our athletes- they didn't give up after Friday's loss to South Carolina. We found out what we did wrong, we fixed it, and we were able to get a result today."

The Cats avoided disaster 25 minutes into the first period when Robin Fulton, who led the Gators with five shots, had a breakaway one-on-one chance against Bulter. Big Blue Nation gave a sigh of relief when the junior forward dribbled out of control on her attack at the goal and the shot slipped just wide of the right post.

From there, it was all UK. Ramsey's game-winner was scored at 27:48 when the All-SEC forward one-touched the ball past UF goalkeeper Jordan Kellgren from 10 yards out. Jen Wilkinson collected her first of two assists for the match on Ramsey's team-leading fifth goal of the season as the Darien, Ill., native fed Courtney Pollock who executed a perfect lob to Ramsey en route to UK's 1-0 edge. UK built its lead to 2-0 when Wilkinson found a racing Ramsey toward the left of the box who in turn, crossed to teammate Lauren Russell. Russell was able to get a foot on the ball that rolled slowly past an out-of-place Kellgren into the right corner of the UF goal.

Auburn Slips Past Georgia
The Auburn soccer team improved to 9-3 overall (1-1 SEC) and picked up its first Southeastern Conference win in a 1-0 victory over Georgia here Sunday afternoon.

"I couldn't be prouder of our effort," head coach Karen Richter said. "Our defense has always been our strength and they have a lot of pride. Kellie Evans played about 80 minutes for us so for her to get back and save that goal at the end just shows her great desire to get back. Megan Rivera really stepped up her game as well and looked very sharp."

Although the first 20 minutes of the game was dominated offensively by the Bulldogs, Auburn picked up the first score of the game as junior Sandy Carnes earned her first goal of the season. The Tigers' attack began on a corner kick, but after an initial shot by Auburn and a block by Georgia goalkeeper Ashley Lindsey, Auburn took numerous shots on goal, but could not get past the Georgia defense. Carnes finally picked up a rebound and sent the ball into the goal at the 24:29 mark.

"We came out and played tough and had a good effort," Carnes
said. "We knew what we had to do and every position played well today.
The defense goes out and gives 100 percent in every game and it was
especially a great defensive effort by Kellie Evans. I really thought
that shot was going in."

In the first half, the Tigers outshot Georgia 6-to-5, but only one of the Bulldogs' shots were on goal as compared to three for Auburn.

Second half action saw the shots exchanged on both sides of the
field. The Georgia pressure, however, picked up in the final 10 minutes
of the game as the Bulldogs had some outstanding chances. With just over
three minutes remaining, Auburn midfielder Kellie Evans blocked a shot
in goal as the initial shot was blocked by AU goalkeeper Megan Rivera.
The Tigers held on with some impressive saves from Rivera and an
outstanding defensive front from Carnes, Jen Walters, Erin Hinson and
Ashley Eason as the Bulldogs tallied six shots in the second half.

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Maryland Downs UNC In ACC Game

The Terps struck early, less than five minutes into the game, when Nino Marcantonio (Bethesda, Md.) got a strong shot from inside the box past Carolina keeper Ford Williams. Domenic Mediate (Southlake, Texas) supplied the assist on the opening goal of the night.

Five minutes later, Ian Rodway (Columbia, Md.) kept a UNC clear alive with his head and directed it to a soaring Sumed Ibrahim (Tamale, Ghana). Sumed redirected the ball into the net for a 2-0 Maryland lead 9:21 into the game. The goal would prove to be the game winner, and was Sumed's sixth decision-maker of the year.

North Carolina got on the scoreboard in the 37th minute when the Heels sparked a turnover and Ray Fumo made the deposit. The goal at 36:17 made the score 2-1, a score that would hold through the halftime break.

Maryland sophomore goalkeeper Noah Palmer (Williamsburg, Va.) denied the possible game-tying goal from Matt Crawford, elevating to punch the hard shot over the net. Palmer ended with five saves in the win.

In transition, Mediate won a footrace to strike again in the final minute of action as the sophomore took advantage of a Tar Heel open net after Williams left the North Carolina goal to play offense in hopes of sending the game into overtime. Mediate corralled a rebound just inside the top of the box and deposited it into the empty net unassisted to give Maryland the 3-1 advantage and the win.

Clemson Edges Gamecocks 2-1
Dimelon Westfield scored two goals including the game-winner
in the second overtime period as fourth-ranked Clemson defeated
ninth-ranked South Carolina 2-1 in a men's intercollegiate soccer match at
Columbia, SC Sunday afternoon. The Tigers' Andre Borges had an assist on both goals.

The Tigers improve to 7-1-1 this season while South Carolina falls to 7-2-1 this year.

Clemson is ranked fourth by Soccer America and ninth by the NSCAA. South Carolina is ranked ninth by Soccer America and 11th by the NSCAA. Westfield has scored 11 goals this season and has scored in five straight matches. Westfield has now scored nine goals in the last five contests. He is a senior forward from Morvant, Trinidad.

Clemson has a 7-0-1 record against the Gamecocks in the last eight
meetings dating back to the 1996 season. Head Coach Trevor Adair is 7-1-1 vs. the Gamecocks during his Clemson career. This was the 30th meeting between the two teams and Clemson leads the series 19-10-1.

Clemson scored first at the 31:13 mark as Dimelon Westfield scored off a
diagonal shot from 12 yards out into the right corner of the net.
Westfield was assisted on the play by Andre Borges and Fabio Tambosi.
Tambosi passed the ball to Borges at the top of the box. Borges sent the
ball to Westfield on the left side inside the box. Westfield chipped the
ball into the right corner of the net.

South Carolina tied the score at the 36:33 point into the match. J.C.
Desriac passed the ball to Lawson Vaughn. Vaughn laid the ball to Anthony Stovall on his right who scored from 12 yards out into the right wall of the net. This was Stovall's second goal of the season. It was only the seventh goal Clemson has given up all year. Westfield scored the game-winner at the 106:47 mark.

#1 St. John's Downs ODU
When you're the No. 1 team in the country, you know you're walking with a target. The St. John's University men's soccer team, who moved up to No. 1 in four national polls on Monday, knew that would be the case
on Friday night.

The Red Storm responded with four goals, including three in a 14-minute span in the second half, en route to a 4-0 win over Old Dominion during the first round of the Rutgers Classic at Yurcak Field.

St. John's took 13 shots in the first half, but were not able to capitalize
until sophomore defender Chris Corcoran (Marshfield, Mass.) beat ODU goalkeeper Samuel Cameron with 45 seconds left in the break.
Senior Matia Damiani (Foggia, Italy), who had flicked sophomore Chris Leidner's (Greenlawn, N.Y.) pass to Corcoran, had the assist.

The momentum carried over in the second half. First, junior Angel Rodriguez (Toms River, N.J.) picked up a deflection off of a shot from Alberto Duenas (Hawthorne, Calif.) and took a low shot from 17 yards out that beat the ODU keeper to the inside near post. Two minutes later, junior Simone Salinno (Lucera, Italy) won a ball at midfield, ran in and chipped it past the keeper, beating him to the top left center of the box.

Virginia Tech Falls To Providence
The Virginia Tech men's soccer team was shutout by
the visiting Providence Friars Saturday afternoon in a BIG EAST match
held on Tech's Moseley Field. With the loss, the Hokies fall to
5-5-1 on the year and 2-3-1 in conference, while the Friars improve
to 3-7-0 and 2-3-0 in conference play.

Providence freshman Eoin Lynch scored the lone goal of the match on a
header from five-yards out in the 11th minute of play. Lynch, who
shot the ball wide on a breakaway five minutes into the contest,
elevated above the Tech defenders deflecting the ball into the goal
for his fourth goal of the season. Sophomore Carlos Suero served the
ball into the center of the penalty box from 30 yards out for the
assist.

DePaul Edges Memphis 2-1
Playing in their first home match of the season, the DePaul men's soccer team knocked off Memphis, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon. Tim Blake's first career goal in 58th minute proved to be the game-winner as DePaul improved to 3-5-2 overall and 1-2-0 in Conference USA play. Memphis dropped to 6-3-1 overall and 1-3-0 in league action.

DePaul got on the scoreboard first as Jonathan Foley knocked in his second goal of the season. Luke Rojo tapped it over to Foley and he fired a shot from the top of the penalty box that sliced through the Memphis defense and past keeper Clark Talley at 17:12.

The Tigers answered on a penalty kick in the 42nd minute on a penalty kick. Matt Bryant knotted the match at 1-1 as he put the ball past DePaul keeper Michael Timlin at 41:49.

After halftime, the Blue Demons put on the pressure and found the net in the 58th minute. Adam Hermsen took the ball to the corner and fed Foley. The ball squirted over to Blake who sent it home from just in front of the net.

Blake's goal proved to be the game-winner as the DePaul defense fought off some late threats by Memphis. Timlin was credited with a pair of saves while the Blue Demons outshot the Tigers, 13-11.

Hampden-Sydney Rallies To Beat Lynchburg
Michael Kraemer's (Roanoke, VA) third-straight game-winning
goal lifted Hampden-Sydney to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over ODAC-foe Lynchburg College Saturday. The win is the Tigers fifth straight and lifts the team to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in the ODAC.

Lynchburg got on the board first with a Win Wharton goal at the 16:12 mark of the opening half. The Tigers battled back as the "comeback kids" mounted their third-straight rally, tying the game in the 75th minute when Chad Quenneville (Fairfax Station, VA) connected on a penalty kick.

Kraemer then scored his third-straight game-winner in the 89th minute of
play to seal the game for the Tigers and continue the team's amazing roll in
2002. The Tigers out-shot Lynchburg, 26-11, and had the advantage on
corners, 9-7.

Austin Krison worked the full 90 minutes for the Tigers registering four
saves and allowing just one goal for the victory. The loss dropped
Lynchburg to 3-8 overall and 1-3 in the conference.

Short-handed Campbell Edged By Stetson
Stetson converted a man advantage into the eventual game-winning goal to beat Campbell 2-1 in men's soccer action on Saturday at the Eakes Athletic Complex.

With the match tied 1-1, Campbell's Jason Kirk was ejected for a challenge on Stetson keeper Ian Landrum in the 76th minute. The Hatters produced the winning goal 8:14 later on Ron Fulmore's header off Daniel Gay's free kick.

Stetson improved to 4-6-1 overall, 3-1-0 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Campbell dropped to 2-6-0, 1-2-0 in the league. Each of the last three
games played between the rivals have been decided by one goal.

VCU Tops UNC Wilmington
Virginia Commonwealth¹s Randy Ugarte (San Jose, Costa Rica)
and Matthew Delicate (Wales, U.K.) each scored two goals as the VCU defeated UNC Wilmington, 4-1, tonight at VCU¹s Sports Backers Stadium.

The Rams (6-3, 1-0 Colonial Athletic Association) won for the fourth time in their last five games, and improved to a perfect 4-0 at home this season.
UNC Wilmington (6-2, 0-2 CAA) has dropped two of its last three games, both in conference play.

VCU took a 1-0 lead in the game¹s 13th minute, as Ugarte took possession of the ball and lofted a high-arcing shot that went into the upper left corner of the goal, beating UNCW goalkeeper Bill Mills, who had come off his line. The Seahawks quickly tied the game in the 19th minute, as Austin MacPhee scored on a penalty shot.

The Rams threatened several times to take the lead, but on three occasions during the second half had shots cleared off the UNCW goal line by a defender after the goalkeeper had been beaten.

Ugarte finally broke the tie in 69th minute, when he scored on a penalty
kick to make the score 2-1. Delicate then tallied his two goals in a
three-minute span late in the game, once on a breakaway and the other a
header off a cross from Gonzalo Segares (San Jose, Costa Rica).

Furman Falls To Saint Louis
Andy Pusateri's unassisted goal at the 3:01 mark proved to be all the fourteenth-ranked Billikens would need as St. Louis defeated Furman 2-0.

Pusateri weaved through the Furman defense and blasted a ten yard shot
past Paladin goalkeeper John Hanley for the game's first score.

St. Louis extended its lead at the 32:01 mark as Jack Jewsbury collected a shot that had deflected off the crossbar and buried a 20 yard shot into the net.

Furman took eight shots on the match, but was unable to find the back
of the net.

With the loss, Furman falls to 8-2-1 on the season. St. Louis improves to 7-2-1.

ASU Tops Davidson In OT
Steve Mellor (Langhorne, PA) scored his third goal of the season and second game0winner for Appalachian State as the Mountainners defeated Davidson in overtime. The Mountaineers, playing their first home game of the season, improve to 6-2-1 (1-1 in SoCon action), while the Wildats fall to 5-4-1, 2-1 in league play.

ASU put the game away three minutes into overtime as Mellor took a cross from Jannis Riesz (Munich, Germany) and slammed it past Wildcat keeper Soren Johnson for the golden goal victory.

UAB Blows By Charlotte
UAB (5-3-2, 1-1-1 C-USA) used the strength of three second-half goals to blow past Charlotte here Saturday night, 4-0. The 49ers (6-3, 3-2) were in first place in the Conference USA standings coming into the game.

UAB struck first at the 27:11 mark when Oswaldo Gallegos led an odd-numbered rush down the right side of the field. As Charlotte¹s goalkeeper Lucas Mackanos left the net to attempt to stop the attack, Gallegos passed the ball to a wide open Steven Sugar rushing down the middle of the field. The freshman walk-on was then able deposit the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the season and a 1-0 Blazer lead.

UAB nearly made it a two-goal lead before the half, however, Rogerio
Oliveira¹s dipping shot from 25-yards away hit the top corner of the
crossbar. Gallegos then followed with a diving header that was tipped up and over the crossbar by Mackanos.

The Blazers made it 2-0 in the 60th minute when Marin Pusek passed a ball over the top of the 49er defense right to the foot of a streaking Flavio
Monteiro. Monteiro was then able to touch the ball over the head of Mackanos for his team-best fourth goal of the season.

UAB put the finishing touches on the win with two goals in the final 20
minutes of the contest.

Duke Upset By Lehigh
Lehigh junior Steve Fisher scored on a six-yard shot at the 83:05 mark in the second half to upset the 17th-ranked Duke University men's soccer team, 2-1, on Sunday at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils fall to 6-3-1 overall and the Mountain Hawks improve to 7-4-1.

The Mountain Hawks got on the board early as Dan Perciballi scored off a cross from Evan Bruno just 10 minutes into the match. The Lehigh
defense held Duke to only three shots in the first half and took a 1-0
lead at halftime. Senior Donald McIntosh (Lake Mary, Fla.) then scored
his third goal of the season at the 65:50 mark off a touch from Jordan
Cila (Jericho, N.Y.) on a free kick. McIntosh's goal came from 22 yards
out.

Duke tried to mount a rally at the end but McIntosh's shot was saved by
Lehigh's goalkeeper Ryan Grzeszczak, who finished with three saves. In
goal for the Blue Devils, sophomore Justin Trowbridge (Tampa, Fla.)
finished with two saves.

The Blue Devils were playing most of the match without junior defender
Matt Ahumada (Scottsdale, Ariz.) who left with an injury and senior
defender Adam Guren (Kirtland Hills, Ohio) who was out after receiving a
red card last game.

Patroits Bounce Back From Loss With Two Wins
The George Mason Patriots (6-1-2, 1-0 CAA) bounced back from their first loss of the season to post a pair of victories on the road last week. George Mason got both wins over South Atlantic Region foes as it was victorious at Liberty Tuesday and at James Madison Saturday, and the win at JMU opened the Colonial Athletic Association schedule for Mason.

Sophomore goalkeeper John O'Hara (Foxford, Ireland) posted his fourth
and fifth shutouts of the season in the two victories. Having allowed
just five goals in 858 minutes this season, he lowered his goals-against
average to 0.52, which ranks first in the CAA and the South Atlantic
Region (14th in the nation as of Sept. 30), and he has 39 saves. O'Hara
now has nine career shutouts, all of which have come in his last 19
games. In that span, O'Hara has allowed just 14 goals in 1,707 minutes
for a 0.73 GAA.

Freshmen Sean Malee (Kiltimagh, Ireland) and Steve Alabi (Rotterham,
England) each scored goals to lead George Mason over Liberty Tuesday in Lynchburg, VA. Malee scored his second goal of the season at the 9:11
mark off an assist from sophomore David Quinn (Kilkenny, Ireland) and
George Mason made the score 2-0 as Alabi netted his first career goal
off an assist from junior Mirza Kurspahic (McLean, VA/McLean HS) at the 63:36 mark. O'Hara had three saves.

VMI Falls To UNC Asheville
After shutting out UNC Asheville in the first half, VMI allowed two goals in the second half as UNC Asheville defeated the Keydets, 2-0, on
Sunday at Patchin Field.

The loss dropped the Keydets' record to 1-5-3 overall.
UNC Asheville improved its record to 3-4-1.

After a first half that saw neither team score, UNC Asheville freshman forward Barrett Locke sent a header off a cross from freshman forward Jordan Holthouser past VMI junior goalkeeper Morgan Harris (Powell,
Ohio/ Worthington Killbourne) for a 1-0 lead 14:29 into the second half.

Holthouser and Locke hooked up again to close out the scoring as Locke found the back off the net off a feed from Holthouser with 8:02 remaining in the contest, giving UNC Asheville a 2-0 win.

Kentucky Blanks Winthrop 2-0
The University of Kentucky men's soccer team (7-3) defeated Winthrop
(5-3-1) by a score of 2-0 Sunday at Eagle Field in Rock Hill, S.C. Senior
goalkeeper Greg Raber earned his third consecutive shutout for the Cats,
making seven saves in the match.

The Wildcats got on the board early when freshman Lasse Lagerblom headed a corner kick from fellow-freshman Jani Modig into the back of the net at the 7:51 mark. In the first half, Winthrop outshot UK by a mark of 9-4 and held a 6-2 advantage on corner kicks, but Kentucky's Raber made five saves to preserve his team's 1-0 lead.

The Cats expanded their lead early in the second half when sophomore Jamal Shteiwi put home a penalty kick in the 53rd minute after a UK attacker was taken down in the 18-yard box. Raber's biggest save of the day came in the 63rd minute, when he dove to his right to stop a header that had resulted from a Winthrop corner kick.

Notre Dame Defeats Akron
The Notre Dame men's soccer rebounded from a
disappointing 1-0 loss to Pittsburgh on Friday night at Alumni Field to
post a 1-0 win on the road at Akron in a non-conference test.

Sophomore Jack Stewart (Torrance, Calif.) scored the game-winning goal off an assist from teammate Chad Riley (Houston, Texas) at the 71:25 mark as the Irish recorded their first road win of the season.

With the victory, Notre Dame improves to 5-3-3 overall, while Akron
falls to 2-5-2 on the season.

For Stewart, a central defender who has started all 11 contests
this season, it was his first career goal. The win marked the second
shutout in 2002 for the Irish and the sixth-one goal decision this season.

The assist was the eighth of the season for Riley who leads the
team in that category for the third straight year. He is the first player
since Ryan Cox in 1998 and Scott Wells in 1997 to dish off eight assists in a season.

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UNC Beats #1 Stanford, 1-0

Carolina improved to 9-0-2 on the season while the Cardinal fell to 8-1-0. The difference in the game came from junior striker Alyssa Ramsey who provided the only score of the game in the 60th minute of play. Ramsey took a pass from freshman forward Lindsay Tarpley and hooked a shot to the right of Stanford goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart.

One of the best goalkeepers in the nation, Barnhart entered the match with a sterling 0.26 goals against average. It was Ramsey¹s ninth goal of the season, tying her for the team lead with Tarpley. Tarpley recorded her fifth assist. She leads UNC with 23 points while Ramsey is right behind with 22.

Alabama Beats Bulldogs 4-1
The University of Georgia soccer team opened Southeastern Conference play with a 4-1 loss to Alabama Friday night in front of a crowd of 1,157 at the UGA Soccer/Softball Complex.

The Bulldogs (4-6-1, 0-1 SEC) scored first at the 12:00 mark as junior
midfielder Ashley King took a pass from sophomore Tricia McKee and shot the ball from the left side and 17 yards out.

Georgia held a 4-3 shot advantage and a 1-0 lead at the half.

Alabama (10-1, 1-0 SEC) came out in the second half and quickly changed the complexion of the game. The Crimson Tide tied the game in the 59th minute, getting a goal from midfielder Katie Holtzapfel, assisted by midfielder Katie French. The Tide scored another goal just over a
minute later as Holtzapfel netted another ball in the 60th minute.
Alabama took a 3-1 lead in the 65th minute as midfielder Cally Morrill
netted a through ball from forward Dawn Nash. The Tide got another goal
in the 82nd minute from forward Nash, assisted by defender Sara
Haight.

USC Women Blank Kentucky 1-0
Senior midfielder Melinda Carter scored in the early part of the second half and junior goalkeeper Elise Matthews finished with her second consecutive shutout as the South Carolina women¹s soccer team
earned the school¹s first victory vs. Kentucky in a 1-0 road win on Friday
evening. Carolina improved to 9-2 on the season with a 2-0 SEC record. The 9-2 record ties the best start in USC women¹s soccer history. The 1999 Lady Gamecocks also started its season with a 9-2 record.

Florida Shuts Out Vandy 3-0
The University of Florida soccer team (4-6-1, 1-1 SEC) opened the month of October with a 3-0 win at Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-2) Friday evening in front of a Vanderbilt Soccer Field crowd of 255.

Florida took a 1-0 lead into halftime after junior Robin Fulton hit her first goal of the season at 30:53. Fulton took the ball down the left side of the field and VU's goalkeeper Esther Thompson came out to end the cross.

Junior Megan McMillan gave the Gators a 2-0 lead at 56:05 when she pounced on a rebound that kicked back eight yards into the box. McMillan one-touched the ball into the upper right corner for her second goal of the year. The Gators' final goal came when Danielle Murphy successfully hit a penalty kick at 76:57. The penalty kick was awarded when VU fouled Fulton while she was fouled in the box as she headed toward the goal.

Wolfpack tops Terps in OT
The # 23 Maryland women's soccer team suffered a tough 2-1 loss in double-overtime to ACC foe NC State on a windy Friday night at Ludwig Field before 1,541 fans. The Terps fall to 7-4 overall and 1-2 in the ACC, while the Wolfpack moves to 6-3-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the conference.

The Wolfpack's Jordan Allison headed home a corner kick from Annika Schmidt in the 103rd minute to give NC State the victory.

Tennessee Scores Early To Down Auburn
Fourteenth-ranked Tennessee (7-3, 1-0) scored four goals in the first 21 minutes and held on to defeat #20 Auburn (8-3, 0-1) 4-2 in Knoxville in the SEC soccer opener for both teams.

Trailing 4-0 at the half, the Tigers came out strong in the second period and cut the Lady Vols' lead in half in less than a three-minute span. Auburn got on the board first on a Kellie Evans' direct free kick at the top of the penalty box at the 71:31 mark. Evans' goal, her third of the season, bended on the ground around the Volunteer wall and brushed the right post and went in.

Sarah Steinmann cut the Vol lead in half just over two minutes later with an unassisted rocket left-footer from the top right corner of the Volunteer penalty box that went into the right side of the net at 73:54.

Tennessee's Rhian Wilkinson opened the scoring on an assist
from Kayla Lockaby just over five minutes into the game at 5:21 and
Lyndsey Patterson and Kim Patrick combined on a pair of goals, first at
the 8:14 mark and then at 14:45. Patterson's first goal came up the
middle on a touch pass while her second one came on a breakaway up the center.

FSU Downs UCF Behind Record Performance
The 17th-ranked FSU soccer team (7-2-2) improved to 11-0-2 all-time at home on Friday nights under head coach Patrick Baker and won its ninth straight game versus a team from the state of Florida with a 3-1 win over UCF.

The victory was the fourth in-a-row for the Seminoles and dropped the Golden Knights to 8-3-0 on the year. Leah Gallegos scored her sixth goal and second game-winner while Kristin Boyce notched her first of the year but it was senior Cindy Schofield's 17th-minute goal that was the highlight of the night.

Schofield stole the spotlight as her fourth goal of the season vaulted her into the FSU record book. The Lakeland, FL native broke the record for goals scored in a career (28) and points in a career (76) as she etched her name in Seminole soccer history as the most prolific offensive player ever to play for the Tribe.

Wake Women Lose First To California
The sixth-ranked Wake Forest women's soccer team's 10-game
unbeaten streak ended on Friday with a 1-0 shutout by eighth-ranked
California. The Demon Deacons dropped to 9-1-1 overall, while the Golden Bears improved to 7-2-1 overall.

The lone goal of the game came from California's Carley Fuller in the 69th
minute of action on assists from Jamie Mangidari and Kim Yonkers.

The Golden Bears held the Deacs to a season-low 10 shots and only three shots in the second half. Joline Charlton, Katie Johnson and Alena Thom led the team with two shots each. Wake goalie Erin Regan recorded seven saves on the night in 90 minutes in the net.

Furman Rolls Over The Citadel
Nicky Darling scored two goals and added two assists as the Furman women's soccer team knocked off The Citadel 9-0 on Saturday.

Furman began its scoring outburts in the first half as it netted five
goals in the first 25 minutes of the match. Darling began the scoring for
the Lady Paladins at the 6:49 mark as she collected an Emily Turgeon shot that hit the crossbar, and beat Citadel goalkeeper Angie Ellenwood.

Two minutes later, Turgeon scored a goal as Nancy Mather played her a
through ball which she slotted past Ellenwood. Tara Marker scored her
first collegiate goal at the 17:55 mark as she took an Emily Turgeon
through ball and beat Ellenwood to the near post.

Dre Morrison, in her first action since sustaining a knee injury
earlier this season, scored her first collegiate goal at the 21:24 mark.
The play was set up as Lindsey Facciolo played a through ball to the end
line. Darling sent a low cross on the ground, and Morrison
one-touched the ball into the net

Campbell Shuts Out Troy State
The Campbell University women's soccer team scored three first-half goals in a span of 4:03, on their way to a 5-0 defeat of Troy State on the university's homecoming, Saturday afternoon.

Megan Barnes got the Fighting Camels on the score board in the 39th minute when she took a pass from Carrie Stephenson and beat TSU keeper Hanna Haile to the upper left post for her first career goal.

Kate Anderson doubled the CU lead just under two minutes later when Lauren Dittrich and Marisa McEntee set her up for a one-timer from 25 yards out that beat Haile to the low right post.

Becky Moghaddam sparked the final Campbell goal of the half when she served a strong throw in to Susan Persson, who dribbled down into the box and sent a crossing pass that fell at the feet of McEntee, who settled the ball and beat Haile for her first goal of season and gave Campbell a 3-0 halftime lead.

Tahmassian PK Sparks W&M
William and Mary sophomore forward Taline Tahmassian (Great Falls, VA) connected on a penalty kick in the 89th minute to give the College a hard-fought 1-0 win over George Mason University tonight at Busch Field.

The win improves the Tribe's 2002 record to 6-4-1, 2-0-0 in
the CAA, while the Patriots drop to 3-8-0, 1-2-0 in the CAA.

Scoreless through the first 88 minutes, the Tahmassian got
the Tribe on the board. After taking a pass from Lindsey
Vanderspiegel (Chesapeake, VA), Tahmassian gained control of the ball
just inside the 18-yard box, and was knocked down from behind by
Patriot defender Liz Sims. The referee blew the whistle and called
for the penalty kick.

Tahmassian stepped to the six-yard spot and beat Patriot
netminder Sarah Coughlin with a bullet to the lower right corner for
her fourth goal of the year.

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Ex-FIU Soccer Player Dies in Crash

Odenyo and Theresa Wint, a former athletic trainer at FIU, died in the collision Sunday night involving the van, a car and U-Haul truck about 80 miles north of the Florida state line, the Georgia State Patrol said.

Another former FIU player, Erika Jaderblom, remained hospitalized Monday.

The van carrying members of the Rockets soccer team was returning to the Fort Lauderdale area after an Atlanta-area tournament. Most of the 15 people in the vehicle were exchange students from Jamaica or Sweden.

Odenyo, 22, of Uppsala, Sweden, broke FIU records for goals (25) and points (57) in her junior season. That year, she finished third in the NCAA in points per game (2.71) and second in goals per game (1.19) and was named the Sun Belt Conference Tournament MVP.

Wint, 21, of Miami, was a student athletic trainer and one of the first Upward Bound participants at the university to earn a diploma. Upward Bound assists aiming to become the first in their families to obtain a college degree. Odenyo and Wint both graduated from FIU in the spring.

Jaderblom, a defender, was named second-team All-Sun Belt Conference last season. A senior, she is still enrolled in classes at the university.

"All the young women involved were wonderful people," FIU coach Everton Edwards said Monday. "I'm dumbfounded and numb right now."

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FSU Senior Sets Example For Teammates

That was the challenge Seminole senior Katie Talley faced every day for her first two seasons at FSU. The midfielder appeared in 18 matches her first season but injuries severely limited her effectiveness. As a sophomore she saw action in just eight of FSU's 24 matches and spent most the year isolated due to a case of mono.

"The injuries are more mentally challenging when you are out on
the field and not at 100%," said Talley. "You have to tell yourself to suck
it up and just do it but there are some things you can't do to the best of
your ability because your body won't let you. That's the most frustrating
part."

Coming into FSU, Talley was relatively injury free during her
playing days at Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Ga. She came to Florida State with all the credentials of an ACC soccer recruit and was fresh off a trip to Nationals in 1999 with her club team. She had experienced some ankle and back problems but nothing severe.

"My injuries were off and on in high school but it never
affected my play until I got to college," she remembers. "Freshman year I
came in and had back problems. We tried a lot of different treatments for it and some of them caused me to miss so much practice and game time. That took up most of the fall of my freshman season. I tried to play through that in the spring and be ready for the upcoming fall."

Things didn't get better though. After suffering another ankle
injury right at the end of preseason in the fall of 2000, Talley seemed to
finally be working her way back. Her ankle was recovering well and then she was sidelined again, this time for the entire season.

"I came back from that ankle injury feeling really good and just
as I was starting to get back I was diagnosed with mono," recalls Talley.
"That kept me out until the very end of the season that fall."

If you have ever had mono, you know that it just saps the energy
out of you but that wasn't the real problem. Mono causes your spleen to
become enlarged and any contact could cause a rupture in a major organ. It is an illness that is very dangerous for athletes.

"Mono took away my whole season. It was devastating," remembers
Talley. "I did nothing the whole time I had mono. I couldn't even come out
and watch practice. You don't really feel sick so you never actually believe you have it. You are tired, you want to do stuff but you can't. It is just devastating. It is a serious and dangerous illness."

Considering that Talley and the 2002 seniors came to Florida State at the
lowest point in the history of the program, missing the 2000 season was
incredibly tough. That year was the single greatest season in the history of
the FSU program. The Seminoles upset defending National Champion North Carolina. They beat the Florida Gators twice, including a win in the NCAA Tournament that sent the program to its first ever Sweet 16. The team set almost 60 records and program firsts and Talley wasn't a part of it.

"When I was battling mono I wasn't allowed to be around the team," said the senior. "It was so difficult. Especially in 2000, that was our greatest
season ever. We beat North Carolina. We beat Florida twice. We went to the Sweet 16 and everyone got to share those memories together and make great friendships. I missed all of that. It is really hard to come back and find my place after that because I missed out on so much. I felt like I was no longer part of the team."

Despite missing that magical 2000 season, it is still Talley's most special
memory. Being sidelined gave her a unique perspective compared to the other players, as she became more of an observer than a participant.

"Even though I was out almost all of 2000, that season is so special to me," said Talley. "To see how we were my freshman year and that we'd never really been successful compared to just one season later was spectacular. Because I was sidelined, I got to watch it all and it was an amazing transformation to observe. To see how big our program got was awesome. To beat UNC, get to the NCAA's and advance to the Sweet 16, it was a complete turnaround." Even though the 2000 season is still special to Talley, spending so much time dealing with injuries was tough for the Kennesaw native. She was often isolated because of her commitments to physical therapy, doctor's appointments and treatment. Talley learned the hard way just how much it takes to get healthy again

"People aren't around to see the amount of time and energy you invest in
getting healthy," she remembers. "It is hard enough to play and practice six
days a week but it is even harder to not be allowed to practice and be
around your teammates."

Despite the challenges, Talley has always remained committed to soccer.
Sitting on the sidelines while her team advanced to the Sweet 16 just made her even more determined to get back. She never thought of giving up once during those injury-plagued seasons.

"No way. That never even crossed my mind," said Talley. "I have
been playing soccer my whole life and I know things are never easy. Just
because my body wasn't cooperating with me that didn't change my desire to want to play and be part of a team. I wasn't going to give that up.
The midfielder is healthy now. She appeared in every match in 2001 and has been injury free through seven games in 2002, but getting healthy was just one of the obstacles she had to overcome. After hardly playing for two years she had to find where she fit on a team that was suddenly very successful. That is something that freshmen usually have to do but Talley was facing that challenge as a junior.

"Everyone understood why I wasn't around but I still missed out on a lot,"
she said. "It was harder to reestablish myself on the field with positions
and playing time than it was to rebuild the chemistry with my teammates. We all get along so well so the personal friendships were always there. The chemistry on the field took some work.

"It was like I was a freshman again my junior year. Coach Baker had almost seen the freshman play more than he had seen me. I had been here for two years but had hardly played. While I was a junior in eligibility, I didn't have those years of experience behind me due to the injuries. It was like I didn't have any advantage over the younger players that usually comes from gaining experience in a program.

All her hard work behind the scenes has paid off though. Talley has found
her place and is a regular in the Seminoles' midfield rotation and is often
the first player off the bench. She still battles her past injuries but
believes she is better for the struggles.

"It is awesome to be healthy," said Talley. "Ever since last spring I have
felt great. I have done so much physical therapy to try and get my back
strong. I haven't worried about injuries and that has allowed me to
concentrate on soccer and I think that is showing.

"I still have some problems with my back but I am trying to manage it and
just play my best. I had a good spring my junior year and felt that I had
found my place. Now here I am as a senior leading my younger teammates and doing well off the bench."

But just being healthy has never been enough for Talley. The senior
continues to do more individually in hopes of one day winning a starting
job. She is very content with her role but that doesn't mean she has lowered her goals even in her final season.

"It's never been enough for me just to be healthy. I haven't
lowered my goals or expectations of myself," she said. "I am thrilled that I
can go out there and play. I come off the bench. I get good minutes but I
still put in extra time doing individual training with coach so maybe I can
win a starting job."

Talley works hard to meet the lofty personal goals she sets for
herself but that isn't her only motivation. She doesn't spend extra time
training and working on fitness just so she can crack the starting 11. She
does it for another reason also.

"I want to show my teammates that I will do anything it takes to help us
win," Said Talley. "I want them (my teammates) to know that I always giv