Discussed: USWNT talk. Scotland Games, Algarve Cup and YNT talk. Again, we’re experimenting with the format and trying to focus on one topic per episode. Let us know what you think about the new format on our Facebook poll.

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Tell me about this Symposium

• March 29 in Burnaby, BC
• Speakers include: national team coaches, college coaches, Olympians and World Cup players
• In conjunction with the Western Canada Soccer Showcase
• Since this is the first edition, it’s a one-day event

National Teams

• USWNT
  • THREE  FOUR CAPS.
  • • ONE OF THESE KIDS IS IN COLLEGE.
    • Santa Clara, so duh, all-caps (Johnston)
    • Press
    • Dunn
    • Mewis
  • Not giving Ashlyn Harris her first cap in her homestate
    • She’s been turned into the Hype Man of USWNT.
  • Algarve Cup
    • Who wants a crepe??
    • They want crepes.
      • No Hope
      • No Johnston – even though Mewis is also supposed to be with the U-23s, but has been named for the Algarve
  • Twitter asks: Who is your ideal backline?
• U20s and U18s had camp together
  • The U20s played against UCLA and won 3-2
  • Early reports said U-20s would scrimmage the U-18s, but who knows if that happened
  • Worth mentioning: UCLA is looking for a new coach because Mr. Tarpley is the full-time U-17 coach now
  • Michelle French named U20 coach… after La Manga roster named.
• US U-23s headed to La Manga
  • Roster!
  • Feb 28: US vs Norway, England vs Sweden; March 2: US vs Sweden, Norway vs England; March 4: US vs England, Norway vs Sweden

Ronda Rousey v Liz Carmouche

What?:  We recorded two episodes on one day.

Discussed: Recorded December 20, 2012. The 2012 NCAA tournament. New USWNT coach Tom Sermanni and what he means (probably not much, ultimately.)

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NCAA Tournament

• Twenty-seven days of tears
• Do you remember at the beginning of this season when it was still impressive to have beaten the Tar heels?
  • Shoutout to: UNC Wilmington, Portland, Maryland, Florida State, Wake Forest, Virginia …and that’s just the teams that BEAT North Carolina.
• God, I am so angry right now -J
• Santa Clara is going to run into Stanford in the second round :(
  • And fortunately, it was only a one-goal loss
• BC – continuing a trend of being stupid on twitter
  • Annoying: PSU women’s soccer being completely trivialized by the conversation
  • Satisfying: PSU nailing the coffin 5-2 in the end

Next Season

• Maybe Virginia will get their shit together
• Everything is up in the air because WHAT IS GOING ON, BIG EAST
• BYU will continue to be annoying

New USWNT Coach Tom Sermanni

• Um. Sure.
• His gifted list is… depressing.
  • Maybe he’s being ironic.
    • T.S. Hipstercoach?
  • Or was just given a list of things to read out loud.
• Roster
  • “I can’t just come in and say, ‘I’m Ali Kreiger’”
    • Oh, but *can’t* you?

The End of the Excruciating Fan Celebration Tour

• We sure put a hurtin’ on Australia, Ireland, China and Germany
  • But at the very least, this team did the fans the favor of not losing at home to Denmark.
• February Games
  • Scotland in Jacksonville and Nashville
  • Are we taking bets on this roster?

Email!

• From Joshua (in October, oops)
  • I have a question about the recent Victory Tour matches that the US played against Germany. It was great to see youth players, even though they were German, playing for a national team in fairly competitive matches. As I’m sure you’ve heard, Germany brought 5 U-20 players from this past summer’s World Cup and they played well. Dzsenifer Marozsan and Alexandra Popp are known commodities by most Wsoccer fans, but Germany also showcased a relatively unknown (to me at least) Verena Feißt and a player that’s become a stalwart of their midfield in Kim Kulig; both of whom are old enough to be U-23 players. Here’s my question, if the US were merely playing a series of friendlies, who from the U-20 or U-23 teams would you like to see called up? Would any of them be able to make as big an impact as Marozsan?
  • Joan and Ruth: Probably not.

Apology: Sorry this one’s so late, folks. I (Joan) moved to Austin, TX after the new year and have been slacking on soccer-related duties.

Discussed: Recorded December 20, 2012. Now-outdated talk of the new women’s soccer league, NWSL. The logo stuff is still WAY relevant, though.

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NWSL – Smaller mistakes, smarter this time

• What is the same about this league?
  • Fans know more about it than the players
• What is different?
  • No California
  • Supervision of US Soccer. CSA and FMF have skin in the game
  • That logo needs a sassy gay friend.
• Let’s rate our teams!
  • Seattle Reign FC
    • I am torn between loving this and wonder what the fuck they’re playing at. – J
      • Also, there are two different typefaces in the logo. Don’t do that.
    • I sort of like it but it reminds me a lot of St. Louis Athletica, and I don’t like how that turned out. -R
  • Portland Thorns FC
    • Love it now more than I did at first. -J
    • Fan-made logo FTW! Actual thought going into the logo FTW!  I think they’re winning. -R
    • Cindy Parlow Cone as head coach
      • No professional experience. But it’s not like professional experience has helped other coaches…
  • FC Kansas City
    • This is the Colorado Rapids of the Newsill. I will forget about them. -J
  • Chicago Red Stars
    • Eclipse? – J
    • Notre Dame? -R
    • Will play at Benedictine and Northwestern.
  • Western New York Flash
    • Question: Do they get to add a championship star to their logo, or does SBFC have to remove theirs?
  • DC Spirit
    • Yeeeeouch.
    • They asked for fan involvement in the naming (+1), but they put such restrictions on it that it could only end up bad to worse (-2)
    • But Krieger has already said this is the team she wants to play for, so I guess it doesn’t matter HOW you brand the team, people will love it for her.
  • Sky Blue FC
    • Forget what I said earlier, THIS is the team I will forget about. -J
    • This is the team that we ALWAYS forget about, and they don’t do anything to help out here. -R
  • Boston Breakers
    • You guys are bound to crash out in the playoffs, tragically. So… you got that going for you. -J

Following up on the fun in São Paulo, Mexico put its money behind the young up-and-coming players that didn’t still have a year or two of their NCAA schools paying for them to play. (Which by the way, the breakdown by NCAA school is here.) And that’s a pretty good, calculated investment for Mexico, with the next World Cup being hosted in CONCACAF.

D Alina Lisi Garciamendez Rowold – Apr. 16, 1991
M Veronica Raquel Perez Murillo – May 18, 1988
M Teresa Noyola Bayardo – April 15, 1990
F Maribel Dominguez Castelan – Nov. 18, 1978
F Monica Ocampo Medina – Jan. 4, 1987
GK Aurora Cecilia Santiago Cisneros – Oct. 19, 1994
M Lydia Nayeli Rangel Hernandez – Feb. 28, 1992
F Renae Nicole Cuellar Cuellar – June 24, 1990
M Teresa Guadalupe Worbis Aguilar – Dec. 12, 1983
F Anisa Raquel Guajardo Braff – March 10, 1991
M Dinora Lizeth Garza Rodriguez – Jan. 24, 1988
D Jennifer Marie Ruiz Brown – Aug. 9, 1983
D Luz del Rosario Saucedo Soto – Dec. 14, 1983
D Rubi Marlene Sandoval Nungaray – Jan. 18, 1984
GK Pamela Tajonar Alonso – Dec. 2, 1984
D Marylin Viridiana Diaz Ramirez -Nov. 18, 1991

That’s 6 players born before ’85 (and you can almost ignore that as being “old” for a GK, since they age differently), 3 born between ’85-’90, and 7 born between ’90-’95. Out of 16 listed players, almost half of them were born in the 90s.

Bring it on, 2015.

Women’s soccer got its first youth World Cup in 2002: an Under-19 tournament held in Canada (and, technically, called a “World Championship” then). This tournament continued every two years until 2006, when it became an Under-20 tournament; raising the age limit just that little bit made room for another, even younger age group: the U-17s, who competed in their first World Cup in 2008, in New Zealand.

The USA has always competed well at the U-19/U-20 level: they won the first WC in 2002, placed third and fourth in 2004 and 2006, then won it again in 2008 and most recently in 2012. In 2010, the US U-20s lost in the quarterfinals, the worst showing in their history.

The Under-17s have had three World Cups to date: 2008, 2010, and 2012. In that time, unlike their older sister teams, the U-20s and the senior national team, the US U-17s have not won the Cup even once. Their first attempt in 2008 was their best showing: they lost to North Korea in the final. In 2012, the United States failed to even advance to the quarterfinals… by placing third in their group on goal-differential, behind the two eventual finalists, having given up only a single goal.

But that isn’t even the worst showing for the U-17s. In 2010, the US U-17s failed to even qualify for the World Cup. Also without giving a single goal in the qualifying tournament.

What is it about that age group? And what kind of impact would that “worst ever” showing have on the soccer careers of those who lived through it?

With the U-17s group-stage exit from the World Cup in Azerbaijan coming hot on the heels of the U-20s championship run through their age group’s World Cup in Japan, we got to thinking. It’s about time we properly caught up with the 2010 U-17s, a unique group that unfortunately didn’t have the chance to shine on the international stage. Despite eligibility, only a couple were included in the qualifiers and World Cup in the recent U-20 cycle. Some of the now-sophomores have had successful starts to their college careers. The youngest ones are now two months into their freshmen years or, in Lindsey Horan’s case, professional career. [A/N: Obviously we started this months ago... freshman and sophomore seasons are now on the books.]

Although about half of these names stay on our radar year ‘round, some we hear about only in passing or not at all anymore. So here we’ll take a look around the nation (and briefly overseas) at one of the best U.S. squads to date. (In the next joint post, we’ll take a look at what our options look like for the next U-20/U-17 cycle, based on 2010/2012.)

The Team in 2010

In looking at the minutes played and field positions within the team, distinctions can be made. Firstly, there was the “spine” of the squad: the six players who played the center of the field, front to back, and started all five games in qualifying, playing nearly every minute of the tournament. These did not vary: Dahlkemper as the sole centerback, Wedemeyer as the defensive midfielder, Brian and Clarke as the attacking midfielders, and Lindsey Horan as the forward.

In the end, Abby Dahlkemper alone played every single minute, but all six started every game, and each played at least a half.

There are two players who could be placed here with the core, but for whatever reasons saw significantly fewer minutes: Taylor Smith was Lindsey Horan’s strike partner in front, and played every game, but saw less time on the field in total; she subbed in late in one game, and was subbed out of two others. And Jaelene Hinkle, at left back, played every minute of the first four games, but sat out the final game.

Next come the outside backs, wingers and supersubs, each of whom sat out at least one game. The right backs and right middies – Torres, Roccaro and Brannon – traded position often from game to game and even within games; one subbing for another, moving up or back, being subbed out by a third. The left side was mainly Doll in midfield and Hinkle in back, with Farrell usually replacing Doll.

Then came the “the rest,” who got limited minutes. Every player on the squad played at least one game, even the backup goalkeepers – surprisingly, all three keepers played, in just five games. Compare this to the U-20s in 2010 or 2012, in which there was a definite “number one” goalkeeper, who (nearly) always started and always played the entire game.

Where Are They Now?

Morgan Brian – sophomore midfielder at University of Virginia.

This is the age group’s Golden Child, the USWNT heir apparent and all that. She is a consistent starter in both of her years at UVA and a fixture at the youth national team level. As a freshman, she racked up the accolades: Soccer America National Freshman of the Year, NSCAA 1st Team All-American, MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist, ACC Freshman of the Year, 1st Team All-ACC… and so on. She appeared in 23 games for the Cavaliers and started in 22 of those. Even as a freshman, she was second on the team in scoring, notching 11 goals and 8 assists.

Brian was also a major part of the 2012 U-20 run. She was again a consistent starter and played significant minutes in qualifiers and the World Cup. Although 2012 gave her the added benefit of playing for a YNT squad under her college coach (Steve Swanson), she’s clearly being groomed for a national team spot. Brian played in every game of the U-20s CONCACAF qualifiers and their World Cup campaign. During the World Cup, she missed only 16 minutes of play.

After spending the start of the 2012 NCAA season at the 2012 U-20 WWC, Brian came back and started 13 of 15 games. She and fellow 2010 Kaili Torres tied for 5th on the team with 15 pts (Brian having 4 goals and 7 assists). She did not start in Virginia’s 3-2 loss at home to Duke in the 3rd round of the NCAA tournament.

• 2010 U-17 Quals: Played all 5 games, scored 7 goals, including hat-trick against Cayman Islands. 4 assists: 1 each against Haiti and Cayman Islands, 2 against Costa Rica (one in each game).
• 2012 U-20 Quals: Played in 4 of 5 games, scoring one goal and assisting on another.
  2012 U-20 WWC: Played in all 6 games, 554 mins, only missing 16 mins – 3rd on the team, behind Pathman and Heaberlin, who didn’t miss any. 1 goal and 0 assists.

Bryane Heaberlin – freshman goalkeeper at UNC

Heaberlin graduated high school early to join North Carolina in January 2012. As a freshman at UNC, Heaberlin saw limited time in goal in 2012: she subbed into just 7 games, and had no starts. This is at least partially due to her missing so much time for the U-20s, and the inherently conservative nature of the goalkeeper position. But she’s got 3 more years ahead of her, and will be a better position to compete for starts in the future.

Of the three players to make it to the 2012 U-20s, and subsequently win a WWC of their own, Heaberlin has the distinction of being the only one of those three to also win a NCAA College Cup – although she did not actually play in the College Cup. (Alex Doll did win the College Cup in 2011 with Stanford, and played in the final, but did not make it on the 2012 U-20 team.)

Less happily, she also has the distinction of living through two penalty kick shootout losses in youth World Cups, and both in the same year. Just months after the U-17 qualifier loss in 2010, Heaberlin was a backup goalkeeper for the US U-20 team in their own World Cup campaign – a position she obviously would have not have been in had the U-17s themselves qualified. In the quarterfinals, Heaberlin watched from the bench as her team again lost a shootout in a knock-out round. Somehow, she found the heart to keep playing….

Equally notable about Bryane Heaberlin, next to her roller-coaster ride of a soccer career, is her charity work. The Haiti U-17s competed in World Cup qualifying despite suffering a devastating earthquake just months before. After CONCACAF qualifying, Heaberlin created the Many Hearts, One Goal foundation, which continues to help those Haitian players continue their soccer careers.

• 2010 U-17 Quals: Played 3 of the 5 games; in group play against Haiti and Costa Rica (the USA’s toughest group opponent ), and the ill-fated semi-final against Canada. She, and US as a whole, did not give up a single goal in the entire tournament… aside from the deciding shootout of course.

• 2012 U-20 Quals: Played 4 of 5 games, allowing just one goal (in the final against Canada)
  2012 U-20 WWC: Played every minute of all 6 games. Group play was tougher here: she and the US gave up 4 goals, including 3 in a bad loss to Germany, then another goal against North Korea in the quarterfinal. But she can boast a clean sheet in both the semifinal against Nigeria, and – most importantly – in the final against Germany.

Cari Roccaro – freshman everything-but-goalkeeper at Notre Dame

Roccaro missed part of college season with the U-20s, but immediately after returning to South Bend, Roccaro made an impact on the Irish lineup. As a freshman, she started in all 16 of the games that she played in and went from being a fixture on the U-20 backline to playing defense, midfield, and forward for Notre Dame (sometimes all in a single game). Despite missing 8 games, she ended the season tied for 3rd in points on the team with 13 points (6 goals and 1 assist). Notre Dame was unseeded in the 2012 NCAA tournament but proceeded to beat Wake Forest (3rd seed) in the 2nd round, then Florida (2nd seed) in the 3rd round, before falling 1-0 to eventual Final Four contender Florida State in the quarterfinals.

• 2010 U-17 Quals: Played in 4 of the 5 games, excluding the match against the Cayman Islands. She started in three: vs Haiti, vs Costa Rica in group, and vs Costa Rica again in the 3rd place match. She recorded 33 minutes as a substitute in the semifinal loss to Canada.
• 2012 U-20 Quals: Played 3 of 5 games, scoring a goal.
  2012 U-20 WWC: Played in 5 of the 6 games, excluding the opening match against Ghana. Started vs China, Korea DPR, Nigeria, and Germany in the finals, playing full minutes in all of the games that she started. She came on as a second half sub in the group stage loss to Germany. Noteworthy, given her NCAA performance: she is credited with zero goals and zero assists in the WWC.

The three players above  - Brian, Heaberlin and Roccaro – are the only three to transfer successfully from the 2010 U-17 qualifying roster to the 2012 U-20 Women’s World Cup roster. Lindsey Horan (below) would have gone to the WWC, as she was a key striker in qualifying, but dropped out due to a knee injury and rehab. Abby Smith was a backup goalkeeper in both 2010 and 2012, and saw very limited time in both (and did not play in the 2012 U-20 Women’s World Cup at all).

Lindsey Horan – forward, professional with French team Paris Saint-Germain (!)

Lindsey Horan is a special case in her post-2010 story. A very special case, in fact: she chose to forego an American college education and soccer-playing career and instead signed a contract – while still in high school! – with the French professional soccer team PSG, in Paris. An education is reportedly also provided with the contract [A/N: that could be a pretty serious amount of money once Horan gets around to pursuing the degree]. This makes Horan not only the first woman to go professional overseas straight from high school, but in fact the first American of either gender to do so.

And her time at PSG has been productive: of the 12 games before the winter break, she played in 11 of them, and has scored 8 goals (rather, at least 8; information for one of the games seems to be missing…) in that time.

PSG seem to be pretty proud of her; here’s a PSG interview from October, when she was new. And a bit later, We Are PSG Women, when she was more settled.

• 2010 U-17 Quals: Played in all 5 games, with 9 goals and 6 assists
• 2012 U-20 Quals: Played in all 5 games, scoring 4 goals (second on the team)
  2012 U-20 WWC: (did not play due to injury and recovery)

Kaysie Clark – sophomore midfielder with University of Missouri

Kaysie saw only a few U-20 camps post-2010, and did not make the final team. But she’s been a mainstay for her college team in her first two years. She started all 21 games as a freshman, scored two goals and had a team-leading five assists. As a sophomore, she played in 19 of the 22 games, starting 17 of them, while scoring 4 goals and 3 assists.

Mizzou lost in the first round of the 2012 NCAA tournament to Illinois in a penalty shootout.

Clarissa Wedemeyer – Texas in 2011, reportedly has now quit soccer

Wedemeyer is one of two players on this squad (Jennifer Gonzalez is the other) who not only has not played again for the United States in later youth brackets, but has since stopped playing soccer entirely; after one year at the University of Texas, where she missed the first 12 games of the season due to a foot injury, she has since dropped out of the program and no longer plays. She played 9 games in her Texas career, and started 4 of them.

Her absence from the sport is especially significant in that she was part of the core of the U-17 squad; she started every game, and was only subbed out in the second half of the last game.

Abby Dahlkemper – UCLA sophomore central defender

Has started and played every game for UCLA in her first two years (44 games so far), and has been named all-conference defender several times. In 2012 as a sophomore, she scored 3 goals (including 2 game-winners) and 3 assists… all as a center back.

In 2012, UCLA lost in the third round to Stanford.

Taylor Smith – UCLA freshman forward

One of the few (or perhaps the only?) undecided players in terms of college commitment at the time of the 2010 CONCACAF tournament, Smith joined Dahlkemper at UCLA in 2012. She played in all 23 games and started in 17 of those. Finished second on the team (behind Bywaters) in points (34) and goals (8); also had 4 assists. Interestingly, she had the highest shot % (8 goals from 32 shots; Bywaters scored nearly twice as much with almost 3 times the shots) and second in SOG % (behind Chelsea Cline, with 0.562 – 18 shots of 32 on goal).

UCLA lost to Stanford in the quarterfinals.

Alex Doll – Stanford sophomore forward

In a Stanford roster crowded with international talent, Doll made a significant impact even as a freshman, when she played in 23 of the 2011 season’s 26 games, and even earned an assist. More importantly, though, she helped Stanford win their first ever NCAA College Cup title by clearing the ball to safety in the final seconds. That win also gave her another distinction: she was the first of her U-17 squad to win a College Cup (only Heaberlin has also done so, in 2012). As a sophomore in 2012, Doll had even more of an impact with Stanford, starting 23 of 24 games, and, along with 3 assists, scoring 6 goals of her own. With those 15 points, she was tied for third on the team.

Stanford was unable to repeat as College Cup winners, however, losing in the semifinal to eventual winner North Carolina.

Laura Liedle – Stanford freshman, left back

Although Liedle initially appeared to be headed for Chapel Hill, she joined her 2010 U-17 teammate Alex Doll at Stanford, albeit one year behind her. As a freshman, she started all 23 games in 2012, and was third in minutes played behind two senior defenders. An attacking left back, she managed to assist in four goals on the year.

Stanford lost in the semifinals to UNC.

Caroline Stanley – Sophomore goalkeeper at USC

Stanley was a freshman as Missouri (with fellow 2010 U-17 Kaysie Clark), but transferred to USC for her sophomore year. At Mizzou, she appeared in just 4 games, which is not unusual for a freshman keeper – she also tallied time as a field player, which is unusual. As a sophomore at USC, however, she played in 18 of the 19 games in 2012, and started 17 of them. She can boast of 95 saves in those 18 games… and 32 goals allowed.

USC did not make the NCAA tournament in 2012.

Kaili Torres – University of Virginia sophomore forward, a Cross-Conference favorite

Not a big presence freshman year; she played in 21 games, but did not start even one, and scored 1 goal and 3 assists.

In 2012, she got more minutes when the U-20s (and head coach Swanson) were gone: played in all 24 games and started 4. A total of 5 goals and 5 assists (15 pts.) put her tied with Morgan Brian for 5th on the team in points on the season.

UVa lost in the 3rd round to Duke, 3-2.

Olivia Brannon – University of Virginia* sophomore

Brannon missed 2012 U-20s recovering from injury, didn’t miss college action, consistent starter on D… and then got mono. Announced transfer to Michigan for 2013 season. (This is not good news.)

UVa lost in the 3rd round to Duke, 3-2.

Ashley Spivey – Maryland freshman midfielder

Started all 23 games; 5 goals and 3 assists for 13 points (3rd on the team behind the two forwards – and 3rd with goals, too). Maryland’s quirky 2012 season (change of coach, etc) ended in an odd 3-2 loss to Denver in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament.

Spivey also played in the WPSL Elite in 2012 – the semi-pro league that attempted to fill in for WPS when that league folded after the 2011 season. With the ASA Chesapeake Charge, she saw time in 8 of the 13 games, with a goal and an assist.

Havana Solaun – Florida sophomore midfielder

As a freshman at Florida in 2011, Solaun played in 21 of the 25 games (4 starts), with 6 goals and 6 assists for 4th on the team in points. In 2012, as a sophomore, she had an even greater impact, nearly doubling her minutes played and starting all but one of 25 games, and finished second on the team in points with 7 goals and 8 assists.

Florida lost in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament to Notre Dame, 0-2.

Izzy Farrell – University of Washington freshman midfielder; Seattle Sounders Women

Farrell stayed local; having grown up in the Puget Sound area, she committed to the University of Washington in Seattle, and played with the W-League Seattle Sounders Women (at least in the preseason), alongside such senior national team stars as Alex Morgan and Hope Solo.

As a freshman with UW, Farrell played in all 21 games in 2012, starting 19 of them (and was the only freshman to start the season opener against Seattle U). Her 8 points from 2 goals and 4 assists puts her second on the team.

UW lost to Auburn in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Cassie Pecht – Duke freshman midfielder/forward

Pecht started in all 23 matches, contributing assists or goals in 15 of those for the Blue Devils, and set a new freshman assist record. Having scored 6 goals and 15 assists (27 points), she is tied for second in Duke’s record books for points in the freshman season. In the 2012 season, she was ranked third on the team in points.

As a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament, Duke defeated 2-seed Virginia (at Virginia) in the third round but fell 1-0 to top-seed Penn State in the quarterfinals.

Abby Smith – Texas sophomore goalkeeper

Smith played one full game in 2010, against the Cayman Islands, and one full game in the 2012 qualifiers, against Cuba. She was on the squad at the 2012 U-20 World Cup, but did not see time there – the curse of the backup goalkeeper. She is, presumably, still in the player pool, with the U-23s and on. Whether she’ll ever have the chance to become a number one keeper remains to be seen.

With Texas, she did not play as a freshman, but in 2012, did start all 12 games she played in, posting 7 shutouts and 34 saves, with just 8 goals allowed.

Texas did not qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Jaelene Hinkle – Texas Tech sophomore defender

As a freshman in 2011, Hinkle started in 19 of the 20 matches she played. She led the team in assists with 4, and scored 1 goal. In 2012, Hinkle was a consistent starter in all 23 of the Red Raiders’ games and tallied 5 assists on the season. Across her first two seasons, she’s racked up some Big 12 accolades.

Texas Tech lost in the 2nd round to 1-seed and eventual semifinalist Florida State, 2-3.

Jennifer Gonzalez – Committed to LBSU, was on the roster for 2011, but isn’t listed on the stat sheet or in any of the box scores. The strange case of the vanishing youth national team player! She seems to have quit soccer, but we welcome any insight to the contrary.

Here is what we currently know about DC:

• Nickname: Spirit
• Colors: blue, white, red
• Stadium: Maryland Soccerplex
• Head Coach: Mike Jorden
• Assistant Coaches: Cindi Harkes (former UVA player), Mark Parsons, Lloyd Yaxely
• Continuing W-League presence…
• …and youth academy
• Ali Krieger left Germany because she really wants to play here
• (My guess is that Wambach won’t be back, and I can really get behind that!)

I’ve never been a STH before for any team in any sport. I am rather pleased that a DC soccer team has the honor of being first, regardless of how I rag on them. Possibly even regardless of how they eventually build their team. This wouldn’t be the first time that I give my (at this point, nominal) money to a team I don’t like in order to be at soccer games, watching the sport I love, sometimes to watch visiting teams that I love. But this would be the first time that a team would have that money even if I can’t get down to the stadium to put my butt in the seat.

I live about 100 miles from the nearest NWSL team – which, for me, is Sky Blue FC. I’ve been to SBFC games, and I’ve been to Rutgers games during the NCAA season. I like the stadium, free parking, generosity of strangers, and watching my visiting squads beat Jersey teams on their own turf. I dislike the drive, the traffic, the turn-arounds, the gas stations, the general Jersey-ness of it all. I like free wifi and free, archived streams of games, but I dislike Tar Heels and organizations that are really obviously uncommunicative and secretive. I also dislike the cheesy color combo and lousy logo that SBFC sport. Great if you’re into that, but I’m not. They still get my money… when I’m there, which has been at least a few times each year since WPS launched, and even after it folded.

The Maryland Soccerplex is about 155 miles from me. The first time I went to a game there was in the summer of 2008, when the Washington Freedom W-League team was playing against some random team from Long Island or New Jersey.  Joan and I had a lot of fun, anyway. That was a very good weekend. The Soccerplex has since formed the core of my live soccer experience.

Even though the Washington Freedom WPS team wasn’t a favorite for either of us, we still went to the Plex for games on occasion. Friends of ours are/were STHs, and their drive was farther than ours from Silver Spring, I think. I’ve also made the trip to the Plex to watch college teams face off, not to mention Headers for Hope.

When that whole magicJack mess happened in the final year of WPS, I took it kind of personally, as a women’s soccer  fan. That was shady business even before the details came out, and it killed a long-standing tradition both for myself and American soccer as a whole. I think it also had a negative impact on the landscape of the US game, but let’s gloss over that for now.

Having a team in MD/DC is a bigger deal for me than having one in Philly. (Let’s face it, that’s the only place PA would have a women’s pro team. Pathetic.) So while I acknowledge that there are a lot of flaws in NWSL and perhaps a lot of things any cynic could complain about already with DC (which we touch on in our upcoming podcast), I already consider this my “home” team. And I’m actually kind of proud of that.

Women’s pro soccer is coming back to DC despite all of the bullshit that went down in those last two years of WPS. DC United, which filled that W-League void, is part of this return. Supporting this organization is kind of… my only way of flipping off Borislow. I’ll take it! I’ll also take 6-hour round trips to Maryland to watch games. Maybe not every game, because that’s a huge cost and a lot of travel, but I’ll do what I can to make sure my tickets get used in the best way possible. Even if I get a job that takes me away from the area or takes my time away from soccer, even if it puts me in range of another team, I’m completely satisfied with being a STH with DC. For me, that’s saying a lot.

So, even if Joan and I continue being our pessimistic and critical selves, likely even in the direction of the one team we have mutual ties to, just know – fellow fans and and DC Spirit staff/players – that I am very happy to have women’s soccer “back” in DC, representing at the highest level. I even put my money where my mouth is, when I can.

1 Aurora Cecilia Santiago Cisneros: 19-Oct-94
2 Pamela Tajonar Alonso: 02-Dic-84
3 Alina Lisi Garciamendez Rowold: 16-Abr-91
4 Rubí Marlene Sandoval Nungaray: 18-Ene-84
5 Jennifer Marie Ruiz Brown: 09-Ago-83
6 Vaitiare Kenti Robles Salas: 15-Feb-91
7 Arianna Jeanette Romero Téllez: 29-Jul-92
8 Bianca Sierra Garcia: 25-Jun-92
9 Marcela Valera Ceballos: 12-Abr-87
10 Paulina Lizeth Solís Echeverría: 13-Mar-96
11 Karla Paola Nieto Castillo: 09-Ene-95
12 Teresa Guadalupe Worbis Aguilar: 12-Dic-83
13 Dinora Lizeth Garza Rodriguez: 24-Ene-88
14 Verónica Raquel Perez Murillo: 18-May-88
15 Lydia Nayeli Rangel Hernandez: 28-Feb-92
16 Teresa Noyola Bayardo: 15-Abr-90
17 Anisa Raquel Guajardo Braff: 10-Mar-91
18 Renae Nicole Cuellar Cuellar: 24-Jun-90
19 Mónica Ocampo Medina: 4-Ene-87
20 Maribel Domínguez Castelán: 18-Nov-78
21 Sofía Chritine Huerta Jensen: 14-Dic-92

12 players (a.k.a half the damn roster) was born in the ’90s. For most of these young women, this won’t be their first showing with the senior side. This is a young team, but not inexperienced. (An additional four are younger than I am, so… yeah.) A handful of these kids are among the NCAA ranks in the US, and Garciamendez, obviously, still has one or two games left to play. I’m guessing Huerta has a pretty good chance of getting capped, given her performances with Mexico and Santa Clara this year.

Mexico is scheduled to play Denmark on December 5th, Brazil on the 12th, and Portugal on the 16th, with a  final on the 19th.

Meanwhile, I have done a little bit of writing this college season, which I think CC readers/listeners will appreciate. It combines some of our favorite Cross-Conference topics: Broncos, players doing cool things, cool things that fly under the radar, and rainbows. And by rainbows, I mean The Gays. (And by The Gays, I mean the LGBTQ community and its allies.)

The article, published on the Our Game Magazine website last Friday, is entitled “Bronco Pride, Santa Clara Allies.” It was incredibly nerve wracking to write, and really not so easy to edit. I had two great interviews to build from with Meleana Shim and Margueritte Aozasa that I wish could have been part of a podcast – so much from the interviews didn’t make it into the article (and might not make it into the follow-up).

Since the follow-up hasn’t been finalized, I don’t want to get too much into the meta of the writing process just yet, but that is a topic I want to come back to on CC. In the meantime, check out the article and check out my Broncos! (Who meet Stanford next in the second round of the NCAAs, oh my heart.) And hey, let’s talk about how awesome it is when college players show some agency and do great things, instead of becoming an ESPN highlight reel for lack of sportsmanship.

Important: Joan will be in Portland for the UND-Pilots game. Please say hello to her!

Discussed: No intro this week as Joan lost her voice due to a summer cold. Joan relays the most bizarre thing that has ever happened. Then we talk women’s soccer! U20 WWC, NCAA and we’ll be seeing a game together!

Download MP3: 

Shownotes are below!

Ask Me.

U-20s

• Stupid Coaches Saying Stupid Things
  • We don’t need no stinkin’ tactics!
  • Playing for a point would have been the wrong thing to do.
    • Except Canada kind of needed that point to contend for a quarterfinal spot
• New Zealand
  • Less of a heart attack than everyone else
  • But apparently don’t know how to play a full 90 if they aren’t the underdogs from the start
    • Tried to cruise to a tie against Mexico, and Mexico made them pay
    • This was an instance where playing for a point WAS the wrong thing to do
• CONCACAF
  • Emphasis on the “F”
    • Canada and USA struggling
    • Mexico with a rocky start, bounce back effectively
      • Aww, Gonzo congratulated them!
      • Does the USWNT even know the U-20 WWC is happening right now?
        • I’m sure some are aware, but they’re busy preparing for their celebration tour that they just heard about. ;) -j
        • Confirmation: Krieger is aware, too embarrassed with the US performance to do more than mention she watched the game
    • Standard CONCACAF business
      • Canada out
      • USA looking stupid but advancing anyway
        • Can we bring Tony in to kick off some players mid-tournament? -j
      • Mexico being all ‘haters whaaat’
• Quarterfinals (ESPNU/ESPN3):
  • Nigeria vs Mexico – going to be a hell of a game
  • Japan vs South Korea – Koreans are going to get squashed; didn’t even qualify for this tournament to begin with
  • Korea DPR vs USA – hahaha well at least it’s not Germany
  • Germany vs Norway – hahaha well that’s what you get for slacking off, Canada

NCAA

• Stanford vs Penn State was MOST EXCELLENT
  • 3-2 win for Stanford, but a very even game
  • Fab freshmen: PSU’s Weber, Stanford’s Liedle
  • And I’m sort of glad I didn’t go to this game
• UNCG beat Wake Forest
  • Big upset
• SANTA CLARA BEAT CAL AT CAL
  • I am probably the only one that cares
  • No, this is great! (Can we talk about how this means Jerry Smith will never ever leave?) -j
• Tennessee, UCLA, and UNC (?) getting Kiwis back, everyone else getting Canadians
• Florida beat Duke and tied UNC (who barely beat Montreal)
• STANFORD LOST TO WVU
  • But this is probably just a case of the Sundays
  • And also Verloo being out injured
• Pilots
  • 1-0 loss to Oregon State at home…
  • 2-0 win against UO (again at home)
  • It was a miracle we made it to playoffs last year. It will be less of a miracle this year, but I don’t think we’ll get to host.
  • Joan will be going to the Notre Dame game
    • And eating.
  • Ruth suspects the Notre Dame game will be very telling for both sides
• We’ll go to UVA @ UMD!