http://www.yardbarker.com/content/sport/39 Recent Yardbarker articles: College Soccer en-us North Carolina (11-1-1) Women's Soccer team is still second in the national ranking from the NSCAA. Notre Dame is still the number one team in the country, while Portland is still third. Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:06:28 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/348782 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/348782 In this week's national rankings at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, the Heels once again fall a bit, after suffering a lost last week to ACC foe Virginia. Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:28:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/347937 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/347937 More accolades arrive for junior striker Casey Nogueira, who was selected earlier as co-Progress Energy Performers Of The Week, along side Bruce Carter of the football team. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:21:36 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/346611 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/346611 The simplest of phrases uttered from the mouth of junior Najma Homidi easily described the night for the Oregon State women's soccer team. "You have got to be kidding me," she said right after the match, one which the Beavers (5-4-1) had in the bag if not for one quick lapse of concentration as Fresno State (3-7-1) scored in the 90th minute and the match ended in a 1-1 tie Friday night. As time wound down, Fresno State midfielder Krissy Looney set up for a corner kick; arched a gorgeous ball into the middle of the box and was headed in by sophomore defender Allyson Ventura. The equalizer was the deciding factor of the match, as the Bulldogs had been seeking their first goal of the match since the 49th minute when Homidi found the back of the net for the Beavers, giving them a 1-0 lead. "We were pretty distraught," said junior midfielder Rachael Axon. "We definitely deserved the game, a bit of a bummer, especially with three seconds left on the clock, but we have gone into overtime the last three weeks, so it's just how it goes." Much like the Weber State match last week in which Oregon State had numerous opportunities on goal, the Beavers out-shot the Bulldogs 18-7, but only found the back of the net once, with Homidi's lone goal in the match. "I think first half we didn't come out as sharp as we wanted to," Homidi said. "We didn't do the things we needed to do, so the opportunities weren't as great. In the second half there were opportunities, just like against Weber State that we didn't put away, simple as that." Junior defender Red Nixon led the Beavers with six shots, with one coming midway through the first overtime which would have ended the match, but the shot was just off. Little things seemed to be the name of the game for the Beavers Friday night as there were many good balls placed throughout the match, the ladies just could not capitalize. "When we go out, we panic," Axon said, "and lose at what we're best at, so we start hitting long balls and we're more of a possession team, if we can maintain what we are good at for the full 90 minutes than we can beat any team that we come up against." Physicality was also a factor in the match, as Fresno State was significantly bigger than the Beavers, which resulted in an abundance of fouls. Teams were about even in that aspect of the match, as the Bulldogs recorded ten fouls to Oregon State's nine, which resulted in numerous delays throughout the match, which seemed to kill any momentum that either team had going. "I think most teams we come up against are pretty physical anyway," Axon said, "so we are always ready for a good game. Fouls slow down your momentum; second half we definitely outplayed them, they got a lot more physical, which slowed down our rhythm, so it was hard to connect." Fresno State certainly had no quit in them at all Friday night, as they continued to battle back and create opportunities for themselves until they eventually came out with the equalizer they were looking for. It was a match that Oregon State deserved to win, but the result could have easily gone either way, and on this night neither team would come out on top. "We just wanted to come out here and prove something," said Fresno State goalkeeper Kaitlyn Revel. "We have two more games before our WAC season starts and we were just trying to play with a lot of heart." This was the eighth straight match that was decided by one goal or less for Oregon State, who opens up Pac-10 play next week against #20 California. Although they are ten matches into their season already, the Beavers still have some kinks to work out, and they must be done quickly in order to be successful in a tough Pac-10 conference. "Our first half wasn't as good, or as sharp as we need to be," Homidi said, "so just making those adjustments, making sure that everyone is sharp and on their game. So if everybody is on their game then we will be fine against Cal and Stanford." Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:16:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/345889 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/345889 Following a heartbreaking overtime loss to Weber State last week, the Oregon State women's soccer team looks to rebound against the Fresno State Bulldogs tonight at Lorenz Field. The Beavers (5-4-0) last seven matches have been decided by one goal, and finish up their non-conference schedule tonight against the Bulldogs (3-7-0). "It's a big game. Every game is a big game," said junior forward Najma Homidi. "It is our last shot to prove to ourselves that we worked so hard this season,and this far that come Pac-10, we are ready, that we can go into the Pac-10 confidently." Homidi leads the Beavers into tonight's match with the most goals scored (3), and points overall (7). She has recorded 24 shots on goal and has started all nine games thus far this season, but despite her veteran leadership, the team still remains young and is still looking on improving on numerous aspects heading into Pac-10 play after the Fresno State match. "We have a lot of young players," said Homidi, "so we have improved in the sense that we have to know how to put each player in a position that adds to their strengths, so once we have knowledge of that, then we grew, played quicker, knowing where to play the ball, just knowing how to play off of each other, everybody's styles, that's what we've built on." Coming into the match the Bulldogs are led by freshman defender Molly Nizzoli, who leads the team with four goals and nine points. The Beavers however are not looking to focus just on Nizzoli, herself, with Fresno State being a physical team, their sights will be on the defender, but the whole team will be the main focus. "If there is a player that we need to key in on, put emphasis on her, but that will not take our attention off of the team, we will just need to keep an eye on her." Reflecting on the Weber State match last week, the Beavers dominated offensively, but you couldn't tell by the score. The Beavers had no problem setting up shots on goal, but finishing was the issue, an issue that needs to be resolved in order to defeat a bigger, more physical Fresno State team. "I know that it's gonna be a physical match," Homidi said about the matchup against Fresno State, "so we need to prepare for that mentally, knowing that it's going to be a physical match. We just need to stand guard, make sure that we don't give up the ball easily. I'm pretty sure they can play,also, they can move the ball,but I think it's more physical." Offensively the Beavers will look to create opportunities for Homidi and junior midfielder Rachael Axon, who is third on the team in scoring with three points. As noted earlier, the last seven matches have been decided by one goal, an issue that can be resolved by finishing opportunities made, many of which were wasted in the Weber State match last week. "It was a loss, but if you look at the overall game we had 20 shots to their 8, sometimes it's just bad luck," Homidi said regarding the Weber State match. "So what we can build on, obviously we dominated,we just have to have that mentality now that we can dominate teams." Coming into the matchup against the Beavers, sophomore Fresno State goalkeeper Kaitlyn Revel has seen most of the time in the net, recording 1.66 goals against average per match in 10 appearances this season. Comparing the Beavers 125 shots on goal this season to Revel's GAA,the Beavers should have plenty of opportunities for goals in this match, and finish their non-conference schedule on a high note. After tonight's home match against Fresno state at 5:00 PM, the Beavers start off the Pac-10 conference play by heading down to Berkeley, California for their away match against the #22 Golden Bears of California (7-3-0), who should prove to be a tough matchup for the Beavers. Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:15:20 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/345886 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/345886 Alexandra Pafko (Blaine, Minn.) scored three first half goals to lead the St. Cloud State soccer team (5-4-0, 3-2-0) to a 4-0 road win over Minnesota, Crookston (1-8-1, 0-5-0) today, Oct. 4. Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:44:26 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/345172 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/345172 Was the Ukrainian side Shakhtar shafted by Barcelona? One of their players went down and they were expecting Barcelona to play the ball out of bounds. Instead, the ball was played down the line to Bojan and he swung the ball across the goalmouth on the ground and the keeper bobbled it right to an incoming Messi. A gift goal. Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:30:52 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/344868 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/344868 Yesterday I had the possibility, thanks to Fox Soccer Channel, to watch the third ranked North Carolina (10-1-1, 3-0-0 in the ACC) Women's soccer play against conference rival ninth ranked Duke (9-2-1, 1-1-1 in the ACC). Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:58:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/344489 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/344489 After two great games, where North Carolina (9-1-1) Women's Soccer team outscored their opponents by 10-2, and had two of its players have hat tricks, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) rewarded them by moving the Heels up a spot from last week in the National Rankings. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:53:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343664 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343664 North Carolina (7-1-1) Men's Soccer team moved up a bit in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) National Rankings, going from 15th to 12th. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:06:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343402 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343402 Thanks to two outstanding games last week, against Clemson and Maryland, junior middi Tobin Heath was named TopDrawerSoccer Player of the Week. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:18:59 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343384 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/343384 The Big East honor roll has rewarded senior goalie Robert Cavicchia on Monday, September 29th for his play last week against two Top 25 squads. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:06:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/342072 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/342072 In the ACC home opener, the third ranked North Carolina (9-1-1, 2-0 in the ACC) Women's Soccer team scored five goals for the second game in a row. UNC beat Maryland (4-5-1, 0-2 in the ACC) 5-0, behind a hat trick by one of the many talented freshmen on Anson Dorrance's squad. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:09:02 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/341664 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/341664 With their out of conference schedule done the third ranked Carolina (8-1-1, 1-0-0 in the ACC) Women's Soccer team entered the ACC play against Clemson (4-4, 0-1-0 in the ACC). The result was a very impressive 5-2 win on the road for Anson Dorrance's club. Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:19:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339851 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339851 As the North Carolina Women's Soccer team begins to show what type of power house they are one of its member, Whitney Engen, was honored in multiple ways. Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:01:18 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339216 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339216 All right, so we're back with Bear Tracks. What we've chosen to do is break it up by men's, women's, and mixed sports. Mixed sports? Yes, we are going to consider the sports mixed if both men and women are on the same team, doing the same events, or have news relative to both men's and women's teams... Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:26:09 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339107 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339107 After a loss on the road, the 15th ranked UNC (6-1-1) Men's Soccer team is back on the right track, defeating Elon (2-5-1) at home by the score of 2 to 1. Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:34:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339077 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/339077 After another great week for the UNC (7-1-1) Women's Soccer team, with two wins at the Duke adidas tournament where they outscored their opponents 10-0, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) kept the Lady Heels in third place in the rankings. Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:44:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/338117 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/338117 In the second game of the Duke adidas Classic third ranked UNC (7-1-1) took care of Fordham (3-3-1) by the score of 6-0. In the game the Heels out shot their opponents 32-4, and had a 7-0 advantage in corner kicks. Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:28:21 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/337786 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/337786 I am a bit late in updating the Syracuse Men's Soccer team, mainly because of some family things, so I am going to deal with the last two games for this team. Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:33:56 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/336559 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/336559 After a steady rise through the polls the seventh ranked UNC (5-1-1, 1-1-0 in the ACC) Men's Soccer team stumbles in their second conference game of the season. Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:41:10 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/336143 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/336143 It is no surprise that North Carolina (6-1-1) Women's Soccer team wins a game, what could be one is the fact that four reserves scored in the game. Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:10:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/336070 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/336070 From the North Carolina official web site a small story about Women's Soccer senior midd Yael Averbuch Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:26:25 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/335708 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/335708 Italian teams made 4 out of 4 in the UEFA Cup Thursday night. Indeed, in the round just before the Group Stage all four Serie A sides in action recorded first-leg victories, some welcome news after the difficulties Roma and Fiorentina encountered in the Champions League. Uefa.com reports. Seven-time winners AC Milan are having to adjust to a rare season without UEFA Champions League football (not to mention a terrible start to the Serie A campaign) and they quickly found their feet with a morale-boosting triumph against FC Zurich. Meanwhile Sampdoria were the night's big winners, hitting five past FBK Kaunas in Genoa, while Napoli held off a spirited Benfica and Udinese impressed in their away win to Borussia Dortmund. Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:30:49 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/335137 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/335137 After slipping a bit last week the North Carolina (5-1-1) Women's Soccer team is once again on an upswing. In the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) for this week the Lady Heels are third in the national rankings. Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:39:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/335064 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/335064 This year the North Carolina Men's Soccer team started out of the Top 25 of the rankings. Now, just a few weeks into the season, with a 4-0-1 record, the Heels have moved well into the rankings. Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:26:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/334407 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/334407 I have to say that after tieing third ranked Stanford in the game before (played on Friday), I thought that fifth ranked UNC (5-1-1) might struggle against 15th ranked Santa Clara, who had been upset in the first game of the Stanford Invitational. Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:57:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/333115 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/333115 In what had to be a great game for the 2,700 in attendance, the showdown between two Top 5 teams, Carolina (4-1-1) Women's Soccer and Stanford (5-0-1) played to a 1-1 tie in the Stanford Invitational. Sat, 13 Sep 2008 08:59:14 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/332397 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/332397 Another game for Syracuse (3-0-2) Men's Soccer team and another game in their unbeaten streak against non-conference foes. Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:18:27 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/331966 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/331966 As I said before this game, it was going to be a match between two Top 15 teams, which should have meant a great game. It was, as number 15 Carolina (3-0-1) and number 14 UCLA (1-2-1) played to a 1-1 tie in the second game of the Deacon Fall Classic for both teams. Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:32:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/330778 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/330778