Kasey Moore (above) scored two goals in UT's 3-1 win over Kentucky
Photo courtesy of UT
The UT Longhorns moved up to No. 8 in the country after a pair of quality road wins last weekend. They got three goals in a three-minute span of the second half to beat Kentucky, 3-1, then edged No. 25 Louisville, 1-0, on a Niki Arlitt goal a couple of minutes into double overtime. Kasey Moore scored twice against UK, the second multigoal game from a defender in the young season. The Horns are home this weekend, hosting UT-San Antonio at 7pm Friday, Sept. 5 (donate five cans of food and get a free pair of Longhorn Crocs), and Arizona at 7pm Sunday, Sept. 7 ($3 admission with web coupon).
St. Edward's Junior midfielder Kevin Klaus – last seen with the Austin Aztex U-23s – scored two goals and an assist to lead the Hilltoppers past Regis, 4-1, in their season opener Sunday. The Hilltoppers women open their season against Colorado State-Pueblo, 1pm Sunday, Sept. 7.
World Cup qualifying gets under way in earnest around the world this weekend with more than 60 matches and another 40+ to follow Wednesday. The U.S. Men travel to Cuba, their first match there since 1947 (7pm Saturday, Sept. 6, live on ESPN Classic and Galavision), then host Trinidad and Tobago in Illinois (Wednesday, Sept. 10, 7pm, ESPN2).
The Texas Homeless Network presents the Face the Homeless Film Fest, Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the Alamo Ritz, 320 E. Sixth. The program includes the Texas premiere of Kicking It, a documentary about the 2006 Homeless World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa. That film is 3-5pm ($25); the full event is 8:30am-5pm ($75). Among those in attendance: a player with the Entourage Austin Street Soccer team who's been selected for the national team that's going to Australia for the 2008 HWC in December.
For full event info, download this PDF; see also www.kickingitthefilm.com, www.streetsocceraustin.org, and www.homelessworldcup.org.
St. Edward's women (17-3 last season) are ranked 23rd in the NCAA Division II preseason rankings. They start their season today with a scrimmage against Southwestern: Thursday, Aug. 28, 5pm. The Hilltopper men start their regular season Sunday, Aug. 31, 1pm against Regis. Both teams compete in the tough Heartland Conference, along with national powers St. Mary's and Incarnate Word of San Antonio.
Below: more home teams: Longhorns, Stoke City, U.S. Men and Women, MLS in CONCACAF.
There were several upsets in the European Champions League final qualifying round on Thursday (Cypriots Anorthosis ousting Greek giants Olympiakos; BATE Borisov becoming the first Belarussians ever to advance to the group stage), but most of the heavy favorites advanced (England's Arsenal and Liverpool; Spain's Atletico Madrid and Barcelona; Italy's Fiorentina and Juventus, making it four teams from each of those countries in the final 32).
The eighth-ranked UT Longhorns open their regular season at home against Samford this Friday, Aug. 22 at 7pm (Mike A. Myers Stadium, Manor Rd. at Red River. $7 for adults, $4 youth & seniors). They tuned up last weekend with a 3-1 win in Los Angeles, over a pretty good Loyola-Marymount team. And in a coaches poll, the Horns were narrowly picked over Texas A&M as the Big 12 favorite, while preseason all-league honors went to senior defenders Stephanie Logterman and Kasey Moore, and sophomore forward Niki Arlitt, last year's second-leading scorer.
Tough start for Stoke City in their first-ever game in the English Premier League: a comprehensive 3-1 loss to Bolton, who barely escaped relegation last season. Next up: the home opener against Aston Villa, this Saturday, Aug. 23, 1:30pm, live on FSC. A group of Stoke/Austin Aztex supporters will be watching in the back room at Mother Egan's (715 W. Sixth).
Olympic soccer finals: the U.S. Women play Brazil Thursday at 8am, right as this paper's being distributed. The Men's final, Argentina-Nigeria, is live on CNBC at 11pm Friday night. Game of the tournament so far: Argentina thoroughly frustrating arch-rival Brazil in the semifinal, 3-0. Not a good sign for the Brazilians under embattled coach Dunga, who currently sit fifth in South American qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
Speaking of the WC, watch this space for the result from the U.S. opener at Guatemala, being played just after press time Wednesday night.
The U.S. men open World Cup qualifying group play tomorrow night in Guatemala City. Should be a good match; Guatemala has never qualified, but they've got a few really top-class players, and they really think this could be their year.
Here's a good article from the Washington Post.
The game will be shown live on ESPN2; the Austin Aztex supporters' group, Chantico's Army, will be getting together at their home-away-from-home, the back room at Mother Egan's (715 W. Sixth), trying to get rid of the bitter Olympic soccer aftertaste.
The Austin Aztex U-23s earned three top honors in the Premier Development League all-league selections recently announced: Wolfgang Suhnholz as Coach of the Year, Beto Papandrea as Defender of the Year, and Miguel Gallardo Goalkeeper of the Year...
To no one's surprise, the Aztex have announced Gallardo as their first pro signing for the USL First Division team's 2009 roster...
Stoke City's Academy team is in town, and has three exhibition friendlies scheduled for this weekend: Vs. Lonestars 91 Red: Thu., Aug. 14, 6:30pm. Vs. Rayados of Monterey, Mexico: Sat., Aug. 16, 10am. Vs. Lonestars 92 Red: Sun., Aug. 17, noon. Town & Country Sports Complex fields 26 & 27, 9100 Meadowheath Dr. (near Research & 620). www.austinaztex.com for more info…
The Aztex supporters group, Chantico's Army ASG, now has a motto: Cor Unum (One Heart).
The U.S. men’s Olympic soccer team has broken its goalless streak by defeating Japan 1-0 in their opening game. The Houston Dynamo’s Stuart Holden latched onto a pass from Marvell Wynne (after being deflected by a Japanese defender), and sent a low shot that Japanese goalkeeper, Shusaku Nishikawa, couldn’t handle. The ever-experienced Brian McBride got the start, with wonder kid Jozy Altidore surprisingly relegated to the bench. McBride couldn’t produce a goal, but Altidore couldn’t have chosen a better mentor than McBride to learn from. The time for scoreless games is over. The US men’s team plays the heavily favored Dutch next, followed by Nigeria.
The Houston Dynamo and New England Revolution once again renewed their storied rivalry when they met in the SuperLiga Final in Foxboro, Mass. The Revolution exacted a little revenge on the Dynamo, winning 6-5 on penalty kicks after the score couldn’t be settled in regulation or overtime. As all MLS fans can remember, the Revolution lost the last two MLS Cup titles to the Dynamo. As heartbreaking as it was, their fans can now breathe a sigh of relief, as the team has finally overcome the inability to win silverware. With the Dynamo standing in second place in the Western Division and Revolution leading the Eastern Division, we could have a replay of the last two MLS Cup Finals on our hands.
Olympic Soccer Starts, Laredo Plays for PDL Championship, and More
The Olympics opened Wednesday morning (well, Wednesday night in Beijing), with the U.S. women giving up two goals in the first four minutes to lose their first game of the year, 2-0 to Norway. The men open up Thursday against Japan; all games, women and men, will be live online (3am & 5:45am), at www.nbcolympics.com.
The Laredo Heat, who knocked the Austin Aztex out of the Premier Development League playoffs, have advanced to a record third straight PDL national title game. They host the Thunder Bay Chill this Saturday, Aug. 9, 7:45pm, live on Fox Soccer Channel.
Stoke City's top U18 Academy team is in Austin starting this week, as part of the team's affiliation with the Aztex. They'll play three exhibition games at the Town & Country Sports Complex (9100 Meadowheath Dr., near Research and 620): Thursday, Aug. 14, 6:30pm vs Lonestars 91 Red; Saturday, Aug. 16 vs Rayados of Monterey, Mexico; and Sunday, Aug. 17 vs Lonestars 92 Red. See www.austinaztex.com for details.
Jamie Watson, the Aztex' top scorer this season, was signed last week by FC Dallas.
The New England Revolution beat the Houston Dynamo in the SuperLiga final Tuesday night, 6-5 on PKs, following a 2-2 draw through regulation and overtime. The two MLS teams had bounced Mexican heavyweights Atlante and Pachuca in the semifinals last week.
The UT women's soccer team' season opener is just around the corner: on the road in California, Aug. 16.
And so we bid farewell to the inaugural edition of the U-23 Austin Aztex – done in, in the Premier Development League Southern Conference final, by the defending national champion Laredo Heat, and more specifically by a couple of untimely ejections. The Aztex beat the Bradenton Academics, 2-1, in Friday night's semifinal in Orlando, Fla., but two yellow cards to key central defender Beto Papandrea had them finishing the game with 10 men, and ruled him out of the next night's conference final. They could surely have used him against Laredo, because by halftime, the Aztex were up 1-0, due to a Jamie Watson penalty kick, but were again down a man, due to A.J. Godbolt's two yellow cards in a five-minute span of a very rough, ill-tempered game. The Heat got two goals in the first six minutes after halftime, and an insurance marker in the 68th, and that was pretty much it: 3-1. Disappointing, but still a great first season, both on and off the field. When next we see them, the Aztex will be fielding a full professional team in the 2009 United Soccer Leagues First Division, in addition to the U-23 squad in the PDL: 23 home games in all, compared to this season's eight. I can hardly wait.
Actually, it was A.J. Godbolt with the first score, Carlos Vicens with the second. And then Bradenton grabbed one back, plus a man advantage on Beto Papandrea's second yellow card of the game …
And that's how it ends: 2-1 Aztex, followed a little later by a 2-1 Laredo win over the Central Florida Kraze – setting up an Aztex-Heat final, tomorrow, 6pm Austin time.
Lively crowd down at Mother Egan's tonight, I hear (couldn't make it myself), and they vow to be there again tomorrow.
The Austin Aztex U-23s lost their season finale in El Paso, 3-1, and stumble into the Premier Development League playoffs (to be held in Orlando, Fla.) on a three-game road losing streak. The Mid South champs need to get back into early-season form against the Bradenton Academics on Friday. The Laredo Heat face the Central Florida Kraze in the other conference semifinal; the winners play on Saturday(*) for the Southern Conference title, and a shot at the national championship the following weekend. Supporters will hold a game-time vigil/party Friday, July 25, 4pm – complete with text-message updates from Florida, and possible phone-message reports from a player's mom – in the back room at Mother Egan's, 705 E. Sixth, 4pm. Maybe Saturday as well; check there or here for updates. (*) This info has been corrected since the original post.
Below: SuperLiga, MLS All-Stars, Stoke Academy, Abby Wambaugh, Lionel Messi, and lots of player transfers.
The Premier Development League has announced that the first round of playoffs for the Aztex U-23s will take place in Orlando, Fla., July 25 and 27. The Aztex, PDL Mid South champions, will take on the Southeast runners-up – probably the Bradenton Academics – in the first round. The other first-round game features the Southeast champion Central Florida Kraze, against the Mid South runners-up.
Wednesday night, the Laredo Heat took a big step toward that runner-up spot, by beating the El Paso Patriots, 3-1, in Laredo, coming from behind with three goals in the last 18 minutes. Meanwhile, Baton Rouge won, 3-2 in New Orleans, knocking the Shell Shockers out of the playoff hunt, and keeping their own very faint hopes alive. Laredo can clinch second place with a win Saturday night at New Orleans. Failing that, Austin's finale at El Paso becomes decisive.
Aztex Drop a Pair; Regular Season Finale This Saturday
With the division title wrapped up and little to play for, the Austin Aztex U-23s played like it, losing back-to-back games for the first time this season, 1-0 at New Orleans, and 2-1 at Baton Rouge, to drop to 10-4-1 for the year. This Saturday's regular season finale at the El Paso Patriots should be a little more intense – the Patriots will probably need a win to secure second place and a spot in the Premier Development League playoffs, while the Aztex would love to knock out the only team they haven't beaten this year, and avoid entering the playoffs on a three-game losing streak, with the prospect of facing the Patriots there yet again. Huge game.
Those playoffs, by the way, start July 25-27, at a site to be determined once the regular season ends.
The U.S. women continued their pre-Olympic preparations by again beating the Brazilian team that knocked them out of last year's World Cup, 1-0, last Sunday, improving to 20-0-1 for the year. The teams play again as we go to press Wednesday night, the final tuneup before the Beijing Olympics start August 6.
