Carli Comes Back to NJ

Coach P with Carli at Strikers Reunion Labor Day Weekend

Skye Blue of WPS announced it has signed former Rutgers, Delran H.S. and Medford Strikers star Carli Lloyd for the 2010 season. Read the release here: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/ny/news/press_releases/091019-carli-lloyd.aspx


Looking forward to seeing her play more than the one game I saw last year when she was with Chicago Red Stars.

Fans Don't mind

HADDONFIELD, NJ, Oct. 13, 2009 -- I like to put on the best show possible for the fans and especially the players, during the Haddonfield High School girls soccer night games. Tonight, too many things went wrong, but who cares? The Bulldogs dominated a good Haddon Heights team and walked away with a convincing 4-0 victory. Considering the two teams had played to a scoreless tie earlier in the season made the result even more impressive.

Off the field, a lot of little things went wrong: the restrooms were still locked when the visiting team showed up. At 6:30 the concession stand hadn't yet been set up. Worse, the CD player in the stadium's sound system would not work, telling me there was no CD in the slot when there was. The girls had their warm-up music on tape, but the national anthem was not, so for the first time in many years we went without it. (At least four people suggested to me that I should sing it. I didn't want the fans to leave, so I politely declined.) Towards the end of the game, the cordless microphone went dead -- apparently needed new batteries. And we never could figure out who scored the final goal for Haddonfield.

We'll be ready for seniors night on the 21st. I'll have a back-up CD player or a the Star Spangled Banner on tape and I'll make sure there are new batteries in the mike.

Despite the miscues, it was a good game and a lot of people enjoyed watching it.

Exciting Game on Hawk Hill: St. Joe's Edge's Bonnies

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 11, 2009 -- When I was in high school we would often go to watch Big Five basketball at the Palestra and I always loved the spirit of the St. Joe's fans, who would sing:

Glory, glory what a helluva way to fly
The Hawk will never die.

It's many years later and a different sport, but they were still singing after today's women's soccer victory over St. Bonaventure, 1-0, in an exciting and well-played game.

The St. Joe's campus on City Line Avenue is a great place to watch a soccer game: the bleachers are high up overlooking a nice turf field with a backdrop of stately stone buildings. On this fall day in front of a nice crowd, I watched former Medford Strikers Xtreme player, Kayleigh Summers and her teammates defeat the first place team.

Kayleigh plays a central defender and they did such a good job that keeper Kat Kelble did not make a single save. At the other end of the field, Nicole Markert, played an excellent game with 11 saves, including one in which she dove and tipped what appeared to be a goal over the crossbar. The Hawks outshot St. Bonnie, 21-4.

Jen Pfeiffer, whom I saw play often during the club soccer wars when she was with Mt. Laurel United, scored the only goal St. Joe's needed in the 24th minute when she headed in a ball from Kaitlyn Grimes after a corner kick.

St. Joe's in was even more impressive when one considers they were missing five starters, including leading scorer, Maggie Lupinski from Haddonfield. Maggie suffered a concussion against GW but told me she will be back in action next weekend. Coach Jess Reynolds was happy with her team's play, and with good reason. She felt the team showed it had depth by stepping up with so many players injured.

The win kept the Hawks in the play-off mix: tied for the sixth and final tournament spot with five games to go.

We're In! U.S. Clinches World Cup Slot

Two goals from Conor Casey and one in the 71st minute by Landon Donovan gave the U.S. men a 3-1 lead over Honduras in San Pedro Sula last night and the Americans held on for a 3-2 win and a ticket to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The game was not without its nerve-wracking moments after Donovan's goal. Honduras had a goal called back for offsides in the 75th minute, then drew within one in the 78th. Three minutes from time the referee awarded the home team a penalty kick for a hand ball in the box, but Carlos Pavon,. the all-time leading scorer for Honduras, sent the kick over the bar.

The United States and Mexico have qualified for the World Cup from the CONCACAF region. Costa Rica and Honduras are in the running for the third automatic bid. The fourth place team will have a play-off with South America's fifth place team for a spot.

The U.S. is the 19th country to qualify for one of 32 places in the 2010 World Cup. In addition to host nation South Africa, qualifiers are: Cote de Ivoire, Ghana, Australia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Germany (Coach P's other favorite team), Netherlands, Spain, England, Italy, Serbia, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay and Chile.

HMHS Blanks Moorestown, 2-0

MOORESTOWN, NJ, Oct. 2, 2009 -- Is this a recipe for disaster or what? Playing an inexperienced goalie against the #8 team in South Jersey while missing a top field player as well? Not for Haddonfield tonight it wasn't.

Despite Emily Grabiak being away at a basketball showcase (with the coach's blessing) and Lindsay Brophy filling in at keeper for the injured Kellie Riley, the Bulldawgs dominated Moorestown on their own field and walked off with a hard-earned 2-0 win. I nominated Lauren Fell for woman of the match - not because she scored a goal - but for her defensive play at stopper as well - and got no argument from the coaching staff.

Haddonfield dominated the first half and came within an inch of scoring early in the game, only to see a Moorestown defender alertly clear the ball off the line. The half ended, 0-0.

Six minutes into the second half midfielder Katie Johnston drilled one into the net, followed by Fell's goal 1:20 later. It was all the Bulldawgs needed, but Moorestown kept coming. With less than 7 minutes to play the gold and black took three consecutive corners from the left and on each moved their keeper up to an attacking position just 10 yards outside the 18. Didn't work.

In the last 4 minutes Haddonfield had some good fortune when a Moorestown shot went just wide right, the referee seemed to miss a foul in the box and a Moorestown forward could not get full power on a shot close in allowing Brophy to scoop it up.

An entertaining and well-played game. Brophy made the plays she had to in goal, and every girl played with intensity every minute she was out there.

Said an HMHS parent afterwards, "I think they're starting to jell." No argument with that either.

Stockton No Match for Profs

GLASSBORO, NJ, Sept. 30, 2009 -- Former MS Xtreme player Evynn Wright nailed the door shut on any hope of a Stockton comeback when she drilled a rebound home with 24:35 left to play to give Rowan a 3-0 lead. A Stockton goal as time expired made no difference - a 3-1 win counts the same as 3-0 and the Profs had made an impressive statement against a good conference opponent for the second time in a week.

It was a crisp night with a nice crowd in the stands. The boxscore said 212. I would have guessed more than that. Some Rowan men serenaded the fans during the match and they weren't bad.

If Coach Scott Leacott worried about a letdown after his team shot up to # 11 in the national rankings this week following shut-outs of then #6 TCNJ a week ago followed by William Patterson last Saturday, he needn't have worried. Rowan was already on the board when I arrived at the parking lot, thanks to a goal in the 6th minute by high scoring Jess Babice, with an assist from former MSX player, Ronnie Rhea. Fourteen minutes later, as I was settling into a seat next to my former coaching colleague Joe Dadura, and his daughter Kacy (a former Rowan player), Babice set up Krista Verzi for a 2-0 led at the half.

The Ospreys settled down after that but did not seriously challenge. But a 2-0 lead is dangerous -- the other team scores and they have a one goal deficit and momentum. But they give up a goal and the three point hole looks insurmountable. Wright's goal dug that hole and Rowan is 7-1-1 and 4-0 in the conference.