Coaches: Does this lady sound familiar?

I always knew my long-time acquaintance, Terry Sachs, was a good lawyer. Last August I found out she and her husband were Bowdoin parents - their daughter Betsy is a first-year Polar Bear getting ready for her first college lacrosse season. And at lunch last week I found out that Terry is not only a soccer mom, but a club administrator in Chestnut Hill.

We had gotten together to talk about Bowdoin, where my daughter graduated in '01. We spent most of the time swapping soccer stories. And had we both not had hours to bill for our respective firms, we doubtless could have still been talking soccer when happy hour rolled around.

Terry promised to send me a link to a cartoon she promised I would enjoy. I did and so will you. I ask all the coaches reading this how many of the lines uttered by the mother they have heard in their time. Click here to watch.

RIP, Joe Platt

The world of youth soccer lost a good one today when Joe Platt, long-time president of the South Jersey Girls Soccer League, died this morning. I was privileged to know Joe from when I coached his daughter, Erica, more than 15 years ago, and afterwards. He was truly one of the good guys in the sport.

Usually I am happy to hear from a former player, but the e-mail from Erica Platt Barney today brought the sad news of Joe's sudden passing. Erica, one of the nicest girls I ever coached, said, " I know my father had a wonderful impact on so many lives over the years . . . Through sports and Corpus Christi, work, the community and his Christian walk in life he has met so many wonderful people and I hope I can speak for everyone that he has left a wonderful memory in the hearts of us all."

Rest assured, dear Erica, that your Dad did indeed leave a wonderful memory in the hearts of us all in the South Jersey soccer community - and far beyond.

Well? Long-time Philly sportswriter Phil Jasner dies

Sportswriting lost a good one yesterday with the untimely death of Philadelphia Daily News professional basketball beat write, Phil Jasner, at age 68.

Although he became nationally known as a basketball writer, and was one of the best at it, I actually got to know Phil as a soccer writer back in ’73 when he and I covered the Philadelphia Atoms of the North American Soccer League at Veterans Stadium (and occasionally on the road). Phil had recently made the step from small suburban papers to the big-time Daily News while I was on the news staff at the Courier-Post, but covering the Atoms for the league magazine based in Toronto.

Phil was one of my favorites among the daily papers’ writers covering the team. Aside from being a real pro as a sportswriter, he had a great sense of humor and was a good guy to be around. He wasted no words and after a game would go up to Atoms coach Al Miller and say something like, “Reaction?” or “Well?” and then sit back and listen, getting more than enough material for the next day’s story.

Read Rich Hoffman’s tribute in the Daily News to a life well-lived.

As an aside, Daily News columnist and former sports editor Stan Hochman, is quoted in Hoffman’s piece about Jasner’s time covering the Atoms: "Relentless is the way I remember his reporting style back in those days, ever on the prowl for human interest stories. We had a soccer team back then, the Atoms. Half the team spoke no English, but that didn't stop Phil. They won a title and one of the star players wanted to celebrate with champagne. So he bought a bunch of long-necked, gilt-wrapped bottles in a drugstore, thinking they were champagne. Turned out he'd bought shampoo. Phil wrote a memorable story about it."

Makes for a good anecdote about Phil, hanging out with those typical foreigners who play soccer. Except it’s not true. Every player on the 1973 Atoms spoke English. I knew them all and remember them all: Americans - Bob Rigby, Norm Wingert, Stan Startzell, Charlie Ducilli, Lew Meehl, Barry Barto, Bob Smith, Bill Straub, Casey Bahr; British/Scottish - George O’Neill, Chris Dunleavy, Jim Fryatt, Andy Provan, Roy Evans, Derek Trevis; Germans - Karl Minor, Manny Schellscheidt: Jamaican - Raymond Parri

I had originally commented on how I thought Stan was playing off stereotypes of soccer being played mostly by foreigners who don't speak English. I e-mailed him to that effect and he took exception to my "smart-ass comment," correctly pointing out that he was asked for a memory of Phil Jasner and thinking back 37 years that he remembered the Atoms as including a bunch of Mexicans. (They came in '76, when I was no longer covering them.) He pleaded as a defense his (understandable) sadness in losing a long-friend and colleague. I e-mailed an apology and I hope he accepts it.

Women qualify for '11 World Cup, US Seeks Men's Cup in '22

Two good articles in today's New York Times, both by Jere Longman, speak to the state of professional soccer in the United States. One discusses yesterday's 1-0 victory over Italy, which qualified the U.S. women for this summer's Women's World Cup. The other predicts an increase in soccer interest in this country is the United States is awarded the 2022 World Cup.

On the men's side, Longman notes that the United States staged the most successful World Cup in history back in 1994 and that there were are sufficient existing stadiums with supporting infrastructure that public money would not be required. Top competitors appear to be Australia and Qatar, neither of which has hosted a World Cup.

The Women's World Cup will be in Germany this summer and the Americans barely qualified. Yesterday's victory gave them a 2-0 aggregate win in the home and home play-off for the 16th and final spot. The fact that the United States came down to the wire before qualifying demonstrate what Longman calls "growing democratization of women’s soccer" around the world. He points out that while more countries around the world are spending more money on women's soccer, the United States has stagnated. Its U-17 team did not qualify for the world championships and the U-20 squad lost to Nigeria in the quarterfinals. Add to that the fact that the Women's United Soccer Association - founded in the glow of the 1999 World Cup victory - folded in 2003 and the current league, Women's Professional Soccer, is struggling financially and for recognition. Three of its top teams - St. Louis, Los Angeles and the California-based FC Gold Pride, have folded in the past year or so.

A H.S. Stand Against Taunting

Here's a good story in today's Inquirer by noted soccer (and many other sports) writer Marc Narducci. It's about high school football, not soccer, but the principle discussed applies to all youth sports. It's that a high school coach sent a message to his players that unsporting behavior, even in the privacy of the locker room (which quickly becomes not so private on the Internet) will not be tolerated. It's nice to see that not only did the coach take swift action, but that he was backed by the school administration.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/high_school/20101128_Marc_Narducci__Ending_high_school_athletes__taunting_via_social_media.html?page=1&c=y

Florida State women's coach penalized for resting starters

Jere Longman's article about Florida State's women's team in today's Times raises a host of issues: is the coach's duty to the fans, to his own players, to the team's ultimate goal of winning the NCAA's? Are conference tournaments a good idea? If the conference does not crack down on resting starters during a tournament, could it spread to higher profile sports, namely men's basketball? Doesn't this happen in Europe all the time?

What we're talking about here is that Florida State's coach Mark Krikorian, who was the successful coach of the Philadelphia Charge, was suspended by the ACC for leaving seven starters home during the opener of the conference tournament against Wake Forest, which the Seminoles lost. The reason, Krikorian said, was they needed to rest up for the NCAA national tournament.

According to the article, coaches generally supported Krikorian. It was the ACC that had the problem - to the extent that it fined thee school $25,000 and denied it $15,000 in travel reimbursement and suspended Krikorian for the first game of the ACC.

Longman, as always does an excellent job of covering both sides of the issue.

I'm with Krikorian. He was doing what was best for the team. It is a dangerous precedent if a conference official can ell a coach whom to play. If he had brought the seven players along but had them sit on the bench to rest them, would the same sanctions have been imposed? “He should have them miss class and sit on the bench to appease the conference?”asked Ray Reid, the men's coach at Connecticut.

Here's the link to the Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/sports/soccer/19seminoles.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&hpw

Brenna's Thoughts On the D-3 Final Four

I know. I know. I haven't written much here lately. Too much work on the house, which has been under construction in one form or another for the better part of two years.

Anyway, the NCAA tournament is upon us and I am happy to say that seven women from the Medford Strikers Xtreme played for four colleges in the tournament: four at Rowan, one at Virginia Wesleyan and one at The College of New Jersey in Division III, and one at Bloomsburg in D-2.

Now, after the first weekend of the tournament, only one is still playing. That would be Brenna Rubino, who had a banner year at TCNJ. While Rowan lost, 4-0 to Messiah in the 2nd round, Bloomsburg, 2-0 to West Chester in the 2nd round, and Virginia Wesleyan, 1-0 to Hamilton in the first round, the Lions roared past Christopher Newport, 4-0 and Ithaca, 3-0, to advance to this weekend's Sweet 16 match-up with Johns Hopkins at Messiah College. Brenna, the team's leading scorer, picked up a goal and two assists in the two matches.

With TCNJ aiming for another trip to the D-3 College Cup, it seemed like a good time to print Brenna's account of last year's journey to San Antonio where TCNJ lost, 1-0, to eventual champion Messiah in the national semi-final. The goal came with 24:24 left to play and was the only score the Lions' defense allowed the entire tournament.

Here's what Brenna wrote last year after returning to New Jersey following the heartbreaking defeat. The words are hers, although I've edited a bit to clean up some typos.

The experience of going to the NCAAs was awesome and unforgettable. From the first plane ride leaving NY to the last plane ride heading home, the trip was amazing. I feel so blessed to have been able to experience that amazing opportunity.

There were lots of different events that we went to as a team that the NCAA set up for us. They financed our air fare and lodging and some of our meals. However, TCNJ is lucky enough to afford to go out to the nice restaurants as a team in the surrounding beautiful city of San Antonio.

The hotel we stayed was the Menger, which is conveniently located right next to the Alamo. Each team got the opportunity to get their picture taken in front of the Alamo professionally and each player received a copy which was an awesome gift.

There was a final four banquet where head NCAA members were recognized and one player from each of the four women’s teams and men’s teams gave speeches and discussed their team.

After the banquet each team got their own boat and was able to experience what is known as the “Riverwalk.” It’s a huge tourist attraction there in San Antonio which is partially a man made river with lots of beautiful restaurants, shops, and buildings located along the water.

We were given a police escort from the hotel to the field for each prctice to ensure that we arrived on time. We felt like celebrities. Ha ha.

We got the opportunity of reaching out to their female youth soccer players from an inner city middle school where some aren't handed opportunities to go to college like we are. We got to play with the young and talk with them about the importance of prioritizing school and sports as well as friends family and coaches. As a result they came to the game and cheered us on.

Before each team’s first game we were able to do a walk through on the field and take pictures by all the signs which by the way was grass and was immaculately kept. On top of all of this each player on the team received a really nice book bag free with lots of cool NCAA stuff.

When it came to game time each team was allotted its own tent area which was heated due to the unusually inclement weather in San Antonio. The game started and ended like any other game would but the level of play was just amazing to see on both sides. Each team was displaying its peak performance and the game was clean, tough, fair, and highly skilled.

Even though my team happened to lose on a tough goal we each received an individual semi finalist trophy and as a team we received a big trophy. Being there and getting a taste of what its really like to be there gives each player on our team the motivation to work even harder in the off season and during the following season to make sure we get another shot at it next year.

For TCNJ not making it to the final and winning the championship was a disappointment because each year that is our number one goal. I don’t doubt that TCNJ can get back there next year and win it all.

Overall, the road to San Antonio was rough and tiring with all the traveling and long weekends but it was all worth it in the end to be there and be apart of something great. I feel so blessed to have just been able to contribute and be apart of a team that was able to make it to the final four. It was an amazing experience as a team and as an individual even outside of just practicing and playing the game. I pray that TCNJ gets the chance to go back there next year.