U.S. Women Win in Overtime at Olympics & PreSeason College Polls
A diving header from Natasha Kai gave the U.S. a 2-1 win earlier today over Canada and sent the women to an Olympics semifinal game Monday against Japan.
The U.S. lineup: 1-Hope Solo; 17-Lori Chalupny, 15-Kate Markgraf, 2-Heather Mitts, 3-Christie Rampone; 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O'Reilly (6-Natasha Kai, 91), 5-Lindsay Tarpley (13-Tobin Heath, 82); 16-Angela Hucles, 8-Amy Rodriguez (12-Lauren Cheney, 109).
Notable:
*The U.S. defeated Japan just six days ago by a 1-0 score in group play.
*Brazil plays Germany in a far more difficult match-up in the other semifinal.
Quotable:
"All year this team has been great at dealing with pressure of being down a goal, or tied, or having a team come back," said Shannon Boxx (South Torrance High), who had the assist on the game-winning goal. "We've always fought for 90, 100, whatever it takes, minutes. I like the fact that we are creating the chances and having different people score goals. The next step is having people finish them."
U.S. Soccer also announced a three-game U.S. tour for the women after the Olympics.
There's no Southern California stop, but the U.S. will play Sept. 13 in Philadelphia, Sept. 17 in New York and Sept. 20 in Chicago.
The opponent in all three games: Ireland. The U.S. has never lost to that nation and sports a perfect 5-0 record against them.
In college soccer, the USC women were ranked No. 1 and UCLA No. 2 in the preseason poll.
The UCLA men are ranked No. 14.
Here are the full rankings:
Team, pts. Received (2007 Record)
1. USC, 149 (20-3-2)
2. UCLA, 141 (20-2-2)
3. North Carolina, 136 (19-4-1)
4. Florida State, 129 (18-6-3)
5. Notre Dame (19-5-2)
6t. Portland, 113 (18-4-0)
6t. Virginia, 113 (13-4-5)
8. Texas, 103 (16-4-5)
9. Penn State, 99 (18-4-2)
10. Stanford, 96 (15-3-5)
11. Connecticut, 95 (14-6-2)
12. West Virginia, 69 (18-5-2)
13. Tennessee, 62 (15-5-2)
14. Boston College, 60 (11-5-4)
15. Texas A&M, 57 (18-4-2)
16. Duke, 56 (10-6-7)
17. California, 52 (15-6-0)
18. Georgia, 48 (18-4-2)
19. Illinois, 39 (15-7-1)
20. Florida, 29 (17-5-3)
21. Wake Forest, 27 (13-7-3)
22. Santa Clara, 26 (12-6-3)
23. Oklahoma State, 22 (14-6-3)
24. Purdue, 19 (20-2-3)
25. San Diego, 18 (15-3-3)
2008 NSCAA/adidas Men's Pre-Season Top 25
Team, pts. Received (2007 Record)
1. Wake Forest, 200 (22-2-2)
2. Connecticut, 186 (20-3-1)
3. Notre Dame, 166 (14-5-5)
4. Boston College, 155 (15-5-1)
5. Santa Clara, 151 (16-2-4)
6. Creighton, 133 (12-3-5)
7. Indiana, 129 (13-4-5)
8. Maryland, 128 (10-6-5)
9. Ohio State, 118 (17-4-5)
10. Virginia Tech, 112 (14-4-5)
11. Brown, 109 (15-2-1)
12. Akron, 95 (15-4-2)
13. Massachusetts, 83 (17-8-1)
14. UCLA, 75 (9-9-3)
15. West Virginia, 73 (14-5-2)
16. Illinois-Chicago, 71 (13-6-5)
17. SMU, 70 (14-5-2)
18. South Florida, 65 (14-6-2)
19. Saint Louis, 53 (12-2-5)
20. Northwestern, 46 (12-5-3)
21t. Bradley, 41 (16-6-5)
21t. UC Santa Barbara, 41 (13-4-4)
23. Tulsa, 36 (15-3-2)
24. North Carolina, 28 (7-8-5)
25. Furman, 20.5 (19-4-0)
(first place votes in parentheses).
Finally, the Loyola Marymount University men were picked to finish fifth in the West Coast
Conference, according to the 2008 preseason coaches poll.
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
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