Coaches, Players Meet Media at College Cup

CARY,  NORTH CAROLINA – A day before the Friday semifinals are played here at the NCAA Women’s College Cup, teams met with the news media at Wake Med Soccer Park, site of the event.

I’ll be covering both games and Sunday’s final, along with matches from the three youth events going on here this weekend.

Here is a breakdown of the games and what they were saying on Thursday.

1st Semifinal: Notre Dame (19-2-2) vs. Ohio State (17-4-2) 4 p.m. EST. (ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPN3.com)

Notre Dame

The Fighting Irish reach the semifinals for the 5th consecutive season, but they haven’t won the tournament since 2004. Despite just two losses. Notre Dame was seeded 4th in their bracket. The team has responded with a stellar tournament run, including a 4-1 win over defending champions North Carolina in Chapel Hill in the round of 16.

An injury to all-everything midfielder Courtney Barg forced the team to alter its lineup and the results, especially with Barg returning for the past 9 matches, have been outstanding. Along with leading goalscorer Melissa Henderson, the Notre Dame attack features playmaker Barg, freshman standout Mandy Laddish, Rose Augustin, Elizabeth Tucker and Lauren Fowlkes. The defense of Jessica Schuveiller, Julie Scheidler, Molly Campbell and Kecia Morway has also excelled in front of goalkeeper Nikki Weiss.

Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum, who led the Irish to a national title in 2004, said he felt the #4 seed gave his team the most difficult path it has faced to reach the College Cup.

Notre Dame players Lauren Fowlkes and Jessica Schuveiller discussed their desire to win a national championship after having come so close in their previous seasons at  Notre Dame.

Ohio State

The Buckeyes may be the big surprise here, but it probably shouldn’t be that big of a surprise. Lori Walker has quietly built a very solid team with a number of in-state recruits. The Big 10- co-champions have outscored opponents 38-14 this season behind a strong back line of Cassie Dickerson, Lauren Beachy, Liz Sullivan and Megan Fuller. Tiffany Cameron, Paige Maxwell and Lauren Steuer has provided scoring punch, with Katie Baumgardner excelling in goal.

Walker talked about her approach to convincing in-state recruits to stay at home.

Steuer said it became evident as the season went along that this year’s version of the Buckeyes were something special.

2nd Semifinal: Stanford (22-0-2) vs. Boston College (17-6-1) 6:30 P.M. EST. (ESPNU); tape delay ESPN2 Sunday, December
5, at 9 a.m. EST

Stanford

The Cardinal are the favorites to win, having completed the regular season without a loss. Their two draws were to North Carolina and their Friday opponent, Boston College, both early in the season. The team has won 21 matches in a row coming into the semifinals. Senior Christen Press, a repeat winner of the TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Season award (she shared it last year with now-graduated teammate Kelley O’Hara), has 26 goals this season, tops in the nation.

But despite the offensive exploits of Press, the team is far from a one-player entity. Midfielders Teresa Noyola and Mariah Nogueira, forward Lindsay Taylor, defenders Alina Garciamendez, Rachel Quon and Courtney Verloo, plus the ever-versatile Camille Levin help make up a power-packed lineup. Freshman goalkeeper Emily Oliver has risen to prominence in Palo Alto very quickly. This team is loaded for bear and deserve to be the favorites.

Allison McCann and Teresa Noyola discussed the mindset of the group as it plays in its 3rd consecutive College C up.

Boston College

The Eagles started the season strong and were ranked #1 at one point, but hit a wall of sorts in October, losing 4 of 5 matches after having been undefeated. Coach Alison Foley talked about what happened and how the ship has been righted since then.

BC’s offense is led by the terrific combination of Vicki DiMartino at forward and Kristen Mewis at midfield, with 24 goals and 22 assists between them.

Brooke Knowlton has supplemented the attack with 7 goals and Amy Caldwell is also a strong attack presence for the Eagles. Jillian Mastroianni has a goals against average of 0.83 with the help of a strong defensive line.

Foley has recruited very well from the ranks of Region I ODP. While Hannah Cerrone told us the players didn’t necessarily plan together to attend BC, Amy Caldwell agreed that having known each other and played together before college is a positive for this group.

Check back Saturday for full reports on the semifinal, and then through the weekend until a new NCAA champion is crowned.