Regional Odds & End Briefs From The Southeast USA

Soccer In Arkansas

The Arkansas Razorbacks tied Duke 2-2 in the NCAA Sweet 16 before falling in penalty kicks (5-3). It was the Razorbacks’ first shootout this season. The Razorbacks advanced to the third round of the NCAAs for the first time in the 28-year program history, advancing with wins over Oklahoma State (2-1) and St. John’s (1-0) and finishing the year 15-8-1. Arkansas enjoyed its best-ever season, opening with a 7-0 run. Ashleigh Ellenwood led the team in scoring with 14 goals, and handed out seven assists. Her six game-winning goals broke the all-time single season record at Arkansas…..Arkansas Little Rock, making its first postseason appearance since 2009, stunned regular-season champion Western Kentucky with a 1-0 lead. But the Hilltoppers responded in the second half with two goals to take a 2-1 victory and end UALR’s season at 4-14…..The Arkansas State Red Wolves’ season came to an end in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament, falling to #2 South Alabama in a 6-5 shootout after playing to a 1-1 draw.

Soccer In Kentucky

Kentucky junior defender Arin Gilliland (Lexington, KY), recently named 2013 Division I All-America, has been called to the United States Women’s National U-23 camp. It is her third straight national team callup. ….Justin Laird’s golden goal in the 93rd minute lifted the Kentucky men to a dramatic 1-0 overtime win over #27 Old Dominion to open the Conference USA tournament. The Wildcats’ run ended in the semifinals, falling 1-0 to the host Charlotte 49ers….Louisville’s season ended at 11-5-4 in the second round of the NCAA tournament when #1-seeded Michigan State scored the winning goal with just 3:31 left in regulation for a 1-0 victory. [show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]The Cardinals advanced in the NCAAs with a 3-2 shootout win over Denver…..Louisville seniors Charlyn Corrall (Mexico City) and Christine Exeter (Canada) were awarded NSCAA All-Northeast Region honors. Corral was also named American Athletic Conference Midfielder of the Year…..Western Kentucky forward Iris Dunn’s (Tavernier, Fla.) seventh goal of the season came with 1:28 left on the clock in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Dunn’s fifth game-winner of the season propelled WKU to its third SBC championship match where the Lady Toppers dropped a 1-0 decision to South Alabama…..Eastern Kentucky’s junior defender Paige Larkin was named first team All-Ohio Valley Conference, while senior forward Nikki Donnelly was named second team All-OVC…..Lindsey Wilson’s Musa Mawanda (Uganda) was named second team NAIA All-America, while temmate Xavier Baumgart (France) was selected third team NAIA All-America. Lindsey Wilson was ranked #3 in both the final NAIA men’s and women’s national rankings. Six players were named to the NAIA Women’s All-America teams, including Carola Schneider (Denmark), Natsha Gensetter (Switzerland) and Ayaki Shinada (Japan) who were named to the first team.

Soccer In Louisiana

Trinity Catholic senior center back Katherine Kelly (Ocala, Fla.) has committed to Nicholls State where she will have an opportunity to play in front of high school teammate Taylor Moseley, the starting goalkeeper this past season for Nicholls as a freshman…..US Youth Soccer has announced that the 2014 US Youth Soccer Region III Championships for U14-U19 boys and girls will be held at the BREC Burbank Soccer Complex in Baton Rouge, La., June 19-26….Nicholls State sophomore forward Spencer Valdespino (Spring Hill, Fla.) was named Player of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. LSU’s Emma Fletcher was the Freshman of the Year and Pamela Usry from Louisiana College was Newcomer of the Year. Valdespino led the Southland Conference as POY with 16 goals, five assists and 37 points. Blake Horbuckle from Southeastern Louisiana was named Coach of the Year. Southeastern placed four players on the All-Louisiana Collegiate Team: senior Kelsey Salcido, junior Chelsea Villaescusa, freshman Brianna Singh, and freshman goalkeeper Hope Sabadash. Louisiana-Lafayette placed freshman Yazmin Montoya on the all-star squad along with junior Grace Howell and freshman Annika Schmidt. Rounding out the all-stars were LSU freshmen Fletcher and Summer Clarke and Louisiana Monroe freshman Jenna Pillon.

Soccer In Maryland

University of Maryland Baltimore County women’s soccer continued the unimaginable, winning its first-ever conference tournament title, as red-shirt junior Jessy Brown (Plantation, Fla./American Heritage) registered her sixth game-winning goal of the season to give #1 UMBC the 2-1 victory against #2 Stony Brook in the America East Championship game. The Retrievers become the first team in America East history to complete the worst-to-first turnaround and earn their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth…..The 2014 US Youth Soccer National Championships are set for July 21-27 at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Md. Kingston, RI, will be the host for the 2014 US Youth Soccer Region I Championships, June 26-July 1, on the campus of the University of Rhode Island…..UMBC senior Pete Caringi III (Perry Hall, Md./Calvert Hall) becomes the first Retriever student-athlete to earn NSCAA First Team honors in program history. Junior back Oumar Ballo (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley/CCBC-Essex) received Second Team honors, while senior midfielder Kadeem Dacres (Rosedale, N.Y./Mercer County CC) was tabbed to the Third Team. .

Soccer In Mississippi

Ole Miss senior forward Rafaelle Souza (Brazil) has had an outstanding career, capped off by being named NSCAA Division I second-team All-America. She was also All-SEC and the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year. She led the Rebels to the most successful season in school history (16-6-2), scoring 22 goals. She was third nationally in goals scored and one shy of the top spot in the country. She also finished second nationally in points (50). She is first on the career scoring list for goals and points at Ole Miss with 44 goals in her three years career and 1-7 points. Ole Miss fell to #3 Florida State 3-1 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Ole Miss beat Jackson State 9-0 in the opening round…..Mississippi State senior Elisabeth Sullivan (Memphis, Tenn.) set the MSU single season goals record with her 16th goal of the season in the 89th minute in a 5-1 loss to Ole Miss. She also set the Mississippi State record for career goals (39), points (92), game-winning assists (8) and multiple-goal games (8)…..The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles were 7-9-4 in Mohammed El-Zare’s first season as head coach. Their 43 goals was just one behind the school record set in 1997. Senior Danica Roberts led the team in scoring with 13 goals and 31 points. Progress may be slow, but Southern Miss had not won more than five matches, or lost less than 12, in the past five seasons.

Soccer In West Virginia

Winfield High School was ranked #20 in the final 2013 NSCAA Fall Girls National Rankings with a 22-1-0 record. George Washington HS in Charleston, finished the season 22-0-1 as state champions, and were ranked #20 in the final NSCAA Boys Fall National Rankings….In their second season in the Big 12 Conference, West Virginia won the women’s soccer regular season crown and its first-ever Big 12 championship in any sport…..History was made when Chelsea Stalter, Casey Walsh and Morgan Cain scored their first goals of the season to give Marshall a 3-1 win over Rice to open the C-USA tournament. It was the program’s first-ever postseason victory.