3 December 02

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2 Texas weekends of Final Four soccer
The NCAA women's tourney concludes this weekend in Austin with semis on Friday and the final on Sunday. For ticket & hotel info, see
http://www.texassports.com/mainpages/sc_pages/2001_02/cup/soccer.html.

Penn State v Portland
Friday, 4 p.m. CT
Live on ESPN2

North Carolina v Santa Clara
Friday, 6:30 p.m. CT
Tape-delayed on ESPN2 at 11 am, Sat. Dec. 7

Championship
Sunday, 2 p.m. CT
Live on ESPN

SMU hosts the men's final four December 13 & 15. Info at
http://www.smumustangs.com/soccerm/collegecup/. The eight teams vying for a trip to Dallas are Clemson, Stanford, Creighton, Boston College, Penn State, UCLA, Connecticut & Maryland. Scores will be posted shortly after the quarterfinal games at http://www.soccertimes.com/ncaa/2002/mentourney.htm.


Women's skills clinic/coed goalkeeper clinic
Saturday, December 14
9:30 - 11:30 am at Dyess Park (northwest Houston off 290)
field 10
(first full-size field on left, closest to the parking lot)
Map online at http://www.timberlinesoccer.com/FieldMaps/Dyess.html

Please RSVP to keeper@rice.edu by December 9. Please wear shinguards and cleats, and bring $5. Minimum age is 16. Coaches, balls and refreshments provided. All skill levels welcome.


Over 30 women's soccer
HWSA offers a mini-season for women 30 & over with games on Saturdays from January 11 through February 8. Registration is due January 4. Contact Liz Benavidez for info at ebenavidez@sbcglobal.net. Cost is $25 per person, including field costs but not referee fees or uniforms. A player roundup will be held the week of December 16.


Over 40? Female? Play soccer in HAWAII
The Veterans Cup, the nat'l championship for over 40 & over 50 men and women, is held every summer. HWSA is organizing an over 40 women's team for the 2003 competition -- in Hawai'i August 6-10. The HWSA team will compete in the January over 30 league plus the spring Fort Bend over 30 league. Contact Patti Ernst at <mailto:pernst@ermsw.com>pernst@ermsw.com for more info.


Big shout out to...
The Rice Lads (Rice's men's club team) that qualified for the club nationals in Bakersfield, CA. They came into the tourney ranked 8th in the country, and narrowly missed placing out of their group by 1 point. They held 2001 champs BYU to 1-1 for 85 minutes, losing 2-1. BYU went on to the finals, losing to Weber State. Good job, Owls!


Vote for the "Best Of" Awards for US Soccer
U.S. Soccer has created 10 awards to honor the standout performances of 2002 in American soccer. With the help of U.S. National Team coaches Bruce Arena and April Heinrichs, U.S. Soccer has selected the finalists for each award. Announcement of finalists will be staggered throughout this week. Online voting begins Friday at http://www.ussoccer.com and continues through Dec. 31.

Award categories
Best Soccer Bar
Best Soccer Retail Store
Best Soccer Stadium
Best Soccer Fans
Best U.S. Crowd
Best Place to Watch U.S. in World Cup
Best In-Game Promotion
Best U.S. Goal
Best U.S. Single-Game Performance (Individual)
Best U.S. Single-Game Performance (Team)


Houston's favorite WUSA player
Krista Davey, formerly of the Challenge Club as well as HWSA's coed league, plays for the WUSA's New York Power. Check out the recent article about her at http://www.wusa.com/press_room/331478.html.


Quickfoot 4v4 tourney for all ages
The Houston edition of the annual 4v4 tourney will be Saturday, January 18. There are divisions for ages under 8 through over 30, boys, girls, men, women, coed. All players must have a current USASA player ID, but teams do not have to be formed from existing teams. Go to http://www.quickfoot.com


Soccer in the Sunday Chronicle
Every Sunday the Chronicle sports section features a soccer column by Houston's own Glenn Davis, former professional player and youth coach, and now broadcast commentator for the Dallas Burn. Let the Chron know YOU WANT MORE SOCCER COVERAGE by emailing sptletters@chron.com. Or tell Glenn what you think: gdavis98@swbell.net.