From an AFL release
The 2011 Arena Football League regular season has been extended from 16 games to 18, Commissioner Jerry Kurz announced Monday. The league will consist of 19 teams and each will play 18 regular season games, with the option of two preseason games. The change was passed in an ownership vote last week during the league's
Board of Directors meeting in Phoenix, AZ.
The AFL is adding teams in Philadelphia, Pittsburg, San Jose and Kansas City.
Lindsay Munday, a former lacrosse All-American for Northwestern, has been named the head women's lacrosse coach at Mount St. Mary's. Munday has served the last four years as an
assistant coach to Kelly Amonte Hiller and has played a key role in helping Northwestern to five national titles since 2005.
From a release from the Red Stars ...
With injuries mounting and international
absences to battle through, the Chicago Red Stars fell to the Washington
Freedom, 2-0, on Thursday at the
Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Md.
Chicago and starts up a three-game homestand,
starting with a 5 p.m. match on Sunday against FC Gold Pride at Toyota
Park in Bridgeview. The match is televised live on Fox Soccer Channel.
The Freedom (6-8-7, 25 points)
currently holds the fourth playoff position if the season ended today.
Sky Blue FC is in fifth (6-9-4, 22 points) and the Red Stars in sixth
with a 5-10-6 record and 21 points.
The Red Stars' injury bug continued Thursday as they already were entering the match without Kate Markgraf (concussion).
Red
Stars forward Jessica McDonald made her first WPS start, but her day
ended early when she was taken off the field in a stretcher in the 12th
minute. Red Stars Head Athletic Trainer Laura Behr said that McDonald
tore her patellar tendon and is out for the remainder of the season.
Chicago had to burn one of its substitutions early when Nikki Washington
officially entered the match in the 16th minute.
In the second half, Red Stars midfielder Formiga sprained her ankle and was replaced by Lydia Vandenbergh in the 63rd minute.
Along
with the injuries, Chicago had to play Thursday without England
international midfielders Karen Carney and Katie Chapman, who are
overseas preparing for a World Cup qualifier against Austria on
Saturday.
Developmental midfielder and 2010 WPS draft selection
Sophie Reiser made her WPS debut when she replaced Washington in the
68th minute, leaving Chicago with a roughly 25-minute span with no
remaining substitutions.
Developmental defender and recent
signing Christie Shaner made her Red Stars debut, helping Chicago in the
central defense with Markgraf out
Chicago Red Stars medical staff confirmed midfielder and Oswego, native Julianne
Sitch will miss the remainder of the 2010 Women's Professional Soccer
season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and former St. Viator star and developmental player Elise Weber with a labral tear of
her left hip -- an injury that occurred during training.
"Julianne
Sitch is a role player who's got the heart of a lion," Red Stars Head
Coach Omid Namazi said in a release. "She works her butt
off, and to replace her is tough."
From the Red Stars
The Chicago Red Stars and the
first-place FC Gold Pride played to a scoreless draw Saturday at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward, Calif.
Red
Stars goalkeeper Jillian Loyden made four saves for her fifth shutout of the season. Gold Pride goalkeeper Nicole
Barnhart, made five saves for her league-leading sixth shutout.
With
the draw, Chicago (5-8-6) holds a fourth-place tie in the WPS
standings.
The Red Stars also surpassed their points total from last season (20 points in 2009).
Next
up, a 7:30 match Wednesday night against the
Philadelphia Independence at Toyota Park. Four of Chicago's five final
regular-season matches take place at home.
The Chicago Red Stars signed Spanish international forward
Veronica Boquete accodring to a release from the team.
Boquete recently led the Buffalo Flash to the 2010
United Soccer Leagues W-League Championship on July 31. Boquete scored
two goals, including the game-winner in the 63rd minute, as Buffalo
defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps, 3-1, for the title. She earned
W-League Championship Most Valuable Player honors.
"We saw her in
the W-League final and we felt she's the type of player that can help
us in our quest to be more attack-minded, create more opportunities and
score more goals," Red Stars coach Omid Namazi said in a release. "She has a
good soccer IQ and good intelligence in the final third. It's apparent
that she's got some ability."
Boquete is available to play in the Red Stars' match against FC Gold
Pride at 9 p.m. tonight [Saturday] in Hayward, Calif. She will wear No. 19.
The Chicago Red Stars acquired Nigerian discovery selection
Faith Ikidi from the Washington Freedom, trading defender Anita Asante
for Ikidi's rights.
Ikidi is under contract with Damallsvenskan
organization Linkoping FC in Sweden, and Red Stars coach Omid
Namazi said, in a release, that this is a long-term decision geared toward the Red Stars' 2011
season plans. The 23-year-old defender will bring some versatility to
the Red Stars in the future, especially with her experience playing both
on the defense and at forward.
"We're looking for her as a
long-term option who can play at center back or on the outside," Namazi said in the team's release. "That's an area where we are too thin
right now, and adding Ikidi would build some depth there."
