2009 SDWFC Schedule is out, even though there was no news announcement on it... And although I already put this in the off-season thread, here is the article on the new coach & gm again
SDWFC conflicts with LA Sol home games I've compared the Sea Lions and Sol schedules, and there is only one day where both are playing games in their home areas. That is Sunday 07 June, when the Sol are facing the Freedom and the Sea Lions are at San Diego United for an 'away' game. I haven't seen any dates for possible WPSL playoff games, and do not think that any would be held in San Diego - and the Sol's last three games are away.
Just added SD United's home games to the mix. My spreadsheet now shows three more conflicts: -United & SDWFC both have home games on May 23rd. (6:30pm vs Rampage & 7:30pm vs West Coast FC) -United & Sol have home games on May 30th (6:30pm vs SoCal Rush & 4pm vs StL Athletica) -United and Sol have home games on June 21st. (4:30pm vs West Coast FC and 3pm vs FC Gold Pride)
ticket prices & first game 'freebie' I received an email, one of the team's "online newsletters". It included the team's schedule and mentioned that the first 400 fans to attend the first home game will receive a SeaLions custom knit soccer scarf. Ticket prices are the same as in past years: Single game adult $5 Single game seniors (65&up) $3 Single game Children (14&under) $3 Single game Family pass (2adults & children) $10 Season pass adult $35 Season pass seniors $21 Season pass Family $60
2009 Roster The team website still doesn't have a 2009 roster listed. Here is what was on last nights program: 1 Lu Snyder, SDSU, GK 2 Danica Carey,Nebraska, M 3 Junstine Sauder,UNLV, D 4 Elizabeth Allen,UCSD, D 5 Tracy Schuster, UCSD, F 6 Valerie Strocco, USD, D 7 Sarah Aguilar, Long Beach, D 8 Leah Anderson, West Wash, M-D 9 Tessa Lennala, Riverside, F-M 10 Michelle Spacciapolli, M 11 Lizzy Coghill, Notre Dame, F-M 14 Heidi Armstrong,Houghton, M 15 Bree Geary, Occidental, D 16 Tamara Kesser, Florida Atlantic, D 17 Amanda Esquivel, UCSD, D 18 Maki Okada, Tokyo Gakugei, M 20 Hallie Huston, USD, M 21 Guiliana Longmire, USD, M-D 22 Sherice Anders, USD, M 24 Darcy Fant, UCSD, GK ***** Also listed, but with an 'R' instead of a number were: Ronnie Sullins, Stanford, D Sarah Devine, Irvine, D Lindsey Holman-Kelley, Wake Forest, M Annie Kadota, Rice, M-F Amy Willison, Berkeley, D Briana Duckworth, UCSD, D Alea Kerch, Berkeley, D Elizabeth Remy, Wake Forest, M Jessica Bush, Kansas, M-F
23 May 09 game versus West Coast FC [R] I was only able to stay for the first 75 minutes of the game (Which started at 7:30). According to the team website schedule, the final score was 3-1. The Sea Lions were ahead 3-0 when I left. The scoring started in the 22nd minute, against the run of play, when Giuliana Longmire scored from a free kick on a shot that would have made ManU's Ronaldo proud. The second came deep into extra time, again against the run of play, when a through ball put Tessa Lennala in on the keeper – and she slotted the ball into the far left corner. The third goal came on a semi-breakaway as a long pass from deep in the SeaLion end by Danica Carey allowed a mid-fielder (I missed getting the number) to slot a curving ball in front of Michelle Spacciapolli, who duplicated the shot that Lennala had made in the first half. The West Coast FC arrived at the game with only a couple of back-up players. I must say that they were well coached, played very intelligently, and were both strong in the air and fast on their feet. They had the better of the play the entire first half but were never able to convert their chances into shots on goal. Their keeper played well, stopping a semi-breakaway shot from Lennala by making a sideways dive that just managed to push the shot past the right post. The early second half saw the SDWFC control more of the play, resulting in the 3rd goal. After that, the WCFC club seemed to get their second wind, and had several very good chances before I had to leave the game. Two of those chances resulted in hard shots on goal that Lu Snyder did well to block and keep out of the net. I'm assuming that WCFC kept up that pressure, resulting in the goal that they scored later. **** Some notes: Spacciapolli is from the high school where this game was played. The player that impressed me most on the visitors was Kristina Larsen, who according to the program sheet plays at UCLA. There were 2 others from UCLA (Billingsley & Jones-Pridham). Some of her other teammates were from Harvard, Duke, and Boston U. There was a festive atmosphere at the game – hot air balloons were over head during the hour before the game, a couple of girls teams got to play on the field for at least 40 minutes during that hour, and the first 400 fans were given team scarves. If a box score of the game were to be posted, there would be a lot of fouls shown. The CR wasn't consistent in his calls. Some things he called, I've seldom seen called in WPSL games. Other things, like 2-handed shoves to the back, he seemed to ignore.
Shannon MacMillan honored at 31 May game! Shannon MacMillan to be honored Mac will be appearing at the Sunday, 31 May game. The team will be returning from an away game played at Claremont the day before. The opponent will be the LA Rampage.
Weekend game results The SeaLions are now 3-0 after being able to squeak by in both of this weekend's games on last-minute (and beyond ) goals. And congrats to the young lady who won the autographed Mac jersey! Sea Lions win 3rd straight!
06 June SeaLion activties The SeaLions, along with Velocity Sports and official sponsor, Calle Republic are holding a street soccer festival on June 6, 2009 at Aviara Park in Carlsbad. The festival will consist of 7 minute 4v4 games. Each game will include one neutral SeaLion player. Each player who participates will receive a Calle wristband, ticket to a SeaLion home game, pass to Velocity Training, SeaLion giveaways and more! The cost is just $25 per player. Simply go to www.velocitysp.com/carlsbad, click on the "events" tab and register online. Enrollment is limited so early registration is encouraged. ** Also on Saturday, the San Diego SeaLions will be taking on PSSCV Santa Clarita at Cathedral Catholic HS at 7:30PM.
06 June game vs PSSCV (Santa Clarita) [R] The first-year Rooks were able to score their first-ever goal in the 5th minute of the game and made that 1-0 lead hold up until the 29th minute, when Sherice Anders was able to tie the score on a fantastic goal from almost 30yards out. Her shot just dipped below the crossbar, giving keeper Jessica Szajner no chance at all to make a save. (note – Szajner was the GK for all but the last 3 minutes of the game, and there was only one goal where she might be considered even partly at fault, and she in fact made several very nice saves that stopped the score from being worse.) The SeaLions were not able to score again until first half stoppage time – in fact the CR called the half as soon as the ball got back to the center circle – when a SD player was able to head in a ball that had been headed across the goal after a free kick by Guiliana Longmire. (I do not know who scored the goal, the PA announcer in fact never did announce who scored in most cases.) The second half was all SeaLions, as Tessa Lennala started the scoring just 45 seconds from the start on a very professional play – she had her back to the goal, about 12 yards out, as able to have turn after the ball arrived and hit a curving shot that just got inside the far (right) post, two feet below the crossbar. 12 minutes later, Danica Carey took a free kick 25 yards from goal that she put just under the bar and maybe a yard from the right post. Less than 2 minutes after that, a shot hit the cross bar, lifted almost straight up in the air, bounced weirdly off a defenders foot, and was easily pushed in for the 5th San Diego goal. The 6th and final goal was scored by Tracy Shuster when she took a pass directly in front of the net, between 2 defenders, and put the ball into the far corner on the ground from 10 yards out. The SeaLions looked a bit sluggish early on, and PSSCV did a good job generally in closing off the short passing lanes – that caused SD to do a long of medium-to-long passes to get things going. The visitors had 5 subs (plus extra GK), so both teams were able to cycle fresh players in and out. The Rooks never quit, playing hard until the very end. They seldom held possession for more than a few passes, though – so they had to do a lot of chasing. I can't single out SeaLion players, as so many of them looked good (except for the number of short passes that were stolen by PSSCV.) * * * * The SeaLions will face off against cross-town rivals SD United with first place in the Pacific North division at stake. United tied with Ajax America earlier on Saturday, meaning SDWFC has a two point lead on them with both teams having played 4 games. Ajax is another 3 points behind United in the standings. There appear to be a lot of new players on United - the game (which is being held at USD's Torero Stadium) ought to be hard fought.
the first two weeks of June has been a roller-coaster ride for the team - two big wins against newer teams by a combined score of 10-2, but also two losses to their big rivals (SD United & Ajax America) by a combined score of 9-0! Not good, to say the least. And now they spend the rest of the month playing three away games...