Today's Chron has a nice piece by Bernardo Fallas on the very competitive men's soccer program at San Jac: San Jac soccer team gains solid footing nationally IIRC, one of San Jac's best players from last season transferred to Clemson. Here's more info on their program: Coyotes Soccer. Has anyone been out to their soccer facility on the San Jac South Campus? Any room for additional stands?
Re: OT: San Jac Soccer Tigres from the MFL offered a contract to a San Jac player that I grew up playing against. I brought Mike in to play a right mid for the Houston Hurricanes FC in our last season. He did so well that he made the All-Star game held at Delmar. Right after the All-Star game the Tigres scouts set him down to serious discussions about returning with them to Monterrey. Unfortuantely Mike was too old for them. He was 25 and they mandated that if they were going back to Mexico with a Texan...he better be younger than 23 or the press would have a field day with the new signing. The level of quality players that have been coming out of San Jac is over a decade long. San Jac should be more supported and followed by all of us Houston die-hards. Their squad is very diverse and very techincally gifted. Snr. Fallas writes good articles for the Chron.
Re: OT: San Jac Soccer HAHAHA. I take a couple of classes at San Jac South and I gotta say no. I remember going to a couple of games a few years back. My friend played for them a couple of years ago. I haven't seen them this year though.
OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week The Conference USA women's soccer tournament takes place this week at the Rice Soccer & Track Stadium on the Rice campus. The first round starts this Wednesday, with the second round on Friday and the final on Sunday. Rice is seeded third and will open against UAB. UH is seeded eighth and will open against top seed Central Florida. I've seen several of these teams when they came to play Rice. The level of play isn't bad at all and it's certainly fair entertainment value. Rice, SMU, and UTEP, in particular, are all usually very watchable. The weather looks like it'll be really nice this week, so it'll be a nice opportunity to enjoy some cool weather and watch a soccer tournament. Here's a piece in today's Chron about the event: Owls, Coogs face tough climb in C-USA soccer The official C-USA page contains a link to the tournament schedule: C-USA Women's Soccer Championship, Nov. 2-6 Here are maps of the Rice campus: Rice Maps The Rice Soccer & Track Stadium is located in the lower central part of those maps (near the intersection of South Main and University Blvd.). The facility is very rudimentary, but the field is decent and it's not like they're going to charge much. Parking is plentiful and usually free or cheap. Go Owls.
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week It would also be a good chance for anyone interested to see the sight lines for soccer at Rice stadium... if we ever have some type of team play there.. rock bford
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week Just wanna make sure that everyone knows that the Rice Soccer & Track Stadium is a different venue than Rice Stadium. The Rice Soccer & Track Stadium is a small facility, about 5,000 capacity, that will host the C-USA tourney. Rice Stadium is the football stadium that Celt mentioned as being considered as an MLS venue. It has no track and the seats slope pretty steeply. The gates to Rice Stadium are sometimes open, so you may be able to just wander in there anyway.
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week Well I did know it was a different stadium, but I did not pay enough attention to your first post! I'm taking points off my final grade... bford
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week It's all good - that was just a minor FYI sort of thing for people who may be new to the neighborhood. Btw, here's the Chron's report on the first round - there were a couple of pretty crazy games: C-USA Soccer, Houston Chronicle
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week If only my daughter was a little older... she turns 2 December 1. She would only run around in circles... but if they host again in the next few years.. we'll be there... it's great for kids to be able to get so close to the games and see some talented players up close. rock bford
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week Update from last night's action: C-USA SOCCER TOURNAMENT, Houston Chronicle Rice plays UTEP at 1:00 pm on Sunday for the conference title and the automatic NCAA bid. Go Owls.
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week Well anderson I won't let that go unanswered......GO LADY MINERS!!! Adios, Coach Kip
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week It should be fun. I see that UTEP has about a +40 or so GD this year. That's amazing. From Glenn's column this morning: On Soccer, Houston Chronicle The game is also apparently on CSTV, although I'm not sure I even know anyone who get CSTV.
Re: OT: C-USA women's tourney at Rice this week I took my daughter to the game today. It was about 95 degrees. It was very hot but Rice was impressive. Rice truly dominated UTEP. I was impressed with the way Huston coaches the Owls. Good win for them and a good style of play. Good crowd. I was very impressed with the playing surface. Big field and groomed very well. If I was a big recruit and lived near Houston, I would definitely consider this program.
Way to go, Owls. It was fun. I assume that UTEP and SMU both have very good shots at making the NCAA tourney at-large. The NCAA selection show will be on ESPNEWS at 4:00 pm today. Here's the Chron's report: Rice wears crown in Conference USA
Re: OT: San Jac Soccer Just FYI in case anyone's up near Tyler - San Jac plays in the NJCAA D-1 National Championship Tournament, hosted at Tyler JC, on Nov. 17-20. Good luck.
Re: OT: San Jac Soccer Today's column in the Chron discusses Dane Richards, who played at San Jac, and is now the leading scorer for Clemson: Former San Jac striker stands at top of his game A couple other players with connections to this area may also play in the NCAA Men's College Cup this weekend:
OT: College soccer in and around Houston Some good college soccer exhibition games are coming up in the area over the next few days (from Keeper Notes): Sunday, March 5 at Rice Track/Soccer Stadium: Rice v Sting, 9 am Sam Houston State v Sting, 1 pm Rice v Sam Houston State, 5 pm Sunday, March 5 at Aggie Soccer Complex: A&M v South Texas '89 ODP, 5 pm Thursday, March 9 at Aggie Soccer Complex: A&M v US u20 national team, 7 pm Please add Houston area college soccer info here if you come across it.
Re: OT: College soccer in and around Houston All female. D1 men's soccer teams are few in this state: SMU, TCU, and a couple others. The women's teams were recently added, in bulk, to fulfill Title IX. San Jac is the only local college team (JuCo), until next year, when HBU enters the fray. Men's soccer is more plentiful at the D2, D3, NAIA, and Juco levels in Texas, but those teams are pretty much all out of town. I attended such a school and played soccer. To editorialize, the general awareness of their existence as soccer schools is low, and I wish that events/tourneys were organized in Houston and like cities to display that level of soccer, and raise awareness of it, as well as of the particular institutions that play it. We'll showcase Carolina or some such out-of-state power's women's squad, or the women's D1s, but we won't give such a stage for the state's men's programs. That's a shame. I think we need more men's D1s, given the quality of play, but that is an issue laden with politics and other debatables.....
Re: OT: College soccer in and around Houston That's probably why there is another board dedicated to college soccer. I was a little bummed to learn that my alma mater, UT, didn't have a men's team. The only reason I looked into it was that I was interested in getting a Longhorn soccer jersey if such a thing existed. However, after doing a little research on the topic of college soccer ... I ceased to care that UT wasn't in the game. I tend to agree that youth development programs would be much more effective as a feeder system to professional soccer than the college system. The rules are also a bit retarded for no apparent good reason in college. Realistically, for quality entertainment, I think closing the gap between MLS and NFL is a much more realistic goal than closing the gap between college football and college soccer. I'll spend my wishes on a more globally competitive and profitable MLS than a more competitive and profitable college soccer system. Heck, I'd probably go to 1836 youth matches.
Re: OT: College soccer in and around Houston It's women's soccer. I've attended about a half dozen Rice home games, plus the road game at UH, since the program started a few years ago and will probably get season tix next year. The quality of play is pretty good and some quality national programs often come to town to play Rice or UH. Here's the link for Rice soccer - CUSA champs. And for UH soccer. Btw, HBU, which plays in the NAIA, will add men's and women's soccer next year.
03/12 - Houston Chronicle: UH star's determination puts her on the fast track Today's Glenn Davis column in the Chron focuses on Sophia Mundy, and also has a couple of other notes at the end: UH star's determination puts her on the fast track