College Lacrosse: Army beats Navy for the first time in 11 years. May 12, 2008

I have found a new love in college lacrosse; it truly reminds me of an aerial version of soccer. Much like soccer the play is fast, aggressive and physical. The players are constantly hitting one another with their bodies and with their sticks.

As a new admirer of the sport I have yet to go and experience a game first hand, but I have been keeping up with the NCAA Division I college season via ESPNU (the ESPN channel that is dedicated to showing college sports).

Recently, I got the pleasure of watching my very first Army/Navy game. On Friday afternoon I watched the match which was previously recorded on April 12. I know that this entry is a little untimely, but I thought that the events were notable enough to discuss.

On Saturday April 12, Navy travelled to West Point to match up against their Academy rivals, Army. The results of their previous matches had been terribly one sided; Navy had been victorious in the last 13 games against Army. The Navy senior classes from 2001 to 2007 had never lost to Army in their entire college careers.

Unfortunately for Navy, this tradition of victory came to an end on that fateful Saturday afternoon. The final score was Army 9, Navy 6. This victory marked the first time that Army beat Navy for the first time in 11 years.

This game was one of the final games of the regular season. The NCAA Division I Tournament began its first round of playoffs this week. If you are interested in watching any of these games you can find the schedule on the Lacrosse page of the ESPN website. The final match is scheduled for May 26 at Harvard University at the Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

Keep an eye out for a future post that fully outlines the rules of the game!

-Tab

Amy Rodriquez-Living the Dream April 28, 2008

I began playing soccer in a time where Mia Hamm was quickly becoming household name and the U.S. Women’s National Team was well on their way to earning international recognition as a one of the most premier programs in the world. The success of the WNT led to a boom in popularity for the sport. The term ‘soccer mom’ was practically synonymous to the word ‘mom’ because practically everybody’s kid seemed to be playing soccer. Soccer was everywhere and girls’ soccer, in particular, was becoming more and more mainstream.

Every time the WNT came to Southern California I would be there, along with literally thousands of other little girls cheering and crying when they watch their heroes walk out on to the pitch. We all dreamed of becoming the next Hamm, Foudy, or Scurry.

Now here I am 17 years later; I almost finished with my college eligibility and as of right now my dreams of making the WNT are pretty much nonexistent. While my dreams of competing at the international level may have been stifled, a girl that I grew up playing against is currently preparing for the Beijing Olympics.

Amy Rodriguez was always a ball of energy; I remember my coaches instructing the defenders on my team how to mark her. Her speed alone made the feat practically impossible, and when you combined it with her technical skill and remarkable ability to make a connection with the net she was unstoppable.

For the past three years Rodriguez has been attending the University of Southern California. At USC she has had a tremendous career. This past season Rodriguez had 10 goals, three assists and three game-winners during USC’s NCAA championship drive. These points elevated her to rank No. 6 all-time in career points (59), No. 6 in career goals (23) and No. 4 in career game-winning goals (9) at USC.

Rodriguez has played and scored in several of the CONCACAF tournament games, which were held as the Olympic qualifiers. The U.S. won the tournament and received the top seed for the Beijing Olympics. Now they are scheduled to play Norway, Japan and New Zealand in the first round.

In August I will be watching and cheering for the WNT as they compete for Olympic gold. My heart will be with all of them, but I will be rooting for Amy in particular. She is living proof that little girls can grow up and be just like Mia Hamm. Maybe one day little girls will grow up dreaming about being the next A-Rod, as her teammates like to call her.

-Tab

What a Week for Candace Parker? NCAA Championship & No. 1 WNBA Draft Pick April 13, 2008

Candace Parker just had the best week EVER!

First, she led the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team, the Lady Vols, to its second consecutive NCAA Division I title Tuesday in Tampa.

The following day she went on to be selected by the Sparks as the No. 1 overall draft pick in the WNBA.

Parker is a tremendous selection for the Sparks; her awards and accolades are practically innumerable. She’s won nearly every major basketball related award since high school.

In 2005 Parker was a medical-red shirt with a knee injury for her first season at the university, but she recovered and went on to become one of the best basketball players to have ever graced the Lady Vol’s court.

This weekend Parker flew to Los Angeles to spend time getting to know her new teammates and making arrangements for her move to LA.

Parker is scheduled to graduate in May with a degree in sports management, but she will be commuting between LA and Knoxville, where the University of Tennessee is located, for training camp with the Sparks.

“I’m very tired,” she said. “I took a long flight here, but it’s just been something that, you’re not going to get these hours back. Winning a national championship and then turning around and being drafted No. 1 is an amazing feeling . . . it’s too bad that it had to happen, bam, bam, bam, because you had no time to sit back and absorb it.”

Parker is scheduled to graduate in May with a degree in sports management, but she will be commuting between LA and Knoxville, where the University of Tennessee is located, for training camp with the Sparks.

The Sparks are very excited by the addition of Parker. Fellow Sparks’s teammate Lisa Leslie, three time WNBA most valuable player, is looking forward to playing with her.

There had been concerns that rivalry would develop between Parker and Leslie the way it had between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, but Leslie went on to squash these concerns by saying that she looks forward to being a mentor for Parker.

“This is the beauty of the sport,” she said. “I came along and I was a lot better than a lot of the centers that played the game, and now you have another player who’s even more phenomenal than me coming along. Then, there’s going to be someone behind her, so this is how it goes, this is part of life and I love it.”

-Tab