Looking back on a memorable college season

December 10th, 2010

By Eric Slack

With the NCAA DI men's soccer final four kicking off tonight, now is as good a time as any to take a quick look back on some of the major happenings in college soccer involving teams and players from around the region. New England-based men's and women's teams made some deep runs into the NCAA tournament and plenty of players received major post-season accolades.

The number one story was clearly the Boston College Eagles run to the final four, the first ever trip to the College Cup final four for the Eagles. Although it came to a premature end in the semifinals against eventual runner-up Stanford (who have New Hampshire's Kristy Zermuhlen on the roster), the Eagles have much to be proud of, including a victory over UNC on the road during the regular season. BC's Kristie Mewis and Vicki DiMartino earned NCAA All-American awards at the close of the season, along with Boston University's Lisa Kevorkian. In addition, eventual champion Notre Dame was backstopped by goalkeeper Nikki Weiss of Redding, Conn.

Just behind the BC ladies' story was the Bowdoin men's team and their run to the NCAA DIII final four. Although a 2-1 OT loss to Lynchburg was a tough way to end the season, the Polar Bears had a season they will not soon forget. The team that won the DIII title, Messiah, had one New Englander on the roster, freshman defender Jarrett Weaner of Northridge, Mass., who appeared in 23 games as a substitute for the national champs in 2010.

Outside of New England-based schools, Midwestern's Paulo Teixeira; Florida Tech's Chrissie Chater; The College of St. Rose's Gianna and Nicola D'Errico, Katie Whiting, Kelly Guerin, Lindsay McQuade, Jaclyn Evans, Kimberly Morton, Susan Cowan, Derith Fernandes and Stephanie Vance; William Smith's Morgan Gibeault, Jamie Sawyer, Olivia Ztoli, Emily Harris, Leah Shatkin and Emily D'Addario; and Messiah's Autumn Reilly and Joanna Haqq were all part of teams that earned their way to NCAA DII and DIII final fours.

Reilly and Haqq made it all the way to the DIII women's final before Messiah fell to Hardin-Simmons 2-1, falling just short of what would have been their third straight DIII crown. Meanwhile, Guerin, Whiting and Linda Velaj of the University of Bridgeport earned NCAA DII All-American selection.

We'll keep you posted on the NCAA DI, II and III men's soccer All-Americans, the DIII All-Americans, and the NCAA DI men's soccer final four as news becomes available.