In his 14 years of coaching, Albert Oni has moved up through the ranks of club, high school, ODP and college soccer. Two years ago he took on the challenge of coaching then-new ASA Chesapeake Charge in their first season in the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), leading the team to the first round of the playoffs that year. On Thursday, May 10, Oni will take on the next challenge of his career as he directs Charge against former Women’s
Soccer in the inner city represents a different world, a world that Matt Safar of Uniontown, Ohio knows very well. Safar, the head coach of Akron Garfield’s boys and girls soccer teams, has embraced the diversity of the beautiful game found there. His high school squads resemble the United Nations with players from Laos, Mexico, Palestine, Vietnam, and Japan participating in a program that has gone leaps and bounds under Safar’s expert tutelage. “It has been the most unique experience that
Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Commissioner Jerry Zanelli has seen many changes in the game over his more than two decades in women’s soccer. Fifteen years ago he joined with other team owners to create the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) which now boasts over 70 teams across the country and recently added the WPSL Elite League and a U-20 League to its ranks. Prior to creating the WPSL, Zanelli was a founding member of the USL’s W-League. With interest in
The Chicago Red Stars have announced the signing of Ella Masar for the 2012 Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Elite League season. The 26 year-old forward from Urbana, Illinois, played for the Red Stars of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) in 2009 and 2010. Masar is currently playing professionally in France with historic club Paris Saint-Germain, with whom she signed in September of 2011. She will return to Chicago directly from PSG upon completion of her contract. “I cannot wait to return
The Sounders FC are quickly becoming one of the top teams in the MLS this season. While it is still early in the season, consider this: seven different players have scored this season, a 5-1-1 start is the best record in Sounders’ history, and they have allowed zero goals in four out of five wins! The Sounders are sizzling right now; let’s hope they can keep up the intensity and keep producing goals. Fredy “Almost” Montero had at least two goal
Playing in front of tens of thousands of fans, signing autographs, and traveling around the globe with one of the best teams in the world while being in the national team pool is the fantasy of almost every youth soccer player in the world. But for Notre Dame College’s 2010 First Team All-American, Tom Mellor, he experienced all of those things before leaving high school. “I want to prove people right, and prove people what I’ve got,” declares Mellor as
With the kickoff of the inaugural Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Elite League season only days away, teams are making final preparations to take the field in what promises to be an exciting season of high-level women’s soccer. With three former Women’s Professional League (WPS) teams, four top WPSL sides and an independent team competing, fans of the women’s game can look forward to the kind of action that many feared would be lost with the suspension of the 2012 WPS
Who are the favorites to win the Open Cup this year? I think it really comes down to depth and a team’s commitment to winning the tournament. It’s been nice to see fewer and fewer teams just throwing out 3rd string lineups as the years pass, but I think that has a lot to do with the rosters expanding and having the Champions League as a reward for winning the tournament. What is the likelihood of a non-MLS team winning the Cup? That’s
The Professional Arena Soccer League is coming to Harrisburg. With the unanimous approval of the PASL Board, the Harrisburg Heat Sports Group, LLC (HHSG, LLC) will operate the newly revived Harrisburg Heat beginning this November. Professional arena soccer was last played in Harrisburg in 2003. The Harrisburg Heat played 12 seasons at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center and regularly were at the top of the league in attendance while under the ownership of Dr. Rex Herbert. “Bringing the