[Unt Soccer Represented At Usys Regional Championships]

Nice report...many thanks. Coach Hedlund does a good job recruiting when it comes to the very high quality teams that represent the DFW Metroplex in youth soccer. Just look at the list you presented...have fun the rest of the tournament. Do you have a "connection" to one of the Sting teams?

Yep, my daughter is on Sting.... Challenge 90 & Texans 90 were knocked out in the last day of bracket play on Sunday. Sting 90 (Shoot out to D'feeters) & Sting 91 (3-1 loss to ESC , OK), were knocked out today in the semi-finals. The huge upside for UNT is that most of our sophomores that are listed in the previous post contributed big minutes for their respective teams and it looks like we are bringing in another talented group of freshman. I did get a chance to see all the teams play at least once and UNT soccer was represented well by the high level of play from our girls.

With the brutal schedule we have next year it's nice to see our younger girls playing at such a high level and more importantly developing confidence that will hopefully carry over in the fall.

[Unt Soccer Represented At Usys Regional Championships]

UNT soccer has a number of current players and new recruits participating with their club teams at the US Youth Soccer Southern Regional Championships being held at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco and Russell Creek Park in Plano June 18-24. Top teams (primarily State champions and Premier League Champions) representing the South and Southeastern part of the U.S. are vying to be the one team in their age group to advance to the National Championships (Final Four) in MA next month. This says a lot about the caliber of recruiting classes Coach Hedlund is bringing into UNT, as virtually all the girls participating in the U-17 thru U-19 age groups are D1 college locks. Link: http://championships.usyouthsoccer.org/regionIII/

Current Players

Kelsey Perlman - Sting 90 ( North TX State Cup Champions)

Shannon Gorrie - Sting 90

Nicki Crocco - Sting 90

Kara Brooks - Sting 91 (Premier League Champions)

Hanna Crawford - TSC Challenge 90 (South TX State Champions)

Julie Lackey - TSC Challenge 90

Rachel Turpin - TSC Challenge 90

Casey Lerond- Dallas Texans 90

2009 Recruits

Ellen Scarfone - Sting 91

Haley Newsom - Sting 91

Chelsea Heimann - Sting 91

Danielle Guilliod - Sting 91

Carly McDowell - Sting 91

I've watched a number of games and all of our girls are seeing major minutes on this national stage. As of today (Sat., June 20) Sting 90 leads their bracket with a 2-0-0 record, TSC Challenge 90 also leads their bracket with a 2-0-0 record. Dallas Texan 90 are still in contention with a 1-0-1 record. Sting 91 lead their bracket with a 2-0-0 record.

Shining UNT moments....On Sting 90, (last years natiional runner up), a team loaded with top D1 player playing at schools like ND, Duke, UT, TAMU, Illinois, Wake Forest, Virginia, etc. (you get the picture).... in today's 2-0 victory verse TN state champions all the goals and assist were from UNT girls!!! Perlman 1 goal 1 assist Gorrie 1 goal.....I also saw McDowell score the first goal in Sting 91's 4-0 victory over the Alabama state champions.

[Soccer Schedule]

Great out of conference schedule with plenty of great looking games at home. Seems there is no problem with some of the "bigger conference" schools playing at UNT in soccer. Come on football! But, I see the same thing about the home vs away conference schedule. What's up withy that???? OUCH. I am hoping there is a mis-print in the schedule. I can't imagine Hedlund sitting still for such a lopsided (or RV for that matter) home/away conference schedule. Does not make sense. let's hope it is a typo.

GO MEAN GREEN!

No typo. I think we all would like to see a more balanced schedule, but it's hard to complain after our favorable home conference schedule last year. This is the exact opposite of last years schedule where 7 of 11 conference games (and the conference tournament) were at home.

[Idea For The Upcoming Football Season]

Winning

My sentiments too. Last year you couldn't have paid me to go to a Texas Rangers game although I did watch them on TV occasionally towards the end of the year when they were playing better baseball. This year I've already been to two Rangers games and I actually search the TV listing to see when they are playing next. I don't consider myself a fair weather fan (maybe by definition I am :-) ) , I follow them in the paper, wear my Rangers cap when working in the yard and generally hope at the beginning of each year that this is the year. Why the big difference? The Rangers are putting out some really good product, providing me hope for the future and winning..... and I'm willing to pay. Concerts are a nice marketing bonus which may draw a few incremental fans of the band, but winning is the best cure for apathetic fans.

UNT has 3 years to start improving their product and if they show improvement over the next couple seasons we won't have to worry about a healthy number of fans in the new stadium. Although, promote a "short set" of KC and the Sunshine Band after the Western Kentucky game.....and you may get a few old alums to come out to and "shake shake shake...their booties!")

[U N T To The W A C Thread On The Tech Board]

This is an excellent point. Is the SBC thinking about expanding to help Denver? Why should the WAC expand to save Tech?

Sorry to report that the SBC isn’t going to do anything for Denver as I was told a couple weeks ago that Denver has informed the SBC they are leaving the conference in 2010 to join the West Coast Conference (Santa Clara, Portland, Pepperdine. U of San Diego, St. Mary's etc.) This will have a more dramatic effect on sports other than football but may just be the impetus for UNT to consider other conference options. Or, for some type of expansion within the Sunbelt that would hopefully favor football. For most other sports at UNT, Denver has been our travel partner and after next year we will be have an uneven conference of 11 (which leads me to conjure a post for another day, "Why doesn't the SBC drop UNO"?).

Frankly, the WCC is a better fit for Denver as the conference is a bunch of smaller private universities with very competitive sports other than football...and a more favorable travel area for Denver.