Darwin Jones was among the Seattle Sounders' recent cuts from preseason training camp, but that doesn't mean he'll be going very far. The 19-year-old has joined the University of Washington's 2012 recruiting class, giving the Huskies four Sounders Academy products in this class alone. Jones will be accompanied by Michael Gallagher, Ian Lange and Dominique Dismuke.

Columbus Crew technical director Brian Bliss can add U.S. Under-20 national team assistant coach to his resume after becoming the first assistant appointed to Tab Ramos' staff on Wednesday.

Bliss will maintain his duties with the Crew while assuming the added international responsibilities.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Overtime was needed in both of Sunday's quarterfinals as unseeded Charlotte shocked No. 3 UConn and No. 2 Creighton overcame a hearty challenge from No. 7 South Florida.

Charlotte came from behind late in the game to knot the score at 1-1 and force a penalty kick shootout against the Huskies before advancing courtesy of a 4-2 victory.

Jere Longman writes of how the use of heart rate monitors can enhance a player and team's training to make their fitness as game-like as possible.
As soccer practice began one recent afternoon, each University of Connecticut player grabbed a puck before he kicked a ball. The puck was a small rectangular transmitter that attached to a chest strap and was worn beneath the players' jerseys.

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

Connecticut's loss was Maryland's gain.

After a slip-up to West Virginia, the UConn men's soccer team fell off its perch atop the NCAA RPI rankings, allowing Maryland to claim the top spot. Both teams sport 13-1-2 records, but Maryland is coming off of a tie at now-No.

A day after No. 2 ranked North Carolina suffered an upset loss to Davidson College, unbeaten and No. 1 ranked UConn also fell.

West Virginia rode goals from Shadow Sebele and Eric Schoenle to post a 2-0 victory over the Huskies in Morgantown on Tuesday night.The Mountaineers took it to the visiting Huskies for much of the match, and broke through when Sabele converted a first-half penalty kick in the 34th minute.

UConn might have had its perfect run and extended shutout streak both come to an end, but the Huskies are still the top team in the country.

UConn settled for a draw against Notre Dame last weekend but improved to 12-0-1 after a 2-1 win over Providence on Wednesday to maintain its place at the No.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

The nation's last perfect record is no more.

Top-ranked Connecticut was held to a scoreless draw by No. 12 Notre Dame in front of nearly 2,000 fans in South Bend, Indiana. The draw was the first time the Huskies failed to win in 12 tries this season while Notre Dame continued its home unbeaten run.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

No. 1 Connecticut stayed perfect with a win over quality opposition after a 2-0 victory over No. 11 St. John's on Saturday.

More than 5,000 were on hand for the Big East conference opener for both teams. St. John's staved off numerous chances from UConn (8-0), but Allando Matheson finally broke through in the 74th minute, snapping St.

Photo courtesy of UConn Athletics

Another week, another new No. 1 team atop the Fox Soccer/SBI NCAA Top 25.

The University of Connecticut is the latest to claim the top spot after beating Boston College Tuesday night to improve to 7-0 on the season. That result, combined with previous No.

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

There's a new team at the top of the college soccer mountain yet again.

High-scoring Maryland is the new No. 1 team in the Fox Soccer/SBI NCAA Top 25 rankings after improving to 6-0 while former No. 1 North Carolina slipped up last weekend against Virginia Tech.

Golden Ball anyone? 3four3 will be looking to hand out some hardware to the nations best college player.

I've seen numerous lists of top college players/pro prospects in the last few weeks and quite frankly they've made me laugh. The same robotic big athletic players are being hyped up and called the nations top players.

The Air Force men's soccer team scored four second-half goals en route to a 5-2 victory over Houston Baptist in both teams' regular season opener Saturday evening at Sorrels Field.

Sophomore Brian Klazura had a goal and two assists while senior John Melcher and junior Kevin Durr each added one goal and one assist.

Hope Solo of course gets the most attention in these parts of the ladies on the United States Women's World Cup squad. Some of that is due to her growing up in our state and playing for the Huskies, it is also because she's quite good. The other most recognizable name for Sounders fans that have only casually watched the games is Alex Morgan.

On a busy soccer Saturday (Champions League Final, Mexico v Ecuador at Qwest, Sounders v Real Salt Lake) the University of Washington released its soccer schedule for the coming fall. It is a schedule that should help their RPI come tournament selection time with Dawgs playing 2010's #4 (Cal), #6 (SMU), #8 (UCLA), #21 (Tulsa) and #34 (Florida Gulf Coast) all ranked higher than they were.

I hope everyone is having as an exciting sports week as I am. Both the MLS season and the Seattle Sounders kicked off on Tuesday in a wet, rainy battle between two favorites in the West. The Sounders would go on to lose 1-0 to the Galaxy in an evenly matched affair. The results of the match were somewhat overshadowed by the surprising news that Blaise Nkufo and the Sounders would be parting ways.

The University of Washtington just hired a new Head Coach. It is a coach with connections to the Seattle Sounders, and one that seems to want those connections to be as strong as they possibly can be. As in the other football, he clearly sees his number one goal to put up a fence around the state and keep every great player at here, while picking up good players from around the country, as well.