National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - Briefly in the NewsSeptember 1, 1997
St. John's soccer team has a year to rememberSt. John's soccer team has a year to rememberThe last nine months have been special for members of the men's soccer team at St. John's University (New York).
In December, the Red Storm won its first NCAA team title by capturing the Division I Men's Soccer Championship. In July, the team accompanied President Donald J. Harrington to the university's newest campus in Rome, Italy. While there, the Red Storm attended the first-ever commencement exercises of the Graduate Center -- and received an audience with Pope John Paul II. The team also got in a wealth of sight-seeing, visiting the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Pantheon and St. Peter's Basilica. The Red Storm also played some soccer, going 2-1 against quality European competition. On the second leg of its journey, the team also witnessed the Charity Shield match in London, which pitted FA Cup winner Chelsea against Manchester United, winner of the English Premier Division. Manchester United won a thriller on penalty kicks in front of a standing-room only crowd at Wembley Stadium. Historic scholarshipAnother "first" recently took place at The Citadel. Mandy Garcia, an 18-year-old cross country runner, became the first female scholarship athlete at the traditionally male military college. Citadel abandoned its all-male admissions policy last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar policy at Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional. "I love the challenge," Garcia said. "I love people to tell me, 'No, you can't do it.' I love people to doubt me. I prove them wrong." Garcia will train alongside 15 men on the Bulldog cross country team. For a while, Garcia will carry an unusual burden. She will compete as a one-person team for Citadel at various meets and at the Southern Conference championships. VMI, also a Southern Conference institution, is in a similar position. Commissioner Wright Waters said allowances were made for both schools to compete with individual athletes rather than five-person teams. "When they came and asked for our help," Waters told The Associated Press, "we backed out of the way and asked what we could do for them. We've waited 77 years. Whenever we talked women's sports, we were always two teams short." Writing contestThe National Soccer Coaches Association of America is looking for quite a few good writers. Individuals who have had a story published in the 1997 calendar year are eligible for the NSCAA's second annual soccer writing contest. The deadline for submission will be December 5. Winners will be recognized at the NSCAA's annual convention January 14-18, 1998, in Cincinnati. For more information, call the NSCAA at 800/458-0678. Scholarship GamesWest Texas A&M University is working to keep its athletics program in the mainstream of the university's overall mission. In all games played the weekend of September 18-20, net revenue will be split equally between academic general scholarships and athletics grants. The weekend begins with a game featuring the nationally ranked women's volleyball team, followed the next night by a soccer match involving the 14th-rated Buff men's soccer team. The weekend concludes with a football game September 20. "The Scholarship Games is a novel concept using athletics as a vehicle to help raise money for the university's general scholarship fund," said athletics director Ed Harris. "Our goal is to sell out Kimbrough Memorial Stadium, which would mean 20,000 people pulling together to help raise academic scholarships for the general student body." |
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