Riley Leads The Way For Kiwis In US College Soccer
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Hard on the heels of the successes of Kirsty Yallop, Ali Riley, Amber Hearn, Hayley Moorwood, Ria Percival and Emma Kete in the 2009 USL W-League competition, a number of New Zealand’s female footballing scholars saw game-time aplenty on US soccer fields, in their pursuit of NCAA honours for their respective colleges.

Chief among them was Riley, the dashing Football Ferns fullback, who was gracing the colours of Stanford University for the final time this year, and was a co-captain in what turned out to be an outstanding NCAA campaign both for the Ivy League college and the Kiwi international personally.

Stanford went all the way to the final of the NCAA Division One competition, winning all twenty-five matches they played en route to the December showdown with perennial champions, the North Carolina “Tar Heels”.

Ali missed just two of those matches with an ankle injury, but that didn’t stop her from being named in the Pacific-10 Conference All Academic first team for the second successive year, and in the CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 second team.

A regular starter for Stanford - Ali was on the pitch from the kick-off in 62 of the 65 games she played for her college during her four years with the Cardinals, the fleet-footed fullback was described by coach Paul Ratcliffe as “one of the best outside backs in the country” as her college career drew to a close.

She scored one goal and set up another in the final campaign of a Stanford career in which she netted seven goals and provided the assist on ten occasions. But their bid to go through the entire campaign unbeaten ended in despair for Ali and her colleagues, with Anson Dorrance’s team prevailing 1-0 in the NCAA Division One Final to deny Stanford a maiden title in their first-ever NCAA Final.

Ali had the compensation of being named in Soccer America’s second team, the NSCAA All-America third team, and being named the Pacific-10 Conference women's soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year, an award based on her on-field performances and her classroom accomplishments.

Riley, a psychology major, paid tribute to her Stanford colleagues. “I am very honoured to be receiving this award, and I would like to share it with my team-mates who have pushed me to be the best I can be both on the field and in the classroom”.

Two of the Stanford star’s Football Ferns team-mates are also at Ivy League colleges, but endured injury-hit seasons which prevented them from realising any of their on-field ambitions in 2009.

Betsy Hassett made just five appearances off the bench for Berkeley University as she struggled to overcome a broken leg which she suffered in Three Kings United’s last pre-season game in March.

Her Three Kings’ team-mate, Merissa Smith, started three games and appeared twice off the bench as she began life at Rutgers University, her displays supplemented by a goal against Fordham University.

A training session injury brought a premature end to her season, however, Smith the latest Football Fern to suffer a torn anterior cruciate ligament. She is well on the road to recovery, however, and was given the best possible Christmas present by her medical team when told she could begin running again on Christmas Day!

The position of goalkeeper is one in which New Zealand’s depth has been found wanting in recent times, but there are three Kiwi custodians currently studying at various US universities.

Microbiology major Charlotte Wood didn’t enjoy any game-time at Oklahoma University this year, while psychology major Rebekah Brook made six appearances in goal for Virginia Tech during the season, starting in three games, only one of which saw her finish on the beaten side. She made five saves during “The Hokies” campaign, and conceded three goals.

Alison Bradley was one of the co-captain’s at the University of Southern Maine, and was by far the busiest ‘keeper of the Kiwi trio. In a struggling team, she kept two clean sheets and produced a staggering 133 saves during the season.

Fourteen of those saves came in a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Husson University, while Bradley was the difference between a 3-0 defeat and a hiding when her team took on the University of New England, who were denied on fourteen occasions by the shot-stopper.

Lucy Thompson started all eighteen games in Angelo State University’s season, and was named on the Lone Star Conference Commissioner’s Honour Roll for her efforts.

Meanwhile, classy central defender Julia Baldwin, a member of the Junior Ferns squad which graced the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Finals, started the first two games of the season before appearing off the bench on ten occasions for Coastal Carolina University, while continuing her exercise science course. She started twice and was a six-time substitute for CCU during the 2008 campaign.

Emma Harrison, one of Baldwin’s team-mates in that 2006 team, teamed up with Annabelle Bramwell at Marshall University this season, and after thirteen games of the campaign they were well on track for a successful year, having won eleven of them.

Then the wheels fell off, with five defeats in their last six games seeing Marshall miss out on the Conference USA tournament, thus bringing a premature end to the Kiwi duo’s season.

Emma started all eighteen games in Marshall’s season, firing eight shots in total, but failing to score, an accomplishment her Kiwi team-mate failed to better. Effervescent Annabelle was used as more of an impact player, appearing off the bench twelve times in a campaign which saw her start six matches and fire seven shots.

Another Kiwi duo enjoyed far better fate at Tennessee Wesleyan College, under the watchful eye of former Football Fern Naomi Clarke. Kelly Stanton scored once and set up a team-best five goals in eighteen games during her maiden season at the college, which finished as beaten semi-finalists in the Appalachian Athletic Conference’s Division One competition.

Her prolific team-mate was the star turn, however. Helen Collins was at her lethal best in front of goal, netting eleven goals in nineteen games, and contributing three assists in a season which saw her lead the team in goalscoring, shots on goal and shots - she made 82 attempts to score during the campaign.

This was Helen’s third season at Tennessee Wesleyan, and her record of 44 goals from 88 shots on target in 53 games over that period speaks for itself. This year, she was named in the AAC All-Conference first team, and was among the AAC All-Academic honours recipients in 2009.

Away from the US college scene, Hannah Bromley has been plying her trade with the New England Mutiny in the Women’s Premier Soccer League, and her season concluded in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Long Island Fury in the Eastern Conference semi-final.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Rebecca Smith has been the defensive rock of Frauen Bundesliga championship contenders VFL Wolfsburg so far this season, her first full campaign for the women’s team of the German champions.

She hasn’t missed a minute of the campaign to date, one which sees Wolfsburg lying in mid-table after eleven matches, within striking distance of a top-four finish in a league which is being dominated by Turbine Potsdam and FCR Duisburg.

Bex has scored two goals for Wolfsburg this season, both in the German Cup. Her first came in a 13-0 first round rout of Rot Weiss Flatow, while her second goal was the only one her team scored in their final match in 2009, a quarter-final tie at home to USV Jena.

Unfortunately for Wolfsburg, Rebecca’s goal was the second of three scored in the game, those netted by the visitors securing a 2-1 win for Jena, and denying the beaten team a second successive German Cup semi-final appearance.