Aug. 16, 2007

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Although the women's soccer team may have just begun its preseason practices this week, several members of the team arrived on campus after playing top-level soccer with youth and club teams during the summer. Three players advanced to national championship games with their respective teams and two won national titles.

Freshman Lindsey Haroutunian (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) was one of the players to win a national championship, as her Bloomfield Force team captured the Francis J. "Frank" Kelly Cup and won the US Youth Soccer National Championship in the U-18 Girls division in Frisco, Texas.

In the championship game, the Force faced the Slammers FC out of California and prevailed in penalty kicks after the game was tied 1-1 following regulation and overtime. The contest was actually scoreless late in regulation before the Slammers netted the first goal with 11 minutes remaining. Bloomfield had plenty of heroics remaining though, and tied the score in the final minute of regulation on the way to winning 6-5 in penalty kicks.

Sophomore Samantha Moskal (Chantilly, Va.) also played for a team that traveled to Texas and reached a USYS national title game. Her PWSI Cardinals club from Virginia reached the championship of the U-19 game and fell 2-0 to the Carmel Cyclones. Moskal was a starting defender for the Cardinals, who captured a Region 1 championship on the way to reaching nationals.

Sophomore Jessica Carnevale (Princeton, N.J.) won a national championship in the Super-20 League with her Parsippany (N.J.) Gazelles team. In Epping, N.H., the Gazelles won the title game 1-0 against Quickstrike FC (Newburgh, N.Y.) to avenge a loss to the Washington Freedom in the national tournament the year before. The Gazelles and Quickstrike had split two meetings during the season before Parsippany claimed the third meeting in the national championship game.

The Villanova team reported to campus this week to begin its preseason camp. The team opens the regular season on August 31 when its hosts Lafayette in the first game of the Villanova Tournament.