Womens professional soccer engages over 200,000 Twitter followers

While most of us in digital marketing know that corporate use of social media is not, by any means, a popularity contest and the number of “followers” you have is by no means a measure of success, the Women’s Professional Soccer league (WPS) achieved a milestone this week when its Twitter account, @womensprosoccer, reached 200,000 followers. In fact, they’re ranked fifth behind the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL for leagues with the most followers.

The overarching reason WPS achieved the 200,000 fan milestone is because they built social media into their communications program as a fan-engagement mechanism. Not everyone understand this concept. Here are a few ways WPS engaged their fans this year which I believe have contributed to their overwhelming success.

1) They participate.

As you can see from their number of @replies, re-tweets (RT’s), and #hashtags, WPS actively participates with and contributes toward ongoing conversations. This is not something every company, league or brand knows how to do or why they need to do it. Actively participating in conversations with your consumers brings you closer to them. You develop what we call relationships, by actually talking to people. Relationships and conversations, over time, turn into loyalty. Loyalty turns in to word-of-mouth… and, over even more time, word-of-mouth turns into increased sales.

2) They provide value.

Now, look at the content of the league’s tweets. It’s actually valuable. They’re not overtly pushing their own agenda, meaning, they’re not posting links to where consumers can buy tickets and pushing it down their throats everyday. Instead, they’re posting content that soccer advocates would find useful such as newsworthy articles about the league and information about the sports industry.

3) They’re human.

One huge win, in my opinion, is the fact that WPS shows who they really are as people and teams. They also do an excellent job of cross-promotion; the league actively promotes the Twitter accounts of various teams. In fact, sometimes, they use Twitter as a way to communicate between each other.

Couple cross-promotion with the fact that they’ve created Twitter lists for WPS staff, teams and players. These show that WPS respects and trusts its staff and players enough to allow and even encourage them to be online tweeting about the league. Suddenly, the world sees that WPS is a living, breathing institution made up of some funny, personable people. WPS clearly values its consumers and employees enough to talk to them and show their staff’s human personalities.

These tactics all work toward a strategy that was built into the league from the very beginning: engage directly with new fans through the online medium. As we can see from their recent milestone, I’d say they’ve achieved significant success. Congratulations, WPS!

Can’t wait to see you in my Twitter feed…

1/11: Update:  Also, I forgot to add, WNBA has a great Twitter following as well, with 150,000. Stay tuned for a post on their significant efforts online later this week

Elizabeth Lambert Spurs Facebook Interest

This blog post is part 7 of a series discussing my experiences with social media as they relate to advocacy issues that highly affect the women’s sport sphere. This is an assignment for a class I’m enrolled in as part of John’s Hopkins University’s Digital Communications program.

On Friday, we all saw the below video of New Mexico professional soccer player Elizabeth Lambert, who astonishingly displayed unsportsmanlike conduct in a game against Brigham Young University. (She’s since been suspended indefinitely from the league).

The cultural fascination with violence displayed by women in sports is nothing new. The 2008 WNBA fights gave the league more attention than they’ve ever gotten. And we all know how upset everyone got when Serena Williams gave a tennis ref a piece of her mind.

But what I find particularly interesting with the case of Elizabeth Lambert this is the varied Facebook interest that this act of violence has spurred.

Read more

Japan women’s soccer cancels trip to United States due to swine flu; Wambach suspended for tackle on Daniela

This one made me laugh out loud in my chair.

A headline on USA Today reads Japan cancels games against U.S. women due to swine flu.

Japan was scheduled to play the U.S. team  in Texas on May 20, and in Utah on May 23,. The team was also scheduled to travel to Canada for a game in Toronto on May 25.

“Japan’s health ministry confirmed the fourth case of swine flu on Sunday, a day after the country’s first three were reported. The ministry said the fourth case is a teenager who recently returned from Canada on a high school trip with the three others. The Japan Football Association, which announced the decision, said it may have to pay damages for breach of contract,” USA Today reported.

Can anyone say… overkill? This is like the 100th most dangerous thing in in the U.S. (and Mexico) right now. I feel like they run more of a risk getting sick by drinking tap water.

Haha I think they should be more afraid of running into Abby Wambach Read more

Peace Corps’ Jeffrey Chatellier uses social media to share stories of youth sports program in Africa

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeffrey Chatellier, a Peace Corps’ volunteer who helps run Ball for All Sport Charities for African women.

I was put in contact with Jeffrey through the Sport for Change contest run by Nike and Ashoka. As I’ve mentioned before, the Sport for Change contest is powerful and effective because it calls on organizations (big and small) from around the globe to come together, share their stories and collaborate together, online.

In this interview, Jeffrey mentions that “sports, environment and Africa” are three things that have been instrumental in making him the person he is today. As you read his story below, you’ll seet hat Jeffrey is among the few who are dedicated toward creating opportunity and enhancing the lives of African women through the power of sport.

The teenage girls who Jeffrey has worked with live in Dassilami Soce, a village of 1,000 people near Toubacouta, in central Senagal. They were members of the first team Ball for All sponsored in Senegal. They continue to practice and play, and their families have grown to see how beneficial a sport like soccer can be in shaping their children into responsible members of the community. They have brought the teamwork, cooperation, and confidence they learned on the playing field into their homes and community.

Jeffrey is doing the right thing – he’s sharing this incredible story by utilizing the power of social media. Not only is he involved in the Sport for Change collaboration, but he created a Facebook page, shared a viral YouTube video (below), and is now conducting blogger outreach (through me).

My only suggestion to Jeffrey is to keep doing what he’s doing. Maybe even set up some podcasts with the girls, create a blog, join Women Talk Sports, and start a Twitter account. Using multiple mediums to share some of the amazing stories he has heard is (for sure) the way to go. Hopefully you will read this story and share it, too.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV5fbKsoGOE&feature=player_embedded

I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. Best of luck to Jeffrey and Ball for All. If you support this organiation (like I do), join their Facebook Cause page and make a donation. A little bit can go a long way. In addition, check out their Web site where you can learn more.

1) Tell me about your background, your experiences at Yale, and how you’ve ended up where you are now.

Sports, Environment, Africa: These three things have been instrumental in making me person I am today. I began playing sports at 4 years old when I started ice skating. Even though I stopped playing hockey, I became a varsity soccer and tennis player in high school. I can still remember clearly the words of my coach as he said “you must leave your comfort zone.”

As I sat in a corporate consulting office after college, those words came back to me. I decided to join the Peace Corps and follow my dream to visit Africa and learn a new language. While living in Senegal, I became passionate about the environment as I lived next to a national park.

However the experience was extremely tough as I was thrown into a new culture and was living in a very poor community where people live on less than a dollar a day for the whole family. Often sick from contaminated water and food, I considered giving up and going home but the echo of my coach saying “leave your comfort zone” came back to me and inspired me to stay.

Soccer was the way I connected with my village. The young men I played with became my language teachers and cultural guides helping me to truly integrate into the community.

After finishing my Peace Corps service, I wanted to pursue a career related to improving environmental management practices so I applied to Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. I focused my master’s degree research on rural energy needs in developing countries and creating sustainable ways to provide the world’s poor with modern and clean energy. I am currently working on this issue in Indonesia. Ball for All keeps me connected to Senegal and the work I started as a Peace Corps volunteer.

In 2004, Brad and Jenny Kremer, two former Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal and Guinea, started Ball for All. As volunteers in small villages, they saw the power soccer had in bringing joy to the children. They also saw a lot of development money being wasted and as a result, they wanted to create an organization that would help children directly. They believed that sport was the best medium to do this and Ball for All was born out of this concept.

In 2005, Brad came to Senegal looking to set up programs for Ball for All. At that time I had just finished my Peace Corps assignment but was in the capitol city completing my medical clearance getting ready to go home.

By chance, we met at the Peace Corps office and I told him about a girls’ soccer team I started in my village. Brad asked if I could accompany him to the village. Despite not wanting to ride 10 hours in a crapped car on poor roads, I agreed as I felt connecting my girls’ soccer team with Ball for All would keep my efforts going.

Through contacts from the village where I lived and worked in as a volunteer, Brad and Jenny Kremer expanded the sports program in the Toubacouta school district. The following year, I had plans to go back to Senegal for research and planned it so I could attend the first regional tournament to include girls’ teams.

Jenny and Brad then asked me to join the board of trustees and I accepted. After helping organize the 2007 tournament, Brad and Jenny told me that they were going to have to close Ball for All due to family and work obligations.

My mother, a believer in the organization and a supporter of my early efforts, agreed to take on the administrative responsibilities as director and I along with the other board members agreed to continue the organization’s activities.

Senegal is a conservative Muslim country where women have not had the same opportunities as men in terms of education and employment. In rural areas, young females are often burdened by tedious house chores and have very little time for fun or studying. Sport helps to build the girls’ confidence and helps them realize that they are capable of doing all the same things boys can do.

The internet is our organization’s largest source of donations and we are trying to enhance our online presence in anyway we can. Our website allows us to connect with people all around the world from Canada to Australia, helping us raise thousands of dollars. We hope to add more interactive features on our website and include more up to date stories of the children that participate in our programs.

Our board member, Emily Burt, works for Google and YouTube and created the Youtube video we showcase on our website. We hope to make more videos in the future as we feel that video really captures the impact of our programs.

I created the Ball for All Facebook Cause as a way to tap into the popularity of Facebook and create a new avenue to give people information on what our organization is doing.

In a short period of time, our Cause went from being mostly a group of my friends to a group that is growing due to the recruitment efforts of lots of people.

We hope to build a group of a 500 hundred people in the next few months and we are almost half way there. I plan to maintain the Cause site like a blog with periodic stories from our Peace Corps volunteer partners in Africa along with a steady stream of photos. As with all internet sites, new and interesting stories need to be posted in order for the site to build traffic. Join our cause: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/186096?m=92eea645&recruiter_id=2483122

When I talk about Ball for All, I often tell a story about when my older sister tried out for little league and was the only girl at the tryouts. She didn’t make the team that year but she persevered and went on to become a great soccer player at the collegiate level.

Despite the obstacles, her generation really pioneered sports for women and girls and

I think female athletes in the US should know that there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of tearing down barriers that prevent girls from experiencing the power of sports.

I found out about the Nike Gamechangers program through the Beyond Sport foundation’s Facebook page. I think it’s a great idea as it has already put me in contact with a lot of people that are interested in supporting our activities. By bringing this community together, organizations can interact and learn from each other and could also potentially collaborate in order to have a greater impact.

7) New Developments:

I’m really excited to announce that Ball for All has recently teamed up with Kimberly Washington who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania. Kimberly is a true pioneer and has created the first girls’ basketball team in the country. In conjunction with the girls’ empowerment center Kimberly manages, we hope to grow this program over the next few years. Pictures can be found at: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/186096?m=92eea645&recruiter_id=2483122

We really believe in the power of the internet to connect with people that are interested in joining our cause.

Since we are small volunteer driven organization, we would love to connect with a person that has a lot of savvy in terms of making videos and would be willing to donate their time and even join our board.

A seed grant of 50,000 dollars would allow us to scale up our activities in Senegal to include the entire country and potentially make girls soccer ubiquitous throughout the rural parts of Senegal, impacting hundreds of thousands of girls.

Once again, I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did. Best of luck to Jeffrey and Ball for All. If you support this organiation (like I do), join their Facebook Cause page and make a donation. A little bit can go a long way. In addition, check out their Web site where you can learn more.

Washington Freedom and DC United Double Headers announced

FYI – To any local Washington, DC folks… Washington Freedom just announced their double headers with DC United. I highly recommend you check this out (at least once). The DC United games are a lot of fun, particularly if you’re sitting in the Barra Brava fan section.

Anyway, the Freedom’s press release on the double-header announcement  is below.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 4) – The Washington Freedom, in conjunction with D.C. United and the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, announced today the clubs are set to play three doubleheaders at RFK Stadium. The matches are scheduled for May 23, June 13 and July 18, with the Freedom playing the opening match on all three dates.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for both organizations,” Freedom head coach Jim Gabarra said. “We’ve done these in the past and they were hugely successful from both teams’ points of view. I think it offers fans of D.C. United a chance to see our product and offers our fans a chance to see D.C. United’s product. I just think it’s a great mixture of two different markets and for us to be able to play at RFK again for three games, we’re looking forward to it.”

The first game, on Saturday, May 23, features the Freedom taking on Sky Blue FC (New Jersey/New York) at 5 p.m. followed by United taking on Real Salt Lake at 7:30 p.m. Originally scheduled for June 14, the Freedom will now take on the Chicago Red Stars on Saturday, June 13 at 5 p.m. followed by United facing the Chicago Fire at 7:30 p.m. The final double-header on Saturday, July 18 features the Freedom facing Saint Louis Athletica at 5:30 p.m. United will face the Colorado Rapids at 8 p.m.

“We are very pleased to once again partner with the Washington Freedom,” said United Executive Vice President Stephen Zack.  ”We are excited about the launch of WPS and feel these double headers offer a great opportunity for our fans to experience the woman’s game.”

For Washington Freedom ticket information, please call 202-587-KICK (5425). For more information on D.C. United ticket packages, please call 202-587-5000.

Women’s Professional Soccer unveils PUMA uniforms: A skort?!?

Check out this press release from Women’s Professional Soccer - looks pretty cool!

Awesome to see PUMA’s name on this historical comeback.

UPDATE: About half an hour after posting this, a friend came up to me and was like “what do you think about the new uniforms?” I clicked through the press release to see the pictures.

Yikes! A skort? Are you kidding me?

As my friend pointed out, this kind-of reminds me of  the scene in A League Of Their Own where Dottie Hinson says to her sister, Kit, “I’m going to have to squat in that thing.”

I don’t know whether to support it or hate it. Seems to me like PUMA/WPS are trying to “rebrand” the female athlete and generate a market for advertising/apparell, which could help the industry.

Personally, though, as an athlete,  I think I’d quit if I was forced to wear a skort.

NEW YORK, NY (February 24, 2009) – Global sportlifestyle brand PUMA® and the stars of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), including three-time FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, Marta, number one WPS draft pick and Olympic Gold Medalist, Amy Rodriguez, and US National Team midfielder and Women’s World Cup bronze medalist, Leslie Osborne, unveiled the home and away uniforms in New York today at a high-profile fashion presentation.

TV personality and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Summer Sanders hosted the event, while fashion designer and winner of TV’s Project Runway Season 4, Christian Siriano added to the excitement by designing his own fashion interpretation of a home and away uniforms inspired by the colors and materials from of the league’s uniforms. The WPS uniforms will be put to the test in the WPS Inaugural Match on March 29th in Los Angeles, California when the Los Angeles Sol takes on the Washington Freedom.

PUMA brings a sense of fashion, flair and femininity to the kits with tailored jerseys, shorts and wraps. Although the uniforms have a more tailored silhouette, the technical materials, cuts and shapes are driven purely by performance, designed for the players to have the maximum flexibility to get them to the ball faster. Made with 100% polyester, the PUMA WPS kits contain contract mesh inserts for comfort and breathability and, a shaped hem and flatlock stitching for a more feminine silhouette. Each garment also has a wicking finish to allow for moisture management, keeping the players dry and comfortable.

“Having the right technical gear and footwear during a 90-minute game is crucial to any soccer player,” said Leslie Osborne. “PUMA has made apparel and footwear with the player in mind and they have truly proven themselves once again with the new WPS uniforms. As a PUMA player, I enjoy PUMA both on and off the field. Not only do they make athletic wear that performs, but it’s comfortable and stylish.”

Two players from each of the league’s seven teams graced the runway in their respective home and away kits: recently signed PUMA athlete, Amy Rodriguez and Angela Hucles for the Boston Breakers, Carli Lloyd and Nikki Krzysik for the Chicago Red Stars, PUMA athlete Leslie Osborne and Christina DiMartino for FC Gold Pride (San Francisco Bay Area), PUMA athlete Marta Vieira da Silva and Johanna Frisk for the Los Angeles Sol, Hope Solo and Lori Chalupny for the Saint Louis Athletica, Heather O’Reilly and Christie Rampone for the Sky Blue FC (NY/NJ Area), and Allie Long and Sarah Huffman for the Washington Freedom. The key color combinations for the team uniforms are:

TEAM – HOME / AWAY
Boston Breakers – Team Royal / White
Chicago Red Stars – Team Pearl Blue / White
FC Gold Pride – PUMA Black / Team Gold
Los Angeles Sol – New Navy & Team Yellow / White
Saint Louis Athletica – USA Forest Green / Pace Grey
Sky Blue FC – Team Pearl Blue / Team Orange
Washington Freedom – New Navy / PUMA Red

Christian Siriano, known for his bold work during Project Runway Season 4, has been a long time friend of the PUMA brand, designing outfits for musicians such as Estelle and Lady Gaga using existing PUMA fabrics and pieces. For this special uniform unveiling, in true PUMA fashion, Siriano designed his take on the home and away uniforms by infusing his style, personality and charm with the PUMA sportlifestyle DNA and female athletes in mind. The two design creations were showcased as part of the WPS Uniform unveiling, reinforcing PUMA’s fusion of both sport and lifestyle. After the event, PUMA will work with WPS to highlight Siriano’s custom-designed outfits throughout the season and eventually auction his pieces later in the year, with proceeds going to a charity befitting of WPS, PUMA and Siriano.

“This is the first time I’ve ever designed for athletes – it’s perfect because I always design for strong women in my Ready to Wear collections and professional athletes definitely have to be tough in mind, body and spirit,” said fashion designer Christian Siriano. “These soccer players are amazing and I love it!”

PUMA became an official founding partner of WPS and an official sponsor of all WPS franchises in December 2008. The multi-year partnership makes PUMA the official sport and lifestyle apparel, footwear and equipment supplier of WPS, including the official WPS Match Ball. In addition to on-field performance wear, PUMA will outfit the athletes and teams at all WPS-related events, activities and WPS appearances in sportlifestyle apparel. This partnership will allow PUMA and WPS to enhance the game of women’s soccer together and will act as the foundation in the PUMA Women’s category. PUMA will launch a fully integrated advertising campaign starring their PUMA athletes, Marta Vieira da Silva, Leslie Osborne and Amy Rodriguez, that will run this upcoming season.

PUMA is a leader in the game of soccer with a European portfolio of five National Teams, including current FIFA World Cup™ holders Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Czech Republic. In addition to being the official supplier to these European teams, PUMA has a long standing relationship with 11 African soccer Federations including the current CAF African Cup of Nations™ holders, Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Angola, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia and Namibia. In the U.S., PUMA has worked with all-star Major League Soccer athletes such as Matt Reis, Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario.

Washington, DC welcomes back women’s professional soccer

I’d like to be one of the first sports reporters in Washington, DC to say to the Washington Freedom… we’re glad you’re here.

Washington, DC once again has a women’s professional soccer team, the Washington Freedom.

These ladies will be playing at the Discovery Sports Plex in Germantown, MD, with (hopefully) a few featured double-header at RFK Stadium with DC United. They announced their schedule a few weeks ago. (see below)

The Freedom’s roster can be found here. Notables include Abby Wambach, a forward (and one of the leading scorers) from the USA Soccer Team, as well as some key international draft picks, including Sonia Bompastor of France and Lisa De Vanna of Australia.

On the communications front, I’m a huge fan of how the Washington Freedom is active on a variety of social media platforms. For example, not only do they have their own Facebook Fan Page, but they also have a Twitter account and a YouTube channel.

Hopefully they’re reaching out to local youth soccer teams (the club leagues, in particular) to ask coaches to send e-mails to their players, promoting the Freedom’s Facebook Page. DC-metro area is full of incredible talented women’s soccer players, so generating a crowd, especially in suburbia, should be no problem.

I may be attending some of their games this year to promote their schedule and visibility in the area. I’m especially looking forward to games when the Freedom could be playing a double-header with DC United, the professional men’s team in the area (whose fans are awesome, by the way).

I know this isn’t exactly the best source, but here’s what Wikipedia says about the founding of Women’s Professional Soccer (interesting)…

“As a result of the US Women’s National Team‘s (US WNT) first-place showing in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a seemingly viable market for the sport germinated. Feeding on the momentum of their victory, the twenty US WNT players, in partnership with John Hendricks of the Discovery Channel, sought out the investors, markets, and players necessary to form the eight-team league.

The WUSA played for three full seasons, suspending operations on September 15, 2003, shortly after the conclusion of the third season. Neither television ratings nor attendance met forecasts, while the league spent its initial $40 million budget, planned to last five years, by the end of the first season. Even though the players took salary cuts of up to 30% for the final season, with the founding players (who also held an equity stake in the league) taking the largest cuts, that was not enough to bring expenses under control.

In the hopes of an eventual relaunch of the league, all rights to team names, logos, and similar properties were preserved. Efforts to line up new sources of capital and operating funds continued.

In June 2004, the WUSA held two “WUSA Festivals,” featuring matches between reconstituted WUSA teams (often with marquee players borrowed from other teams), in order to maintain the league in the public eye and sustain interest in women’s professional soccer.

With the WUSA on hiatus, the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) and the W-League regained their status as the premier women’s soccer leagues in the United States, and many former WUSA players joined those teams.”

Regardless of how it happened, we’re happy they’re here. It’s going to make an exciting spring/summer season for soccer in DC. I hope some of the suburban Maryland youth teams go out to the games and support these women.

Here’s the schedule (click the picture if you want to check it out for yourself):

Male/female soccer game in Iran sparks attention, punishment

When I read about this yesterday, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

On January 20, Iran held its a mixed soccer game – the first of its kind – since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

The game was intended to be a secret – but some cell phone footage was leaked, and punishments were handed to three Iranian soccer club officials.

Check out this AP article for more.

The Jan. 20 game between the club’s female team and its youth male team in Tehran was the first time in the 30 years of Iran’s Islamic establishment that males and females played soccer together, observers said.

The youth team beat the women 7-0 in a game Vatan-e-Emrooz described as ‘historic.’

According to this Fox soccer news article, Iran’s strict Islamic rules ban any physical contact between unrelated men and women, and Iranian women are even banned from attending soccer games when male teams play.

Surprisingly, my colleagues on the male sports blogs covered this story, led by Sports by Brooks:

“Women’s soccer has only recently been widely accepted in Iran. A national women’s team was formed in 2005, but already has had some success in Asia, nearly qualifying for last year’s Asian Cup finals. As you can see from the photo above, the Iranian players have to wear long sleeves, pants, and a head scarf. And home matches are attended only by women.”

It followed with a link from Ball Hype. I’m shocked – they don’t usually cover women’s sports.

The officials of the game – a coach and two managers – first denied the game took place, but video clips on cell phones of the game were used as evidence against them.

This story (and subsequent research) has challenged me to write a series about Muslim women and sports.

So look for more to come..

USA soccer wins U-20 World Cup

Some more exciting soccer news – team USA won the under-20 World Cup title on Sunday, defeating champion North Korea 2-1.

Before I even move on to the details of the game, I have to say – it’s incredible that women under 20 years of age are given the opportunity to compete on a world level (they’re not even out of college yet).

Then, to go down to South America and win – that’s truly incredible.

USsoccer.com has been tracking the team’s thoughts and feelings through their MatchTracker tool.

Nikki Marshall, a junior at Colorado, explained what she felt in that moment,

“Standing up on the podium after the game was surreal; a feeling I have never felt before. Surprisingly (ha ha) I could not control my emotion and I had tears of joy in my eyes. We sacrificed so much to be here and it all became worth it when that gold medal was placed around us. It was a great a tournament and a great moment in my life.”

According to ESPN, USA capitalized on first-half goals from Sydney Leroux and Alex Morgan.

ESPN reports,

“Leroux, who was born in Canada and now plays for UCLA, found the net in the 23rd minute with a shot from inside the box that ricocheted in off the defense, and Morgan, who plays for Cal, scored in the 42nd with a left-footed shot from 20 yards that went high into the goal.”

Congrats, ladies!

NCAA Women’s Soccer: Championship results

Below is a recap of the NCAA championships across divisions for women.

On the Division III level, the Messiah Falcons defeated the Greensboro Thunder, 5-0, for Messiah’s second national title in four years. According to NCAA, the 5-0 victory was the largest winning margin in the 23-year history of the tournament.

There was an exciting game on the Division II level, as the match up went into two sudden death overtimes. Janae Godoy took a 10-yard shot with 2:13 left to lift Seattle Pacific to a 1-0 victory over West Florida. Check out the shot in the video below. So exciting! Those girls will certainly remember that moment forever.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSkJ4Ih0Pw

North Carolina took the Division I crown, as the Tar Heels clinched their 19th NCAA Championship, defeating Notre Dame 2-1. The full story can be found here.

Congrats to everyone!

“Football Under Cover”: Documentary about women’s football (soccer) in Iran

A new documentary (released this year) discusses the reality of women’s soccer players in Iran.

The plot: An amateur female soccer team from Berlin goes on a nerve-wracking journey trying to carry out the first female soccer match in the history of Iran. And it happens in front of over 1,000 cheering female fans.

According to Cinema Without Borders, Football Under Cover won two prizes in Berlin film festival, The TEDDY for the Best Documentary Film and VOLKSWAGEN Audience Award.

This documentary has been capturing attention across continents. For example, check out this NPR article. Also, popular soccer blog, The Global Game has even featured information about this movie.

Can anyone figure out where we can see it? I’d love to view this.

Check out the trailer below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyMc0bW_b8M

Laura Delaney hosts NCAA Division III Women’s Soccer blog

I must say – it’s exciting when you browse through the NCAA’s student-athlete blogs and come across an NCAA Division III blog from an athlete at your former college. I’m so glad to see Laura Delaney, the captain of the women’s soccer team at The College of New Jersey posting her thoughts on this season on NCAA.com.

You may not be as excited as I am, but I think this is a leap forward for both TCNJ and the NCAA, as least as far as editorial coverage of female sports is concerned. Providing student-athlete blogs across divisions of sport is a stellar idea. Each individual athlete has a personal idea and story and perspective to share with the world.

Newspapers  — if they’re smart — can draw content from these blogs and frame stories around them. Athletes — if they’re smart — will be completely honest. Athletic departments — if they’re smart — will not put heavy restrictions on what the athletes write.

Even though Laura has only written about four posts, the idea of this option for her is novel.

This is a great opportunity for Laura to find her own perspective on the season. Her blog can act as a personal diary – a measure of success in terms of attitude and outlook. She can push herself through the goals she sets and writes about and she can measure success based upon whether or not these goals were met.

Right now, TCNJ women’s soccer is 7-3-1 on the season. The three losses were to Smarthmore, Montclair State and Steven’s Tech.

In her October 10 post, just two days after her teams’ loss to Steven’s Tech, she provides some great commentary of what it’s like to be a captain in the face of adversity:

“It is hard to convince thirty girls that despite numerous setbacks, there is a chance to succeed and push beyond the limits of expectations. It was even harder to convince myself. I do not doubt for a second that my team is a group of talented, hardworking girls and together, as a group we can be successful. In both our wins and our losses of the season we have proven to be ample competitors but an underlying sense of restlessness and fear reside in our team mentality.”

Those words serve as a message to her team – she’s saying that she still believes in them and they need to get past their fears to become winners.

I hope this blog develops to be useful for her. I’m so happy to see she was chosen to write for NCAA, and I wish her and the rest of the women’s soccer program at TCNJ the best of success.

I just wish she’d post a few more blogs to keep us, her team and the rest of the NCAA in the loop with how she’s doing.

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