Edinboro women close Division II soccer playoff run - GoErie.com

The Edinboro women's soccer team's most successful season in its 16-year history came to an end Friday as the fourth-seeded Fighting Scots lost 2-0 to fifth-seeded West Chester in the NCAA Atlantic Regional opening round.

The game was scoreless most of the way before Edinboro (15-6-0) allowed two goals during the final 15 minutes. Cara Deola scored in the 76th minute and again at the 86:36 mark for West Chester.

"We had our chances, but we just couldn't score," Edinboro coach Gary Kagiavas said. "I felt we should have won."

West Chester (13-3-4) will face top-seeded California (Pa.) on Sunday in the second round.

Women less likely than men to fake football injuries, study finds-Los Angeles Times

Faking injuries is a time-honored — albeit widely frowned-upon — way to slow down an athletic event, catch a breather or disrupt an opponent's rhythm. A new study issued Thursday hints that the practice may be somewhat testosterone-driven. Women soccer players, the study finds, are significantly less likely than men to fake an injury on the field, researchers from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., reported.

"Injuries are common in women's soccer and seem to be on the rise at the international level," said Dr. Daryl A. Rosenbaum, an assistant professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest. Faked injuries also seem to be on the rise, to the point that the International Federation of Assn. Football (FIFA), soccer's governing body, issued a directive calling for "the football family to unite in denouncing injury simulation and working to eradicate this scourge from the game." FIFA's concern may be justified, he said.

RelatedU.S. shows its vulnerability in 2-1 loss to Sweden in Women's World CupWomen's World Cup isn't lacking fireworks In 2010, Rosenbaum and his colleagues studied videotapes of international men's soccer matches and concluded that there were an average of 11.26 apparent injuries per match, in which players were writhing or rolling on the ground, grabbing a body part, yelling, having an anguished facial expression or hiding their face. They concluded that only 7.2% of the apparent injuries were "definite" injuries — that is, the player withdrew from the contest within five minutes or blood was apparent.

Now Rosenbaum's team has performed the same analysis for women's soccer. The researchers analyzed 47 televised games from two international women's tournaments. They reported in the journal Research in Sports Medicine that they observed only half as many apparent injuries as they previously saw in men's games, an average of 5.74 per game. And they concluded that 13.7% of those apparent injuries were definite injuries, twice the proportion as in men's soccer. As corroboration of their findings, they noted that they observed an average of six apparent injuries per match in the 2007 Women's World Cup, but that team physicians reported only 2.3 injuries per match.

The researchers speculated about possible causes for the higher apparent injury rate in the men's game. "Perhaps the higher visibility or financial stakes of the men's game creates greater incentives for gamesmanship," they wrote. "Another theory could be that the men's game may have greater frequency and force of physical contact as it involves larger, faster players. Collisions could lead to initially painful injuries like contusions that do not require a player to withdraw, or more frequent contact situations could mean that there are more opportunities to try and influence the referee through simulation."

Women seem to show OUR strength in 2011 World Cup: a fan's perspective-Yahoo! Sports

They won their first World Cup title 1991the. 1999 was the Golden girls football. They are ranked No. 1 and three are gold medals.

Is the U.S. women's national team.

Still, with all titles and trophies, how will the USA fare in 2011 FIFA World Cup?

The soccer landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade. Soccer women has become more popular around the world have poured more money into the sport. With the popularity, groups around the world are becoming faster, stronger and more regular games.

In recent years, the US has shown strength. In 2007, they placed third in the World Cup. In 2008, the United States won the Olympic gold medal. In 2011, took the title of the Algarve Cup and four Nations tournament. Recently, the final international match before the World Cup women's team was victorious against Mexico. The score 1-0 gave US his third straight shutout.

Experience could play a factor in how well the US runs in the World Cup. While the group still has "13 players who were part of the 2008 Olympic gold medal winning team in Beijing", there are only eight players on the list "with" Previous women's World Cup experience. "Veteran Christie Rampone has played in four world cups. For Shannon Boxx and Abby Wambach, this will be a third appearance in international competition. Nicole Barnhart, hope Solo, Stephanie Cox, Lloyd and Heather O'Reilly Carli University, have all three. Abby Wambach leads the team with nine goals in World Cup.

Although the United States ranks as no. 1, will have to face against Germany regarding the look. Germany won the two previous world cups. The 2011 event will be the last World Cup of Birgit Printz. Although sprained his ankle, said the German star will play again. Prinz has scored 14 goals during four World Cup Championships.

Another threat to the United States is Brazil. Brazil has soccer legend Marta, who is a soccer player five year of the year. In 2007, Brazil was the runner-up in women's World Cup.

In the first team that will face the United States is North Korea. The USA plays North Korea on 28 June, at 11: 45 a.m. ET.

The United States did not win the World Cup since 1999. Perhaps this will be the year of the red, white and blue.

Melissa became a supporter of issues World Cup giant in 1999 when the u.s. women won the title. From the gymnasium, was a follower of international football.