Tarpley, MacMillan Honored
Forward Shannon MacMillan of the United States women’s national team was named athlete of the year and forward Lindsay Tarpley of the University of North Carolina was named best young female athlete by the U.S. Soccer Federation on Friday.
A two-time Olympian who plays for the San Diego Spirit of the Women’s United Soccer Assn., MacMillan led thenational team in scoring last year with 17 goals and three assists, and had a three-goal, three-assist effort in a 7-0 victory over Mexico. She scored in six of the team’s first eight games last year and had seven of the team’s eight goals at the 2002 Algarve Cup in Portugal. She scored all the goals in a 3-2 Algarve Cup victory against Denmark.
In the WUSA, she led the Spirit in scoring for the second consecutive season with five goals and eight assists.
Tarpley was named captain of the U.S. team that won the first FIFA under-19 world championship, scoring an overtime goal in a 1-0 victory over Canada in the final. She had six goals in the tournament. During the year, she led the Americans in scoring with 27 goals and 13 assists.
As a freshman at North Carolina last season, she scored 16 goals and had 17 assists and led the Tar Heels to the NCAA semifinals, where they were efeated by Santa Clara, 2-1.
Half the votes in balloting for the award came from media and U.S. Soccer Federation representatives. The rest was based on on-line balloting.
The men’s awards are to be announced next week.
Bosnich Answers
Embattled Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, who tested positive for cocaine in November, remains suspended without pay after a second test performed on the same sample confirmed the initial finding.
Bosnich, 30, on advice from counsel, did not meet with Chelsea officials in December, but on Friday asked for another hearing to defend himself.
Officials of the English Premier League club notified Bosnich this week that his contract will be terminated, but the native of Australia said he would fight the charge, which, if upheld, could lead to his being banned from international play for a year.
Bosnich went to the West London club from Manchester United two years ago but has not played since November 2001.
New Digs for Burn
Joining a long list of professional sports teams in the U.S. that don’t play in the cities they represent, the Dallas Burn is leaving the Cotton Bowl and will instead play its games at a new high school football stadium in a suburb of Fort Worth.
The Burn signed a two-year deal to use 7,500-seat Dragon Stadium in suburban Southlake and will pay to add temporary seating that will more than double its capacity.
The Burn, which averaged about 13,000 fans last season, will pay the Carroll School District $7,000 a game and $1 for each paid admission over 7,000. The team paid a minimum of $15,000 a game at the Cotton Bowl.
Nigeria Joins In
Nigeria, apparently hoping to include four neighboring countries, submitted a letter of intent to FIFA to bid for the 2010 World Cup.
Nigeria turned in its letter on Dec. 31, the last day to do so. The letter said Ghana, Benin, Togo and Cameroon, had been “informally invited” to share in the bid. Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia are also seeking to play host to the 2010 tournament.
Molina Recovered
Goalkeeper Jose Molina of Deportivo Coruna in the Spanish first division is expected to return to the club by the end of the month after undergoing treatment for testicular cancer. Molina, 32, had a malignant tumor removed in October. In June 2001 he had surgery to remove a testicular lump.
