Sofia Weiner (U19ECNL) will join the U18 Women's National Team for a trip to Northern Ireland October 13-24.

The Under-19 competition features mostly players born in 1998 and 1999. The USA open the tournament against England on Tuesday, October 18, at the Ballymena Showgrounds in Ballymena at 2 p.m. local time. The USA will then face France at Noon local time on Thursday, Oct. 20, at Mourneview Park in Lurgan before finishing against the hosts on Sunday, Oct. 23, at 4:30 p.m. local time at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park in Belfast.

U.S. Soccer Women’s Technical Director April Heinrichs has named 20 players to the roster for the tournament, eight born in 1999 with the remainder born in 1998. As the majority of players in the U.S. U-18 WNT player pool are currently competing in their freshman seasons of college soccer, this roster is made up almost entirely of players currently playing youth club.

See the full roster here.

Rush Adult Soccer League (R.A.S.L.) has three more nights for some adult soccer: This coming Friday and and the following two Fridays from 5:15-6:15pm. The program meets at Lilley Gulch to warm up and play.

“We had a great time at R.A.S.L. last Friday,” said R.A.S.L. Director Megan Lindholm. “Tim Schulz, President of the Rush, was able to come out and play with us. The first fifteen minutes were filled with simple triangle passing and then we went right into playing. The participants had a great time and were willing to jump right into the program. This training is designed for adults that want to learn more about soccer, have some fun and perhaps get some exercise doing just that.”

Rush would like to thank everyone who participated. What a great time!!!

College Soccer is quickly approaching tournament time but Rush Alums keep racking up the points! Below are headlines for games played October 10 - Oct 16 including a star performance in Colorado, 2 players improve their national assist rankings and a top 5 shutout on Senior Night.

Evans Stars as Buffs Win 10th Straight; Earns Pac 12 Play of the Week
Hendon Sets Shutout Record with 1-0 Win over Texas
Malone scores Game Winner for Colorado College
Redman & Robinson scored and gave the victory for JBU (2-1); Redman Earns Player of the week
Josh Belfrage scores in MSU win
Rafferty Girls Shine in 3-0 Win for Minot State
Kaitlyn Brunworth assets the winning goal for Wingate
Musson Tallies Assist in Mercer Win
Madrid Assists in Valpo Win
Robertson's Brace Power AF Past Nevada
Boswell Captures 7th Assist of Year in 3-1 Win
Hamilton Continues to Rack Up Assists for #5 DU
Raben/Duke Shutout UVA on Senior Day
Jaime Scores for Second Straight Week

Do you have news on a former Colorado Rush player we missed? Let us know!

Congratulations are in order for Lia Zavalsky as she was recently selected to attend the 2016 US Youth Soccer Thanksgiving Inter-regional event in Boca Raton, Florida. Lia will represent the Region IV 03 team this November and looks forward to the opportunity of impressing national team scouts and coaches.

Lia is not one to boast about her successes and in fact, she did not mention this to anyone until it was announced by her coach Andrew Kummer. Coach Kummer states, “This selection was not surprising to me as Lia has had much success in recent months. She has attended the US Training Center, participated on the Rush Select Team and made the Rush 02 ECNL Team. She is on a good track because of her hard work and team first attitude.” When asked about her reaction to the invite Lia responded, “I was very excited when I heard I made the regional team. This is just one step closer to achieving my dream.”

Good work Lia. The Colorado Rush wishes you the best of luck in November!  

Conference play is wrapping up and teams are fighting for their post season bids with Rush alumni leading the way! Below are headlines for games played October 19 - Oct 23 including a goals, and assists galore from Seniors and Sophomores, the extension of a school shutout record by one of the Big 12's best, and a team of the week honor from UCLA.

Russell Gets Game-Winner for Portland
DiBiasi Scores Game-Winner for Stanford
O'Keefe Scores 5th of Season for Tennessee
Hendon Records 9th and 10th Shutouts of Season
Reza Scores, Kerridge Assists in Lipscomb Win
Brunworth Earns Assist in Miami Win
Miranda Has Game Winner & Assist in 2-Win Weekend for UCLA; Named to TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week
Brandon Scores Goal, Assist in Virginia Win
Evans Scores Twice Again as Buffs Knockoff #10 Cal 3-2
McElvaine Tallies Assist for Washington
Stark, Burton Connect for Goal in Wyoming Win
Redman scores 11th goal for JBU this season
Robinson scored for the 14th time and assist for the 6th time this season and JBU won 5-0
10th assist for Ryan Williams this season for JBU
Boyle and Prolow scored for J&W against Rochester
2 goals and 2 assists for Chapleski

Do you have news on a former Colorado Rush player we missed? Let us know!

Portland,OR-This past Saturday the 2nd Qualifying Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup took place, and the Rush Men had been drawn to take the longest journey of any team in the round by having to go about 1,250 miles to play at Delta Park in Portland, OR. The guys would not let this stand in their way. Due to logistics, the Rush men were in a position to only take 12 players to this match, 10 of which had to fly into Portland on the same day of the game, and only a few hours after flying in played 90 minutes of high paced soccer against the Oregon Premier League Champs (International Portland Select).

The team did not look jet lagged whatsoever as they stepped onto the pitch and played quality Rush soccer at its finest. The passing and possession was on point seeing the opponents barely even touching the ball in the first 15 minutes of the game. It would only take about 17 minutes into the game for Griffin Dorsey to find a break down in the IPS defense, he tore down the right side of the field and after beating his defender chose an easy finish past the keeper to start the Rush out and get the visiting team up 1-0.

The next 30 minutes of the game would see the level of physicality come up from both sides and just before halftime in the 45th minute of play Morgan Sacco would get taken down inside the IPS goal box and was awarded a PK. Colin Clark would step up and take the Penalty and the Rush men went up 2-0 going into the half.

The 2nd half would play much like the first half, it was very physical and every ball was contested hard by both teams. The Rush spoke at half time about getting the next goal early in the half and Nick Blanco provided that assurance from a beautiful chip pass from Morgan Sacco scoring only 2 minutes into the 2nd Half, 3-0 Colorado Rush.

Shortly thereafter, things would get really interesting when the officials would determine that one player from each side would be sent off for violent play, dropping both teams down to 10 men.

The last bit of excitement was to be provided by Ryan Crowley in the 78th minute when Crowley would get an opportunity down the middle of the field off a rebounded shot from Morgan Sacco and Crawley scored it with ease.

With a 4-0 victory this would mark the second consecutive Open Cup qualifying shutout for GK Shailer Thomas and his stingy defensive back line.

The team is slated to play in the 3rd Round of Qualifying Play in March. The time and place and opponent will all be announced in January after a blind draw to determine the match ups and a coin toss to determine the host.

The players that went on the trip: Morgan Sacco, Nick Blanco, Peter May, Colin Clark, Brad Gorham, Nic Hartman, Jack O'Brien, Griffin Dorsey, Ryan Crowley, Adam Hudson, Mark Wellen, Shailer Thomas, and Coach Joe Webb.

Watch the entire replay at the link below:
 

The Colorado Rush Thunder program has had a successful Fall season and on Saturday, conducted their seasonal scrimmage with Real Edge.

There were around 40 players from Edge, 25 from Colorado Rush and a few players travelled up from Rush Pikes Peak to take place in the festivities.

The Rush and Edge TOPSoccer programs have been putting together the scrimmages for over a decade with Rush hosting in the Fall, and Edge hosting in the Spring season.

The day is filled with fun games and activites for the TOPS players and coaches and ends with a pizza party and ceremony where each player gets a medal.

There have been several great volunteers helping with the program this Fall but if you are interested in helping with Spring sessions, please contact Danny Elsner.

Thanks to all of our great volunteers and Thunder players on a wonderful Fall season!

The Thunder program wraps up on Saturday with a Players vs Parents game that is always an enjoyable day for all!

One of the most decorated players in Rush history is calling it a career. Conor Casey is retiring at age 35.

Upon finishing his youth career at Colorado Rush and College at University of Portland (including a nation leading 23 goals as a Sophomore), Casey signed a pro contact with Borussia Dortmund of the German Bundesliga and spent 6 seasons in Germany. He then came to the MLS with the Colorado Rapids where he helped win the 2010 MLS Cup and was named MVP of the Championship game. Conor finished his Rapids career with a club record 54 goals and added another 21 during a three season stint with Philadelphia Union.

Perhaps Casey’s biggest soccer moment came with the US Men’s National team in 2009 when he scored 2 goals (in video below) in a 3-2 win over Honduras that ultimately clinched a World Cup birth for the 2010 Cup in South Africa.

Congratulations Conor on a wonderful career! Colorado Rush and Rush Nation wish you best of luck with your future ventures. 

U.S. Soccer released a new video on recognizing and managing concussions, highlighting the important role parents, players, coaches, referees and health professionals play in the return to play process. The video is part of U.S. Soccer's Recognize to Recover (R2R) player health and safety program, and is designed to raise awareness of this important issue and will be used in coach and referee continued education.

The video, which is available to download and encouraged to be shared, follows the journey of a young soccer player through a suspected concussion and outlines the symptoms of concussions and the steps that should be taken before a player is allowed to return to the field. As the video weaves between reality and what takes place in the player's mind, we see how both the physical and mental symptoms of concussions have very real effects.

• Watch the video

"A concussion can be difficult to recognize on the field and most occur without a loss of consciousness or an obvious sign that something is wrong with a player's brain function," said U.S. Soccer Chief Medical Officer George Chiampas. "If players, parents, coaches and referees work together to educate themselves and take proper precautions, athletes and parents can both enjoy exciting, challenging competition without the constant fear of serious injury."

• Q&A with George Chiampas about concussions in soccer

Former U.S. Men's National Team player Taylor Twellman, who suffered concussions during his professional career, is also part of the video. Speaking from first-hand experience, Twellman emphasizes the importance for players to ask for help if they feel they may have suffered a concussion.

"My passion for this subject is well known throughout the soccer community," Twellman said. "I was honored that U.S. Soccer asked me to be a part of this program to hopefully make a difference in the way we evaluate and recover from concussions."

Earlier this week, the video was presented on a webinar to U.S Soccer's membership from across the country, including state associations, youth organizations and Development Academy clubs. Each member was provided the video and encouraged to share it with their players, coaches, parents and referees.

Recognize to Recover is aimed at promoting safe play and reducing injuries in soccer players of all ages. The first-of-its-kind program was developed with the help of medical experts to provide coaches, players, parents and referees with information, guidance and additional educational materials to improve the prevention and management of injuries.

To learn more about Recognize to Recover, visit recognizetorecover.org.

A huge congratulations to Samantha Harder (Rush class of 2011) who has signed a professional contract with WFC Ramat HaSharon in Israel. Harder was a stud center back with Rush leading her team to a Region IV Championship in 2011, and played three seasons with the Colorado Rush W-League team. Harder then went on to play at the University of Denver where she was a 4-time All Conference player and graduated as DU's all time leader in minutes played with over 7,600.

Harder will join club teammate Denali Murnan in Israel for Ramat HaSharon who played in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds but finished second in their group so will miss the full competition this year.

Congratulations Sam! We wish you the best of luck on your new venture!

Conference play is wrapping up and conference tourament play begins this week! Below are headlines featuring Rush players for games played October 25 - Oct 30.

Flom Scores Lone Goal in Utah Draw Against #4 USC
Kerridge Scores in Lipscomb Draw
Delmonico Assists in Mercer Win
Fowler Assists in Montana Win
DiBiasi Tallies Two Assists in Stanford Win
Boswell Scores in SEC Opener
Evans Assists Game Winner in Upset of #9 UCLA
Madrid Scores 3, Assists 1 in Two Win Weekend; Madrid Named Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week
Stark Named All Mountain West Newcomer Team
Robinson/Redman Score Again in JBU Win
Rafferty Girls Lead Minot State to First Conference Title
Belfrage Man of the Match with 2 goals
1 goal and 2 assist for Noah Chapleski
Blarr Named All-RMAC First Team

Do you have news on a former Colorado Rush player we missed? Let us know!

Rush Alum and USWNT player Lindsey Horan will host her winter camp at Colorado Rush. The camp is exclusive to only registered female Rush players from all 3 Colorado Rush branches. 

Lindsey commented, "I'm very excited for this camp. It will be a great opportunity for the girls. They will improve their skills as well as work with some of the best players that have come out of Rush, a club that helped develop me into the person and the player I am today."

(Click the image below to register)

October 28, 2016 was the final R.A.S.L. of the Fall season. The Rush Staff would like to thank all who came out and participated.

“This season’s R.A.S.L. was the best yet! Each week we were able to grow the love of the sport and I believe that's what makes R.A.S.L. unique. I would like to thank Tim Schulz and Mark Hiemenz for their help in growing the program,” said R.A.S.L. Program Lead Megan Lindholm.

We are looking forward to seeing you in the Spring!

Each year Colorado Rush Staff and the Board of Directors conducts our Annual General Meeting. The meetings are open to the public and we welcome anyone and everyone to attend.

Notice: Annual General Meeting Date: Tuesday, November 15th, 2016
Location: Colorado Rush Office 8101 Shaffer Pkwy. Suite 103 Littleton, CO 80127
Time: 6:30pm

Purpose: To provide an annual review & update to Colorado Rush members. To elect individuals for open positions on the Board of Directors. 

Congratulations to all of our Rush Alumni who have advanced to NCAA Tournament Play. We wish you all luck in the coming weeks. Women's DI, DII, DIII and Men's DII and DIII all start this week. Men's DI kickoff next week.

Links for the various tournaments are below:
Women's:
DI - http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-women/d1
DII - http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-women/d2/2016
DIII - http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-women/d3

Men's
DI - Announced next week
DII - http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-men/d2
DIII - http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-men/d3

Both the 2001 and 2002 ECNL teams traveled to Phoenix for the first major showcase of the season over the weekend.  The 2002 team had a solid weekend going 1-1-1 against teams from all over the country while the 2001s struggled against extremely tough teams going 0-3 but showed signs of improvement.  After failing the to find the net in the first two matches, the 02s exploded in their third game against Heat FC by winning 4-2.  The 2001 team faced a brutal schedule against Real So Cal, So Cal Blue and Dallas Texans but demonstrated a fighting spirit that should carry beyond the difficult results of the weekend.  Overall, the opportunity to face tough opponents for both teams will prove beneficial as they enter the winter break and prepare for matches in early February.  

Remaining ECNL action for the year includes U17 and U19 teams taking on Real this Saturday and the 18's going to North Carolina in December.

2002's: Tie vs Vardar (MI), Loss vs AHFC (TX), Win vs Heat FC (NV)


2001's: Loss vs Real SoCal (CA), Loss vs So Cal Blues (CA), Loss vs Dallas Texans (TX)

Last weekend was the opening weekend for college tournament play around the country with a number of CO Rush alumni lacing up for their respective schools. Below are the weekends results along with some other recognitions from the past week.

Rafferty Girls Winning Awards at Minot St.
Robinson Named SAC Player of the Year
Mia White Shines at RIT

NCAA TOURNAMENT UPDATES - Teams in bold will play this week

BYU – Sabrina Macias – Win 2-0 over UNLV. Next vs. Oklahoma

CO School of Mines – Dani DeHart, Jackie Chiastra, Shannon Mooney – Tie vs Dallas Baptist. Advance on Shootout. Next vs Texas A&M Commerce

Colorado – Danica Evans, Morgan Stanton – Win 3-1 over Oklahoma State, next vs #1 South Carolina. Evans Scored the games final goal with 12 seconds remaining to clinch the win and caused an own goal on flip throw to start the game.

Denver – AJ Fuller, Jared Cochran, Sam Hamilton, Will Palmquist – Opening Round bye. Play UNLV/San Diego State.

Duke – Lizzy Raben – Win 3-0 over Charlotte. Next vs Illinois State. Raben played 78 minutes helping Duke maintain the shutout.

Florida Gulf Coast – Miguel Jaime – Opening round Thursday vs South Florida

Fort Hays State – Savannah McClease, Taryn Schnell – W 3-1 vs Harding, T 2-2 vs MSU-Mankato, advance in shootout. Next vs Central Missouri.

Indiana – Will Eslinger – Opening Round bye. Play Nov.20 vs Akron/Villanova.

John Brown – Jastin Redman, Aspen Robinson. First Round game Nov 19 vs Cumberland.

Minnesota – Tori Burnett – Tied NC State 0-0 and lost in shootout. Burnett played all 110 minutes

Minot State – Erin Rafferty, Ryann Rafferty – Lost 3-1 to Central Oklahoma

New Mexico – Noah Bushey – Opening round Thursday vs Portland.

Pepperdine – Rachael Collins – Tie California 1-1, advance is shootout. Play NC State in second round.

Regis – Cameron McCaslin, Noah Chapleski – Lost 1-0 to St. Edward’s.

SMU – Emily Cope – Lost 1-0 to Oklahoma

Stanford – Jordan DiBiasi – W 4-0 over Houston Baptist. Next vs Santa Clara.

TCU – Kayla Hill, Ryan Williams – Lost 1-0 to Texas A&M.

UCLA – Gabbi Miranda – Won 3-0 over Seattle. Next vs Nebraska

Utah – Max Flom – Won 1-0 over Texas Tech. Next vs Florida State.

Virginia – Betsy Brandon – Won 4-1 over Monmouth. Next vs Penn State.

Wisconsin – Alaina Sneeden – Won 1-0 over Marquette. Next vs #1 Florida.

The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) has announced professional development soccer is making its move into Colorado, and the Colorado Rush has been accepted as one of the first clubs in the state to join in this newly formed UPSL Colorado Conference. The conference will begin play in March of 2017 starting off with 5 to 7 teams from Colorado, with the winner of the Conference receiving a berth to the UPSL National Finals.

Rush's Participation in this new league is going to create more opportunity and benefits to the players in the clubs Rush 1 program. This will be a great opportunity for the Youth, Senior, and Adult/Alumni Rush players that are looking to take that step towards the Pro-development path with more chances to train and play like a pro as well as the players who just want to play at a higher level against some of the states best. Players on this team will also get the opportunity to compete in the prestigious Lamar Hunt US Open Cup every year.

ABOUT THE UPSL

The UPSL was founded in 2011 with 10 men’s teams from Southern California and has now grown to one of the Top pro-development leagues in America. The UPSL is set to operate 50+ teams in 2017 — all based in California, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona. With the addition of new clubs, the United Premier Soccer League is the fastest growing Pro Development League in the United States. Each UPSL team is individually owned and operated, and is responsible for maintaining UPSL minimum standards. The goal of the league is to provide a competitive league platform for players seeking to play at higher levels.

https://www.prlog.org/12600985-united-premier-soccer-league-announces-new-colorado-conference-expansion-addition-of-four-top-clubs.html 

Kaylah Wanna (U17 Rush Girls) recently travelled to Sweden as part of the Rush Select 00/01 team. Kaylah shares some thoughts about the trip, and a home-made video below:

About a week ago I met some of my closest friend on a week long trip in Sweden. Sweden was full of adventure and laughs all around. It was great to be able to be coached by some of the top club coaches in Sweden and play against very technical and strong soccer players too. Although the results weren't what we were hoping for, the experience to be able to see how Europeans play is so much different than back home which pushed all of us to become better players. Being able to play in Sweden allowed us to make some international friends also from the FC Rosengård team. Due to illness, the last game had to be canceled but FC Rosengård allowed us to practice with the u17 and under team where both of the teams were mixed. We have been snapchatting our new Sweden friends as well! Also, thank you to Brian Lux (CO) and Arian Hoxha (HI) for coaching the team as well and pushing us outside of our comfort zones. Most of us only met each other two days before our first game but by the end of the week it seemed to be a regular team you play with everyday. A huge thank you to Generation Adidas for making the trip as enjoyable as possible and providing such great great people that were able to show us around Malmö and Copenhagen and also allowing us to play soccer golf on the prettiest soccer golf courses which provided a lot of us with challenges. The team was able to bring back a lot of souvenirs, especially coach Lux who brought back home 5 full tubs of banana flavored marshmallows. Im very humbled to be able to embark on such a journey with Rush Select and find girls all over the United States and Canada who share the same passion.