Boston Sports Then and Now

Coach Tony DiCicco and Lisa Cole address team prior to pre-season game vs. Boston College

With two weeks of training camp in the rear view mirror and the team bus driving towards their opening contest against the Washington Freedom on April 10, Coach Tony DiCicco’s Boston Breaker squad has departed the confines of the training bubble at Harvard University and are traveling south down Rte. 95 to the warmer climate which accompanies springtime in Florida.

Their current roster of 23 players will be trimmed a bit further in the next three weeks as DiCicco and his coaching staff decides on the top eighteen athletes to start the season as the 2010 addition of Boston’s entry in Women’s Professional Soccer. DiCicco will keep another four players in addition to his final choices to make up the team’s developmental squad.

The early days of camp become a testament to the players commitment to arrive at camp physically fit. Early season muscle aches and nagging injuries can become a factor and have an effect on the ultimate make-up of the team. Read the rest of this entry →

Breakers break camp.

After only four days of pre-season training camp under the “bubble” at Harvard University, Boston Breakers coach Tony DiCicco and his staff have made their first cut downs from the opening roster of 32.

On Thursday afternoon the Breakers released four players from their pre-season roster, including Anna Caniglia (Nebraska), Samantha Diaz-Motosas (University of South Carolina), Rebecca Mays (Southern Illinois), and Carly Peetz (Nebraska) from training camp.

Peetz was a sixth round pick (number 52 overall) in the WPS Draft held in January, while Caniglia, Diaz-Motosas and Mays participated in camp as undrafted free agents. Read the rest of this entry →

Tony DiCicco

Five days have passed since the shocking announcement that Women’s Professional Soccer had decided to close up the shop of the Los Angeles Sol after only one season, due to AEG’s failure to commit to the long-term success of the team.

Feeling a wee bit like Kübler-Ross, I’ve experienced each of the five stages of grief. Though clearly not to the level of the players themselves, who have to pull up their stakes and call a new place their home, I too have wrestled with my share of shock, denial, anger, bargaining and acceptance as a result of the league’s loss. Such is life in the business of sports, but as a fan of the league it doesn’t make it any easier to accept.

As a passionate lover of the sport and a true believer in the success of the WPS, I’ve found myself looking for a silver lining. As the Beatles sing in their song, All Things Must Pass, I too was looking for a way to come to grips with the failure of the Sol’s ownership.

“Sunrise doesn’t last all morning
A cloudburst doesn’t last all day
Seems my love is up
And has left you with no warning
But it’s not always going
To be this grey”

Read the rest of this entry →

Tony DiCicco, the head coach and Director of Soccer for the Boston Breakers, connected with me from California where he and the other coaches are performing duties with the US National Team.

The Breakers were in possession of the second and eleventh picks in the draft, following last September’s trade with the expansion Philadelphia Independence. In that swap, the Breakers sent last year’s number one selection, Amy Rodriguez, and the number five pick to the Independence in exchange for their two first round picks.

DiCicco, like most of the coaches, had a game plan going into the draft and hoped to find those players on his wish list available when it was the Breakers turn to select. Read the rest of this entry →

Dear Breakers Fans & Soccer Lovers,

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays. I am writing you today to share a story about a great soccer legend and one of my favorite players – and people – Michelle Akers.

Personally, I had the honor of coaching Michelle Akers on the U.S. National Team for many years and during our 1999 World Cup victory.  She was one of the most intense competitors and – quite simply – one the greatest players the women’s game has ever seen.

Since retiring from soccer, Michelle has pursued her other passion – horses – and has opened the Michelle Akers Horse Rescue and Outreach farm in Georgia, which protects, heals and provides a happy home to abused, abandoned and unwanted horses.

Earlier this month, the farm was inundated by floods and sustained over $50,000 of major damage.  Working tirelessly for 48 hours, Michelle was able to rescue her horses and goats from the flood waters.  You can read her account of the flood here. Read the rest of this entry →

Tony DiCicco is all smiles after finding his way on to the ballot for the Soccer Hall of Fame

The National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum has announced that Boston Breakers Head Coach Tony DiCicco has been named to the Hall of Fame’s Election 2010 Builder Ballot.  DiCicco is one of four highly respected soccer coaches and six nationally recognized administrators selected for the ballot.  2010 Hall of Fame inductees will be announced early next year.

DiCicco is one of the most recognizable names in women’s soccer, serving as the U.S. Women’s National Team head coach from 1994 to 1999.  During his six year tenure, he coached the women’s national team at the 1995 Women’s World Cup, the 1996 Olympic Games and the 1999 Women’s World Cup.  He guided the USA to the 1996 Olympic Goal Medal and the historic 1999 World Cup championship.

He accumulated a record of 103-8-8, making him the all-time wins leader in U.S. National Team Soccer history.  Most recently, DiCicco served as head coach of the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team, guiding the Americans to the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup championship in Chile. Read the rest of this entry →