Buchanan earns conference honours
Canadian international Kadeisha Buchanan has been named the 201617 Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year.
The 21-year-old centre back from Brampton is the first West Virginia University student-athlete to earn the conference honour since the school joined the Big 12 in 2012.
“It’s only fitting that Kadeisha Buchanan is the first WVU studentathlete to win the Big 12 Athlete of the Year award,” Mountaineer women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said in a statement.
“She took our standard of excellence to a whole new level, and I am so proud of everything she did for our program, the university and this athletic department during her fouryear career. Kadeisha put in a lot of hard work to earn this honour.”
Nominees are submitted by Big 12 institutions and selected, based on athletic performance, academic achievement and citizenship, by a media panel as well as fan voting conducted through Big12Sports.com.
Buchanan also won the 2016 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, was the Mountaineers’ first four-time NSCAA all-American and was named the 2016 espnW and TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year.
A two-time team captain, Buchanan helped West Virginia post an NCAA and program-best 18 shutouts in 2016 and allowed just 12 opponent goals en route to a runner-up finish at the 2016 NCAA College Cup, where she was named the tournament defensive MVP.
Buchanan started 90 of 91 career matches for the Mountaineers.
She currently plays for Olympique Lyonnais in France.
VILLAR RESIGNS: The corruption crisis in world soccer has removed another top FIFA official.
Jailed in Spain on suspicion of financial wrongdoing as head of the Spanish football federation, Angel Maria Villar has resigned his top positions at FIFA and European governing body UEFA.
FIFA confirmed Thursday that Villar resigned as its senior vice-president. That followed UEFA’s announcement he had left its executive committee after 25 years.
He was suspended as Spanish federation president on Tuesday amid a criminal investigation into allegations of corruption.
Villar exits international soccer in disgrace after rising to the No. 2 elected position at FIFA, the most senior of eight vice-presidents behind president Gianni Infantino.
Despite Infantino’s claim last year of the crisis ending for scandalscarred FIFA, two colleagues on the ruling Council have resigned within three months under a cloud of suspicion.
“FIFA is back on track. So I can officially inform you here, the crisis is over,” Infantino told FIFA member federations in May 2016 in Mexico City at his first congress since replacing Sepp Blatter. BRADLEY THE BOSS: A person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press that Bob Bradley will be the first coach of the Los Angeles Football Club, the MLS expansion franchise due to begin play next year.
Bradley — father of Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley — is the former coach of the U.S. men’s national team and the most successful American coach in international soccer history. He became the first U.S. coach to lead a Premiership team last season, although his rocky tenure with Swansea City lasted just 11 games.
Bradley coached MLS clubs Chicago, the MetroStars and Chivas USA before leading the U.S. from 2006-11.
Bradley then coached in Egypt, Norway and France before taking over Swansea last season.