.Best College Team: Steadiest spate of soccer success

There are gods walking the earth — well, goddesses. The Cal women’s soccer team owned the 1980s, advancing to the NCAA tournament’s semifinals three times between the tournament’s inception in 1982 and 1988. After a dry spell in the 1990s, coach Kevin Boyd showed up in 1997 and led his monsters of kick to five straight tournament appearances. And yet their games at Edwards Stadium, which has a capacity of 22,000, rarely draw more than four hundred fans. This is a crime. Last year, the women’s soccer team kicked serious ass, notching a record 16-4-2 and tying team records for both most shutouts and goals allowed in a season. (In 22 games this year, Cal’s opponents managed to get the ball in the net just 11 times.) They advanced to the third round in the 2005 NCAA tournament, and thanks to an innovative rotation of seasoned and rookie players, will have a deep roster of talent going into the 2006 season. Kevin Boyd wasn’t named Pac Ten coach of the year for nothing.