Conor Casey has been named part of the U.S. men’s national team roster of 22 players that will train in advance of World Cup qualifiers against Honduras on Oct. 10 and Costa Rica on Oct. 14.

The University of Denver’s Kaitlin Bast was named the Sun Belt Conference’s player of the week and was picked for Soccer America’s team of the week. The freshman from Centennial was one of a group of Colorado soccer players who earned recognition for their play.
(Photo by Tom Auclair/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Random notes from the Colorado Rapids’ third draw in nine days …

For the second time in less than a week, Conor Casey scored on a penalty kick in extra time as the Colorado Rapids tied the Earthquakes 1-1. Casey scored his 15th goal of the season about a minute before the end of Wednesday’s match. Jason Hernandez tripped Omar Cummings in the box in extra time, and referee Ricardo Salazar had little choice but to blow the whistle.
(photo by Tom Auclair/ ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Imagine the array of emotions for Ryan Johnson on Friday night. The San Jose Earthquakes striker scored his team’s only goal in the eighth minute of a 1-1 tie against the Colorado Rapids. Then the 24-year-old committed the foul deep into extra time that produced a penalty kick for Colorado and the Rapids’ only goal.

Nick Thomas of WeWantRapidman and yours truly were guests on a podcast by Robert Jonas of Center Line Soccer as the Bay Area Web site previewed the two upcoming games between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Colorado Rapids. We also give you the Prost Amerika Soccer preview of the weekend’s Major League Soccer games, and we include the American Soccer Minute for the first time.

DU freshman forward Alex Tarnoczi, far left, had himself a big weekend against Dayton and Belmont, two Beccas stood tall for Metropolitan State College, the Adams State men’s team got its first lead ever, Preston Burpo looks like he’ll start for the Colorado Rapids on Friday against San Jose, and much, much more! (photo by George Tanner/ ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Random ideas and observations, many of them about Dwayne De Rosario, from the Colorado Rapids; 3-0 loss to Toronto FC on Saturday afternoon in Canada.

Conor Casey, above right, who missed the U.S. national team’s game in Utah because he had his wisdom teeth pulled, scored in the 52nd minute as the Colorado Rapids defeated Toronto FC 1-0 on Saturday.
(photo by Tom Auclair/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Major League Soccer has fined Colorado Rapids captain Pablo Mastroeni $1,250 and suspended him two games for endangering the safety of Houston Dynamo defender Andrew Hainault on Sunday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The suspension comes on top of a one-game ban that Mastroeni received because of yellow-card accumulation. (photos by Jonathan Ingraham/ ColoradoSoccerNow.com)