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Fort Lauderdale · The South Florida soccer community honored the
memory of Nicole Megaloudis with a moment of silence before the
start of the U.S. Under-20 men's national team match against
Haiti Select on Wednesday.
Megaloudis, who played soccer at Virginia Commonwealth, was
killed in a car accident in February. She was 19.
Megaloudis was the daughter of former Fusion assistant coach
Nick Megaloudis and his ex-wife Gail. She was also a
stepdaughter to ex-Fort Lauderdale Striker and current U.S.
Under-20 coach Thomas Rongen, who married Gail in 1996.
A pre-game ceremony helped kick off the Nicole Megaloudis
Foundation. The entire family, including Nicole's brother Chris,
who plays soccer at FIU, took part. The foundation will raise
money for college scholarships for high school soccer players
that normally wouldn't have the opportunity to attend college
because of financial hardship.
"This is what she would have wanted," Gail said. "She was such a
helping person, and she touched so many people. The foundation
is still in the early stages, so there's still much work to do."
To date, $30,000 had been raised before Wednesday's game, where
part of the gate receipts will benefit the Nicole Megaloudis
Foundation.
U.S. men's national team coach Bruce Arena is also planning to
hold a golf tournament to raise money for the foundation.
Cajuste, Noel see action
Lugens Cajuste of Douglas and Fabrice Noel of Palm
Beach Lakes each got some playing time for Haiti.
Cajuste, a senior at Douglas, was in the starting lineup for the
Haiti select team. He finished with 42 goals and 20 assists and
led Douglas to a District 9-6A championship and regional
quarterfinal. He was the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Class 6A-5A
Player of the Year in Palm Beach County.
Noel was the Sun-Sentinel Class 6A-5A Player of the Year in
Broward. He replaced Leo Souza, a Coral Springs standout, to
start the second half. Noel had 35 goals and added 20 assists
for Lakes to lead Palm Beach County in scoring.
Young players excel
Three starters for the U.S. under-20s had points in MLS
games last weekend. Freddy Adu scored for D.C. United; San
Jose's Arturo Alvarez scored in a 3-1 win over New England, and
Eddie Gaven assisted the winning goal in MetroStars' 3-2 win
over D.C. |
