UCLA, the top-ranked team in the Soccer America Men' College Preseason Top 25, opened the defense of its NCAA Division I title with a 5-2 win over Penn State at the Cal State Fullerton Soccer Town Classic and followed that victory up with a 1-0 win over Ohio State.
Like in the Bruins' 7-1 win over Penn State in last year's NCAA tournament quarterfinals, Matt Taylor recorded a hat trick against the Lions, who also fell to host Cal State Fullerton.
No. 2 Maryland won the Creighton Diadora Challenge with a 4-0 win over Butler in the final. UCLA and Maryland meet Friday in College Park, Md.
No. 4 Wake Forest and No. 16 North Carolina both beat No. 5 St. John's and No. 8 Connecticut before overflow crowds of 3,232 and 3,413 at the Wake Forest adidas Classic. Wake outshot its Big East opponents by a combined margin of 35-4. U.S. U-17 star Jamie Watson celebrated his college debut with the winning goal in overtime for UNC against St. John's.
Elsewhere, No. 10 Indiana captured the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic for the first time since 1998. David Peplinski's overtime goal gave No. 13 Saint Louis a 3-2 win at Virginia, sending the No. 19 Cavaliers down to their second loss in three days. No. 15 Wisconsin-Milwaukee beat No. 17 New Mexico, 1-0, to win the Rocky Rococo Madison Classic, and No. 23 VCU defeated Clemson, 2-0, to capture the Rams' Nike/ALLTEL Classic.
No. 14 Boston College and No. 22 Portland fell to unranked teams Pittsburgh (1-0) and Oakland (2-1 in OT), respectively.