No. 1 Notre Dame, the country's last unbeaten and untied team in the NCAA Division I women's ranks, had its 15-game winning streak snapped Friday when it had to a settle for a 0-0 tie with Rutgers.
Rutgers goalkeeper Robyn Jones stopped all nine shots she faced while seeing two shots smack off the posts and two others from close range sail over the frame. Notre Dame came one win shy of matching the best start in the program's history (16-0-0, in 2000).
U.S. Olympian Heather O'Reilly recorded her first collegiate hat trick and assisted on the other goal as No. 2 North Carolina defeated No. 19 Florida State, 4-0, at the Seminole Soccer Complex Friday night. The game was played before 1,504 fans, the third largest crowd in Florida State soccer history.
No. 3 Penn State defeated Ohio State, 3-0, to clinch an undefeated Big Ten regular season. The win is the 36th consecutive victory on the home pitch for Penn State, which has never lost at home under fourth-year head coach Paula Wilkins.
The weekend featured a number of matches involving Top 25 teams.
In ACC action, No. 4 Virginia beat No. 24 Clemson, 2-0, on second-half goals by Noelle Keselica and Lindsay Gusick. In the WCC, No. 5 Portland beat No. 25 San Diego, 1-0, on the road but fell at No. 10 Santa Clara by the same score on a goal by Tiffany Roberts two days later.
No. 6 UCLA beat No. 10 Stanford, 1-0, but lost to No. 11 Cal, 1-0, in Pac-10 showdowns. In the SEC, No. 8 Tennessee fell at No. 20 Auburn, 2-1. In Big 12 play, No. 11 Kansas beat No. 13 Texas A&M, 1-0, before 3,104 Aggie fans. The Jayhawks fell at unranked Texas, 1-0, two days later.
Six other Top 25 teams fell to unranked teams: No. 15 Cal lost to USC, 2-1, in overtime. No. 16 Arizona lost to Arizona State, 1-0. No. 17 West Virginia fell to Big East rival Georgetown, 1-0. No. 18 Duke dropped a 1-0 decision to Maryland. No. 21 Nebraska lost, 1-0, at Oklahoma. No. 22 SMU was upset by UTEP, 3-2, in overtime.
No. 9 Princeton made it nine in a row with a 2-1 win over Harvard. The tying goal by Emily Behncke came with 41 seconds left in regulation. The winning goal by Esmeralda Negron came with 91 seconds left in OT.
