SHOWDOWNS IN SOUTH BEND: No. 10 Santa Clara and No. 13 Portland bounced back from rough opening weeks, both claiming impressive victories over No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 14 Clemson and the Fighting Irish's Classic. No coincidence both were at full strength following the return of key players from the FIFA U-19 World Championship.

Santa Clara, which was blasted, 3-0, by visiting Stanford in its opener, benefited from the returns of Leslie Osborne, Jessica Ballweg and Megan Kakadelas, scoring four goals in both its wins. Kakadelas scored twice in the 4-0 rout of Notre Dame, and Aly Wagner had two goals in the 4-2 win over Clemson.

Canadian star Christine Sinclair, who won the Golden Ball (as MVP) and Golden Boot (as top scorer) at the U-19 finals, netted goals in both games for Portland, which dropped contests at BYU and Utah the previous weekend.

SHOWDOWNS IN L.A.: Things were tighter at UCLA's Women's Cup, where unranked USC won the title over No. 2 Virginia, No. 5 Penn State and No. 7 UCLA. The Women of Troy shutout Penn State, 1-0, in the tournament opener, then held Virginia to a scoreless draw.

UCLA went to overtime against Virginia and Penn State, beating the Cavaliers, 4-3, on BYU transfer Kim Devine's second goal of the game, but falling to the Nittany Lions, 1-0, on Christie Welsh's strike.

SHOWDOWNS IN THE BAY AREA: The weekend's best battles might have been 400 miles to the north, where No. 4 Texas and No. 8 Texas A&M visited No. 3 Stanford and No. 12 California. The Cardinal was the big winner, eking out 1-0 triumphs over both Texas schools on goals by Jennifer Farenbaugh and Marcie Ward. Cal slumped to Texas, which got both goals from U.S. U-19 hero Kelly Wilson, but edged the Aggies on a Shannon Labhart own goal.

UNC ROLLS: Four players, three from the U-19 championships, returned to No. 1 North Carolina, which gutted Guilford and slapped around Hope Solo-less Washington in the Carolina Nike Classic. Lindsay Tarpley, who scored the lone goal in the United States' title-game victory over Canada, debuted with two goals off the bench in the first game, then scored again in the 5-1 win over the Huskies.

GATORS BITE: Florida, which dropped out of the Top 25 after opening-weekend losses at Michigan and Cincinnati, was a far different squad at home. The Gators edged No. 16 Connecticut after jumping to a 3-0 first-half lead, then topped No. 9 Nebraska on Dena Floyd's 40-yard blast.

ELSEWHERE: No. 15 Florida State had a rough go in its Seminole Classic, settling for a 2-2 tie with Missouri and falling to lightly considered LSU. No. 21 Arizona State struggled against good competition at Colorado College's three-game event, playing Denver to a draw and losing in OT to SMU. No. 23 Utah was held to a draw by Northwestern, but the Utes handled Kentucky in overtime. No. 24 BYU lost to Kentucky but routed Northwestern.

No. 22 Penn lost its first two matches, falling at the James Madison Tournament to Richmond and the host. No. 25 Boston College lost by three goals at Big East Conference rival West Virginia.

No. 18 Tennessee, No. 19 Michigan and No. 20 Pepperdine each romped past overmatched foes.

How the Top 25 fared:

1. North Carolina (3-0-1)
9/6 vs. Guilford (9-0), 9/8 vs. Washington (5-1)

2. Virginia (1-1-1)
9/6 at UCLA (3-4 OT), 9/8 vs. USC at UCLA (0-0)

3. Stanford (3-0-0)
9/6 vs. Texas A&M (1-0 OT), 9/8 vs. Texas (1-0)

4. Texas (3-1-0)
9/6 at California (2-1), 9/8 at Stanford (0-1)

5. Penn State (2-1-0)
9/6 vs. USC at UCLA (0-1), 9/8 at UCLA (1-0 OT)

6. Notre Dame (2-2-0)
9/6 vs. Santa Clara (0-4), 9/8 vs. Portland (0-1)

7. UCLA (2-1-0)
9/6 vs. Virginia (4-3 OT), 9/8 vs. Penn State (0-1 OT)

8. Texas A&M (2-2-0)
9/6 at Stanford (0-1 OT), 9/8 at California (0-1)

9. Nebraska (2-1-1)
9/6 vs. Belmont (7-0), 9/8 at Florida (0-1)

10. Santa Clara (2-1-0)
9/6 at Notre Dame (4-0), 9/8 vs. Clemson at Notre Dame (2-0)

11. Washington (3-1-0)
9/6 vs. Duke at North Carolina (4-3 OT), 9/8 at North Carolina (1-5)

12. California (3-1-0)
9/6 vs. Texas (1-2), 9/8 vs. Texas A&M (1-0)

13. Portland (2-2-0)
9/6 vs. Clemson at Notre Dame (2-0), 9/8 at Notre Dame (1-0)

14. Clemson (2-2-0)
9/6 vs. Portland at Notre Dame (0-2), 9/8 vs. Santa Clara at Notre Dame (0-2)

15. Florida State (1-1-2)
9/6 vs. Missouri (2-2), 9/8 vs. LSU (1-2)

16. Connecticut (3-1-0)
9/6 at Florida (2-3), 9/8 at Georgia (3-2 OT)

17. Duke (2-2-0)
9/6 vs. Washington at North Carolina (3-4 OT), 9/8 vs. Wofford at North Carolina (2-0)

18. Tennessee (3-1-0)
9/6 vs. Arkansas State (9-0), 9/8 vs. Murray State (6-1)

19. Michigan (4-0-0)
9/6 vs. Western Michigan (3-1), 9/8 vs. Eastern Michigan (5-1)

20. Pepperdine (3-0-1)
9/6 vs. Liberty (5-0), 9/8 vs. TCU (3-0)

21. Arizona State (1-1-2)
9/6 vs. Denver at Colorado College (1-1), 9/8 vs. SMU at Colorado College (1-2 OT)

22. Penn (0-2-0)
9/6 vs. Richmond at James Madison (0-4), 9/8 at James Madison (0-1)

23. Utah (2-0-1)
9/5 vs. Northwestern (0-0), 9/8 vs. Kentucky (2-1 OT)

24. Brigham Young (2-2-0)
9/6 vs. Kentucky (0-2), 9/7 vs. Northwestern (5-0)

25. Boston College (3-1-0)
9/6 at West Virginia (0-3), 9/8 vs. Iowa (2-1)