Category: College Soccer Reporter

WOMEN’S NEWS … North Carolina ended its two-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over Clemson. The Tar Heels got two goals from 2008 Player of the Year Casey Nogueira, who had only one goal in her 12 previous games.

Nogueira, who scored 25 goals in 2008 but only has six this season, was one of eight seniors to start in the Tar Heels’ last home game of the regular season. Nikki Washington, whose senior year ended against LSU last month when she tore her right ACL, started the game in uniform wearing a brace on her right knee. Clemson, in a show of sportsmanship, intentionally kicked the ball out of play so sophomore Maria Lubrano could replace Washington 31 seconds into the match. The only senior not to start was midfielder Tobin Heath, who was with the U.S. women’s national team in Germany for its exhibition match against the Germany.

The other six Tar Heel seniors, all part of one of the most celebrated classes in UNC’s long history, were defenders Whitney Engen and Kristi Eveland, goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, midfielder Sterling Smith and forwards Ashley Moore and Caroline Boneparth. Both Moore and Boneparth earned the first starts of their careers.

* THURSDAY TOP 25 RESULTS:
ACC: No. 4 North Carolina 3 (Nogueira 12, 54, McDonald 52) Clemson 0.
ACC: No. 6 Boston College 1 (Caldwell  25) Duke 0.
ACC: No. 8 Maryland 1 (Hutchinson 3) No. 17 Wake Forest 3 (Hutchinson 3, Farrell 75, Fountain 86).
Indiana 1 (Moses 70) No. 25 Penn State 2 (Toney 21, Nairn 80).

Weekend Schedule

* TOURNAMENT WATCH. Conference tournament play began Thursday with a huge first-round game in the Big East Tournament between Villanova and Connecticut. The Huskies are hoping to return to the NCAA Tournament after missing out for the first time ever in 2008, but they fell at ‘Nova, 4-1, in a shootout after their 1-1 tie. Villanova (11-4-5) travels to Milwaukee to face Marquette on Sunday. UConn will have to wait to see whether it gets an at-large bid, though its No. 19 in the last RPI Index puts it in good shape. In the other Big East first-round game, Chelsea Klotz scored late to give host South Florida a 1-0 win over DePaul.

Conference Tournament Scoreboard

* CMU STREAK OVER. Central Michigan’s shutout streak ended at 1,238 minutes when Paige Sheridan scored 11 minutes into Eastern Michigan’s Mid-American match with the Chippewas on Thursday. CMU rallied for a 1-1 tie with the Eagles to extend its school record unbeaten streak to 14 matches. The 13-game shutout streak was tied for the second longest in NCAA Division I women’s history. The Chippewas, the MAC regular-season champions, return home to begin their quest for their first conference tournament championship against Kent State on Sunday.

MEN’S NEWS … Coming off what its coach called the “most complete 90 minutes of the year,” No. 12 Virginia heads to No. 8 Maryland Saturday for a key ACC match. The Cavaliers’ 2-0 victory over visiting Boston College last weekend was their third in a row and improved their record to 10-3-1. Virginia has come a long way since a horrible pre-season when it lost all three games. “We defended well and converted on our scoring chances,” said Virginia coach George Gelnovatch after the BC game.

Freshman Will Bates has scored goals in each of the last four games, joining Chris Agorsor and Tony Tchani on one of the nation’s most dangerous frontlines. U.S. U-20 national team winger Brian Ownby, Bates’ former Richmond Strikers teammate, came off the bench and scored against BC. Former U.S. U-17 keeper Diego Restrepo, who spent two seasons at South Florida before transferring to Virginia, has been outstanding in goal for the Cavs with six shutouts.

Weekend Schedule

* LARGEST RPI IMPROVEMENT (OCT. 12-OCT. 27):
+78 Sacramento State (92 from 170) (Hornets are perfect — 4-0-0 in the MPSF.)
+63 Missouri State (39 from 102) (Bears are riding a five-game winning streak.)
+57 Wisconsin (33 from 90) (Badgers have Big Ten wins over Northwestern, Ohio State and Michigan State.)
+51 San Jose State (137 from 188) (Spartans put eight-game unbeaten streak on the line Friday against UNLV.)
+49 Hofstra (82 from 131) (The Pride is 4-1-1 in its last six games.)
+47 Michigan State (23 from 70) (Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Notre Dame was the Spartans’ fourth in a row.)
+45 San Diego State (11 from 56) (Aztecs have wins over ranked UCSB and Stanford, tie with UCLA and two wins over Cal.)
+41 Bowling Green (144 from 185) (Falcons have lost to No. 1 Akron and ranked Louisville.)
+40 Northeastern (111 from 151) (Wednesday’s 2-1 over Delaware extended winning streak to five games.)
+38 UCF (139 from 177) (Wednesday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Kentucky dropped UCF to 6-6-2.)
(Statistics courtesy of Jamie McConeghy, San Diego State University.)

MEN’S NEWS … Teal Bunbury, the son of former Canada international Alex Bunbury, scored two goals to lead No. 1 Akron to a 3-0 win over Penn State for the Zips’ 16th win in a row. Bunbury scored in the fifth minute when he redirected Kofi Sarkodie‘s cross into the goal and the struck from 30 yards in the 24th minute. Bunbury has 14 goals, all in the last 11 games. Forward Darlington Nagbe put the game out of reach in the 62nd minute with his eighth goal of the season.

“I thought we came out flying and jumped on them early but then coasted a little,” said Akron coach Caleb Porter. “We have not played teams recently that have been able to punish us when we let our guard down, but Penn State’s that type of team. And from here on out, all the teams we play are going to be that type of team.”

* TOP 25 ACTION. The seven other Top 25 teams in action on Wednesday were perfect (two other games involving No. 6 Connecticut and No. 21 St. John’s were postponed because of bad weather):

— Alex Dixon recorded No. 3 North Carolina’s first hat trick since 2005 to highlight the Tar Heels’ 7-0 win over Stetson. The sophomore scored three times in under seven minutes.

— No. 6 South Florida extended its home unbeaten streak to 28 games — the longest such streak in the nation — with a 1-0 win over DePaul on Zak Boggs‘ free kick on the half hour.

— No. 7 UC Santa Barbara earned its seventh shutout in its last eight games with a 2-0 win over Cal State Northridge. The Gauchos remained tied for first in the Big West with Cal Poly, a 3-0 winner over UC Riverside.

— No. 9 Louisville tied a school record for wins, improving to 12-2-2 with a 3-1 win over Cincinnati. All three goals came off set pieces, beginning with Simeon Steward‘s first goal of the season.

— Freshman Andrew Wenger scored twice to lead No. 17 Duke to a 6-0 win over Presbyterian in a game originally scheduled for Tuesday.

— Amani Walker scored three goals and added an assist on Irving Garcia‘s goal to lead No. 19 UC Irvine to a 4-1 win over Cal State Fullerton.

— No. 25 UAB moves into first place in the Conference USA with a 3-0 victory over South Carolina on goals by Anthony King, Two-Boys Gumede and Babayele Sodade.

Wednesday Results

* INDIANA ENDS SKID. Indiana snapped a three-game losing streak in style with a 2-0 victory over Evansville on goals by Lee Hagedorn and Nick Blevins. The victory put the Hoosiers, who have never finished with a losing record, back over .500 at 8-7-1.  “We fought hard and stuck with a game plan,” said IU coach Mike Freitag. “Maybe in other games we over extended ourselves and made mistakes. Tonight I thought we played within ourselves and did everything we needed to be successful.

* STREAKING SEAHAWKS. One of the hottest teams in the South is UNC Wilmington, which extended its unbeaten streak to eight games with a 2-0 win at James Madison on second-half goals by juniors Tyler Wheaton and Daniel Roberts. The win, the Seahawks’ first ever in Harrisonburg, kept them tied for first place in the CAA with Northeastern, a 2-1 winner at Delaware. It was also Coach Aidan Heaney‘s 100th career win.

WOMEN’S NEWS … Rain is playing havoc with college soccer in the Northeast, so the Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex outside sunny Orlando is a perfect site for 2009 MAAC Women’s Tournament, which begins Thursday and goes through Monday. Loyola (Md.), which went 9-0-0 in conference play, is the top seed in the MAAC, which consists of six teams from New York, two from New Jersey and one from Connecticut, in addition to Loyola.

“This is one of the most dynamic and special teams I have ever had the chance to work with,” says Greyhound coach Katherine Vettori. “Every player has played their role with grace and enthusiasm and every one of them has contributed to the team’s success thus far.” The leading scorer is freshman Nichole Schiro, who has eight goals and six assists.

Conference Tournament Scoreboard

* MILESTONE. Marquette coach Markus Roeders earned his 200th career victory in the Golden Eagles’ 2-0 win over St. John’s on Sunday. The win also gave Marquette its first-ever Big East American Division title. It begins tournament play on Sunday at home.

WOMEN’S NEWS … Down the road from top-ranked Stanford is another women’s team on a roll. San Jose State takes a 13-match undefeated streak into its WAC game against Fresno State on Friday at Spartan Stadium. A San Jose State win, coupled with a New Mexico State loss at home against Nevada, would clinch a first-ever regular-season conference crown for the first-place Spartans.

Second-year coach Jeff Leightman has turned around the Spartan women, who started 0-4-0 but have won 10 games and tied the other three since then.

* LONGEST UNBEATEN STREAKS:
17 Stanford (17-0-0)
17 Dayton (12-0-5)
13 Central Michigan (12-0-1)
13 San Jose State (10-0-3)
12 Notre Dame (11-0-1)
12 BYU (11-0-1)
12 Charlotte (11-0-1)
12 San Diego State (8-0-4)

(The San Jose State men are also on a roll. Gary St. Clair‘s team has an eight-game unbeaten streak and seven-game winning streak.)

* CANADA CALL-UPS. Penn State has reentered the Soccer America Women’s Top 25 tied at No. 25 with Oregon State, but the Nittany Lions will be without freshmen Lexi Marton and Rachel Lamarre for Thursday’s key Big Ten game against Indiana. (The Big Ten has dropped its women’s conference tournament, meaning the regular-season champion will get its automatic bid.) Marton and Lamarre will join Canada’s U-20s for a two-game series against Mexico’s U-20s in Ciudad Juarez Thursday and Saturday. Ten other U.S.-based collegians and high school junior Nicole Hill (Sereno White) are among the players Canada called up.

MEN’S NEWS … The second Men’s Division I RPI index the NCAA released Tuesday underscores the parity in men’s college soccer this year. The RPI — Ratings Percentage Index — includes teams from 14 different conferences among the top 28 teams and two major surprises. Not one of the 16 Big East teams is in the top 25, nor is any team from the Big West.

Three Big East teams are among the top nine teams in this week’s Soccer America Men’s Top 25: No. 5 Connecticut, No. 6 South Florida and No. 9 Louisville rank 30-34-44 in the RPI index. If the current RPI index were used to rank the 48 NCAA qualifiers — the top-ranked teams from the 21 conferences whose champions get automatic bids and 27 at-large teams — Louisville would not get in.

The two Big West teams in this week’s Top 25 — No. 7 UC Santa Barbara and No. 19 UC Irvine — are No. 48 and No. 38 in the RPI index. Like Louisville, UCSB falls below the 42 teams who would get in as conference champions or at-large teams.

Also of note:
— Two top 25 RPI teams — No. 7 Indiana and No. 15 Loyola Marymount — have .500 records.
— Since the Mid-American Conference does not get an automatic berth this year, Northern Illinois (No. 46) and Hartwick (No. 61) have their work cut out. Akron (15-0-0) is No. 3 in the RPI Index and a shoo-in for an NCAA Tournament bid.

(Click here for the complete men’s RPI.)

The Ratings Percentage Index is the most important of the criteria the NCAA uses to determine the 64-team field for the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament. The RPI is a mathematical formula designed to objectively compare results and strength of schedule.

2009 NCAA Men’s Soccer RPI
1. Wake Forest, ACC
2. UCLA, Pac-10
3. Akron, Mid-American
4. Northwestern, Big Ten
5. San Diego, WCC
6. North Carolina, ACC
7. Indiana, Big Ten
8. North Carolina St., ACC
9. Duke, ACC
10. Princeton, Ivy
11. San Diego St., Pac-10
12. Charlotte, Atlantic 10
13. Butler, Horizon
14. Maryland, ACC
15. Loyola Marymount, WCC
16. Penn St., Big Ten
17. Stanford, Pac-10
18. Tulsa, Conference USA
19. Harvard, Ivy
20. Virginia, ACC
21. Monmouth, Northeast
22. South Carolina, Conference USA
23. Michigan St., Big Ten
24. Ohio St., Big Ten
25. American, Patriot

* TOP 25 ACTION. Corben Bone tied a career high with three assists to lead No. 2 Wake Forest to a 4-1 win over Davidson on Tuesday night. The victory extended the Demon Deacons’ unbeaten streak to eight straight games. Only two other Top 25 games were played Tuesday. No. 11 N.C. State beat Centenary, 5-0. No. 13 Butler defeated Detroit, 3-0, in a game that had been rescheduled from last weekend because several Detroit players had been diagnosed with the flu, or flu-like symptoms. Elsewhere in the South, bad weather took its toll with four games cancelled, postponed or suspended. Among them was the game between No. 17 Duke and Presbyterian.

Tuesday Results

* CORRECTION. Connecticut’s average attendance is 3,211, putting it second in the country behind only UC Santa Barbara.

MEN’S NEWS … Indiana is in trouble. The Hoosiers, who have never had a losing season in their previous 36 seasons as a varsity sport, have fallen to .500 and out of the Soccer America Men’s Top 25. Three consecutive losses — all shutouts — have left Indiana at 7-7-1 and in danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1986.

After last Wednesday’s 4-0 loss to Louisville, Indiana coach Mike Freitag said his team didn’t show up. Not for the first time, he blasted his players’ lackluster play. The Hoosiers played better at Northwestern on Sunday, outshooting the Wildcats, 8-2, in the first half, but they came out flat after halftime and lost the key Big Ten match, 2-0. “This is a very difficult loss,” said Freitag. “It is indicative of the season at this point and time. For whatever reason, we have not come together as a team and we have very little time left to do that.”

IU has only three regular-season games left, all at home, beginning with a match against long-time rival Evansville in Bloomington. The Aces (10-5-1) have lost the last seven games in the series with IU that was resumed two years ago, but they are having a strong season. After that, IU closes out Big Ten play with matches against Ohio State and No. 25 Penn State, both tough teams. Then comes the Big Ten, which will be held in Bloomington Nov. 12-15.

To be considered for the NCAA Tournament, Indiana will need a record of .500 for better. If it finishes around .500, it should get in. It’s played one of the strongest schedules in the country. Six of its losses have been to teams ranked in this week’s top 13 — No. 1 Akron, No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, No. 9 Louisville, No. 10 Northwestern and No. 13 Butler.

* CROWD COUNT. UC Santa Barbara is on course to break the modern-day men’s soccer attendance record. The Gauchos are averaging 4,836 fans a game and should top the NCAA record of 3,629 fans a game set by New Mexico in 2005. The unofficial record is held by Connecticut, which averaged 4,297 fans a game in 1982. UCSB has led the nation in average attendance the last two years.

2009 AVG. ATTENDANCE:
1. UC Santa Barbara 4836
2. Connecticut 3211
3. Maryland 3085
4. Creighton 2449
5. Indiana 2335
6. New Mexico 2254
7. North Carolina 1819
8. Wake Forest 1773
9. Portland 1690
10. Clemson 1681
11. Akron 1597
12. Saint Louis 1492
13. Notre Dame 1485
14. St. John’s 1444
15. Louisville 1425
16. Kentucky 1322
17. Virginia 1318
18. Cal Poly 1307
19. Binghamton 1302
20. Seton Hall 1217

Men’s Player of the Week: Carlos Alvarez (Connecticut)
Men’s Team of the Week

* LEADING GOAL SCORERS:
1 Andrew Bulls, UMBC 15
2. Levi Houapeu, UMBC 14
3. Issa Tall, Adelphi 13
4. Teal Bunbury, Akron 12
4. Matt Eliason, Northwestern 12
6. Matthew Skonicki, Winthrop 11
6. JC Banks, Green Bay 11

WOMEN’S NEWS … The 2008 women’s conference tournament season kicks off on Thursday with first-round games in three conferences. The highlight is a pair of 4-5 matchups in the Big East: Villanova, the No. 4 seed from the National Division, hosts Connecticut, the No. 5 seed from the American Division, and South Florida, the No. 4 seed from the American Division, is at home against DePaul, the No. 5 seed from the National Division. At least one win in the Big East Tournament may be necessary for them to maintain their NCAA Tournament hopes. Villanova, Connecticut and DePaul all have wins over teams in this week’s Soccer America Women’s Top 25.

Villanova (11-4-4) Wildcats have scored only one goal in their last four games.
Connecticut (10-7-1) Last year Huskies failed to make NCAA Tournament for first time in 27 years.
South Florida (8-7-3) All seven Bulls losses have been by one-goal margins.
DePaul (10-8-2) Blue Demons are making first appearance in Big East Tournament.

Conference Tournament Scoreboard

* HAGEN STREAK ENDS. Sophomore Sarah Hagen‘s nine-game goal scoring streak came to an end Monday when she didn’t score in Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s 4-1 over Wisconsin-Green Bay in their makeup game. Hagen assisted on Kate Megna‘s goal. Megna also added an assist to give her 15, the most in the country.

Women’s Player of the Week: Danielle Foxhoven (Portland)
Women’s Team of the Week

* LEADING GOAL SCORERS:
1. Danielle Foxhoven, Portland 21
1. Morgan Marlborough, Nebraska 21
3. Sarah Hagen, Milwaukee 19
3. Kelley O’Hara, Stanford 19
5. Jessica Fuccello, Penn 16
5. Britany Curry, Texas State 16
7. Sydney Leroux, UCLA 15
7. Christen Press, Stanford 15
7. Whitney Palmer, Oklahoma 15

WOMEN’S NEWS … North Carolina dropped back-to-back games for only the sixth time in its history when the No. 3 Tar Heels fell at Miami (Fla.), 1-0, on Beverly Goebel‘s unassisted goal with less than 10 minutes to play. Carolina had its chances, but Maria Lubrano hit the crossbar midway through the first half and Casey Nogueira hit the post with a shot just a couple of minutes before Goebel scored.

The three ACC losses equal the most in history for UNC in a single season, and it is only the second time in history UNC has lost more than one game in ACC play in the same season.  Just so Tar Heel fans know there is hope, they should consider the following: The 2000 UNC team finished 4-3 in the ACC but did go on to win the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament championships.
 
* FOXHOVEN NETS FOUR MORE. Danielle Foxhoven became the first player in Portland history with two four-goal games in the same season when she scored four times in the No. 2 Pilots’ 8-0 win over San Francisco. Foxhoven also scored four goals against Gonzaga in a 7-0 win. She has has now recorded three hat tricks and 21 goals this season. Sophomore Halley Kreminski became the fifth different Pilot to record a hat trick this season when she scored the last three goals against USF to the delight of 4,059 Portland fans who withstood the cold and rain.

* CHIPPEWAS’ STREAK ALIVE. With its 0-0 tie against Toledo on Sunday, Central Michigan earned its 13th straight shutout, tying North Carolina’s record set in 1989 for the second longest streak of consecutive shutouts in  NCAA Division I women’s  history. The record is 16 straight shutouts set by Santa Clara in 1998. Chippewa goalie Shay Mannino is riding a personal shutout streak of 1124 minutes, the third longest in history.

* MILESTONE. West Virginia coach Nikki Izzo-Brown earned her 200th career victory on Sunday afternoon when the Mountaineers beat Providence, 1-0.

This week’s Top 25

* WEEKEND UPSETS:
Sunday, Oct. 25
ACC: Miami (Fla.) 1 (Goebel 80) No. 3 North Carolina 0.
ACC: Duke 4 (Gummersall 27, 31, 85, Alukonis pen. 60) No. 13 Virginia Tech 1 (Michels 22).
SEC: No. 16 LSU 1 (Clarke 1) No. 10 South Carolina 0.
SEC: No. 17 Mississippi 0 Vanderbilt 1 (Goldin 72).
(Loss is Ole Miss’ first in seven matches.)
SEC: Auburn 2 (Howell 56, 79) No. 24 Georgia 0.

(Click here for more Sunday women’s results.)

MEN’S NEWS … No. 2 UCLA’s 10-game unbeaten streak came to an end Sunday afternoon when No. 21 Stanford shut out the Bruins, 2-0. “This was a fantastic win for the program,” said Cardinal coach Bret Simon. “Our players made a great turnaround after a difficult loss.”

Two days earlier, the Cardinal had fallen in overtime to visiting San Diego State, 2-1, but it put that defeat aside with a solid performance against UCLA. Stanford had the edge in play in the first half but didn’t score until Bobby Warshaw buried a header for his sixth goal of the season in the 56th minute. Twenty minutes later, Stanford added an insurance goal when Taylor Amman‘s through ball found a breaking Evan Morgan, who poked the ball past UCLA keeper Brian Perk.

* HAWKS FALL. No. 10 Monmouth University dropped its first match of the 2009 season, falling at Saint Francis (Pa.), 2-0, in a game that was moved from the Red Flash’s soccer field to its artificial turf football field because of heavy rains. The kickoff was pushed back three hours to accommodate the move. Daniel Moir‘s goal in the 11th minute snapped Monmouth’s shutout streak at 790 minutes. The loss ended the Hawks’ 14-match unbeaten streak to begin the season, which was a school record.

* FLU UPDATE. The Conference USA match between SMU and Kentucky, slated for Sunday, was postponed because several Kentucky players displayed flu-like symptoms. Similarly, Butler’s game at Detroit was rescheduled because several Detroit players were diagnosed with the flu or flu-like symptoms. The Horizon League match will be played Tuesday, forcing the cancellation of the scheduled match between Detroit and Western Michigan.

* MILESTONE. Coach Mike Getman picked up his 200th win at UAB with a 2-0 victory against UCF. It was a big win for the Blazers. They moved into a tie for first place with Tulsa in the Conference USA.

This week’s Top 25

* WEEKEND UPSETS:
Sunday, Oct. 25
No. 21 Stanford 2 (Warshaw 56, Morgan 76) No. 2 UCLA 0.
St. Francis (Pa.) 2 (Moir 12, McLeod 83) No. 10 Monmouth 0.
No. 18 Dartmouth 0 Columbia 2 (Adafin 69, Ayers 84).
Wisconsin 2 (Ahlering 32, Waspi 56) No. 23 Ohio State 0.
No. 25 California 0 San Diego State 2 (Reza 30, 37).

Saturday, Oct. 24
No. 9 Harvard 1 (Akpan pen. 66) Princeton 2 (Hoppenot 66, 102).
No. 20 West Virginia 1 (Etuk 26) Georgetown 2 (Diggs 77, Larrabee 88)

(Click here for more Sunday men’s results.)

MEN’S NEWS … Sophomore Teal Bunbury scored his seventh goal in his last seven games to give No. 1 Akron a 1-0 win at Buffalo on a cold and rainy Friday night. Bunbury’s team-leading 12th goal of the season was enough for the Zips to extend their winning streak to 15 straight games.

“We’ve been on the road the last six of seven games and I thought we looked a little flat at times tonight,” said Akron coach Caleb Porter. “But we still generated quality chances and possessed the ball for the entire game.” Indeed, Buffalo did not muster a single shot on goal.

* BRUIN TEAMWORK. No. 2 UCLA extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games with a 1-0 win at No. 25 California on senior Kyle Nakazawa‘s ninth of the season. Goalie Brian Perk needed to make only two saves to shut out the slumping Golden Bears.

“Our performance was very solid from beginning to end,” said UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo. “We had the majority of the possession throughout the game. The goal was a result of 14 passes and winning the ball back in their penalty box. The finish was from a intelligent pass from Michael Stephens, and Kyle Nakazawa took his goal really well.”

— In other Pac-10 action, visiting San Diego State knocked off No. 21 Stanford, 2-1, on Khadem Diouf‘s golden goal.

(Click here for more Friday men’s results.)

* FRIDAY’S TOP 25 RESULTS:
Buffalo 0 No. 1 Akron 1 (Bunbury 13).
No. 25 California 0 No. 2 UCLA 1 (Nakazawa 41).
Robert Morris 0 No. 10 Monmouth 1 (Vazquez 30).
(Hawks record their eighth straight shutout.)
No. 14 Charlotte 3 (Caughran 29, Gross 33, Tucker 71) La Salle 0.
(49ers have only allowed one goal in the last 500 minutes of play.)
No. 21 Stanford 1 (Abolfathi 69) San Diego State 2 (Cardenas 13, Diouf 92) (OT).
No. 24 Duke 2 (Thomas 75, Grossman pen. 82) Clemson 1 (Thornton 22).

WOMEN’S NEWS … Stanford got its biggest scare of the season when it needed an overtime goal from senior Kelley O’Hara to beat No. 21 Washington State, 2-1, in Pullman on Friday afternoon.

The Cardinal (16-0-0) fell behind in the 54th minute on a goal by Kiersten Dallstream — the first goal it has given up in the run in 13 matches. But O’Hara set up Cristen Press for the equalizer in the 87th minute and jumped over a defender to head home Lindsay Taylor‘s cross at point-blank range five minutes into overtime.

“It wasn’t that we were flat, but we were away from home, playing in wet conditions and we were out of our comfort zone,” Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said. “But give them credit. They’re a good team.”

— Friday night’s biggest upset took place in the Pac-10, where No. 9 USC fell at home to Oregon State, 2-1. The Beavers came back from 1-0 down at the half and won on goals by Melissa Peck and Red Nixon.

* GAME OF THE NIGHT:
Oct. 23 in Lawrence, Kan.
Kansas 4 Nebraska 7. Goals: Dolinsky 43, Noble 52, Johnson (Dolinsky) 72, Cressy (Berry) 90; Caniglia 11, Thomas (Marlborough) 25, Jackson 33, Caniglia (Thomas) 60, Fulmer 67, Peetz (Caniglia) 76, Caniglia (Goetzmann) 80.
Kansas — Hanley, L.Jackson, Francia, Williams, Johnson, Robbins, Berry, Williamson, Boyer, McCabe, Cressy. Subs: Liebetrau, Kelsey Clifton, Kortney Clifton, Dolinsky, Noble, Morris, Magness, Cunningham.
Nebraska — Mills, Goetzmann, Peetz, Caniglia, Goosen, Slapper, J.Jackson, A.White, Thomas, Marlborough, Powell. Subs: Fulmer, Berkshire, J.White, Isenhower.
Referee: Rich Huber.
Att.: 722.

* GOLDEN MOMENTS. Five Big East games were decided on golden goals Friday night:
— Callie Hemming‘s deflection gave DePaul a 2-1 win over No. 22 Georgetown that secured the Blue Demons their first berth in the Big East Tournament.
— No. 15 Rutgers needed just 49 seconds to end its overtime session at Cincinnati, winning, 1-0, on junior Kelsey Dumont‘s goal.
— Sophomore Rachael Sloan‘s goal in the 101st minute gave No. 18 Marquette a 1-0 victory at Syracuse.
— St. John’s improved to 12-4-1 with a 1-0 win over South Florida on Courtney Lane‘s goal.
— Kate Cunningham converted a penalty kick in the 98th minute to lift Louisville past Seton Hall, 3-2.

(Click here for more Friday women’s results.)

* FRIDAY’S TOP 25 RESULTS:
Pac-10: No. 21 Washington State 1 (Van Leer 54) No. 1 Stanford 2 (Press 87, O’Hara 95) (OT)
WCC: No. 2 Portland 5 (Foxhoven 7, pen. 49, Schmidt 11, Chandhoke 43, Enyeart 51) St. Mary’s 1 (Nied 71).
Pac-10: No. 4 UCLA 5 (Leroux 4, 59, Cheney 18, 21, Bywaters 67) Oregon 1 (Stoltenberg 60).
Big East: No. 7 Notre Dame 2 (Henderson 54, Iantorno 71) Villanova 0.
Pac-10: No. 9 USC 1 (Tomer 14) Oregon State 2 (Peck 54, Nixon 76).
Conference USA: SMU 0 No. 14 UCF 1 (Newsome 55).
Big East: Cincinnati 0 No. 15 Rutgers 1 (Dumont 91) (OT)
Big East: Syracuse 0 No. 18 Marquette 1 (Sloan 101) (OT)
Big East: DePaul 2 (Strickland 54, Hemming 105) No. 22 Georgetown 1 (Cabot 58) (OT)
Big 12: No. 23 Missouri 3 (Andrighetto 50, 74, Crabtree 73) Iowa State 1 (Nimtz 68).
Atlantic-10: No. 25 Dayton 2 (Oelschlager 51, Giner 83) Rhode Island 0.

WOMEN’S NEWS … North Carolina’s season has turned out to be much tougher than one would have imagined it would be. The defending national champions lost for the second time in ACC play this season — only the ninth time in 23 years — when they fell at No. 5 Florida State, 3-2, Thursday night on sophomore Ella Stephan‘s golden goal with just 12 seconds left in overtime.

Carolina demonstrated overwhelming firepower at the beginning of the season with a 7-2 win over UCLA and 6-0 victory at Notre Dame, but since then, the Tar Heel attack has cooled off. It didn’t help that Nikki Washington was lost with a knee injury and Tobin Heath has been away with the women’s national team, currently in Germany for next week’s international friendly. The big mystery has been the loss of form of 2008 Player of the Year Casey Nogueira, who has only four goals and four assists in 15 games.

In Tallahassee, the UNC defense looked vulnerable. The Seminoles blew a 1-0 lead they held for an hour but they did not get down even after going behind, 2-1. Florida State won on goals by Amanda DaCosta, who fended off two Tar Heel defenders while making a run down the middle of the field, and Stephan, who outjumped the UNC defense to put away Lauren Switzer‘s corner kick.

“That was awesome,” said Stephan. “To be able to finish the game with the final goal is a great feeling.  I didn’t even see the ball go in.  I went up, came down and before I knew it everyone was on top of me screaming.” The win was only the second ever by FSU over Carolina. The first came in 2000 when the Tar Heels suffered three ACC defeats — the only time until this year they have lost more than one conference game in a season. Florida State took over first place in the ACC standings with Thursday’s win.

* GAME OF THE DAY:
Oct. 22 in Tallahassee, Fla.
Florida State 3 North Carolina 2 (OT). Edwards (Price, Huster) 7, DaCosta (Brockway) 85, Stephan (Switzer) 110; Klingenberg (Bronze) 66, McDonald (Jones) 67.
Florida State — McNulty, Jaurena, Stephan, Pressley, Brockway, Hester, DaCosta, Edwards, Lim, McCarty, Price. Subs: Crown, Switzer, Kazbour, Hupp,
North Carolina — Harris, Engen, Givan, Eveland, Hawkins,  Klingenberg, Brooks, Jones, Rich, McDonald, Nogueira. Subs: Bartok, Mathias, Bronze, Premji, Smith, Pfankuch, Klimczak, Lubrano.
Referee: Tony Russo.
Att.: 2,000.

Weekend Scoreboard

* SEC FOCUS. With five teams in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25 and two close divisional races, it has been a banner year for the Southeastern Conference. No. 20 Florida stayed within a striking distance of No. 10 South Carolina in Eastern Division when redshirt freshman McKenzie Barney, starting her first  game at home, scored twice in the Gators’ 4-0 win over No. 16 LSU.

No 17 Mississippi took advantage of the Tigers’ loss to take over the top spot in the Western Division with a 4-1 win at Kentucky thanks to a pair of goals from Dylan Jordan and Hannah Weatherly. South Carolina defeated Arkansas, 2-0, and No. 24 Georgia, the SEC’s fifth Top 25 team, downed Alabama, 3-0. Sunday’s top match: South Carolina at LSU, to be televised on ESPNU at 3 p.m. ET.

 * BU CLINCHES. Boston University claimed its third straight America East regular-season title — and seventh since 2000 — as a result of Stony Brook’s 4-0 loss to Maine on Thursday afternoon. The Terriers, who close out their regular season on Sunday with UMBC, will host a semifinal matchup on Nov. 1. They will receive a first-round bye.

MEN’S NEWS … Tyler Krumpe, the son of Loyola Marymount coach and former U.S. international Paul Krumpe, scored his first goal of the season four minutes into overtime to give the Lions a 2-1 victory at No. 19 San Diego Thursday night at Torero Stadium.

The loss was the first of the season in conference play for USD, which would have opened up an eight-point lead in the WCC with a win over LMU. WCC is one of three West Coast men’s conferences in which teams play home-and-home series and do not compete in a postseason tournament. LMU and USD meet against Sunday at Sullivan Field.

Weekend Scoreboard

* A-SUN SHOWDOWN. Campbell opened the season with a 1-6-1 record, but the Camels refused to lay down. They won for the fifth time in their last six games, defeating Stetson, 2-0, Thursday in their Atlantic Sun top-of-the-standings clash. Freshman Keegan Terry and Justin Smith provided the goals for Campbell, which took sole possession of first place with the victory at Stetson.
 
“I’m proud of the resolve we showed in our play,” said Campbell coach Doug Hess. “Our guys showed that they wanted this game tonight.” He was particularly proud of the Camel defense that limited the A-Sun’s highest-rated offense (2.2 goals per game) to just three shots on target.

MEN’S NEWS …  Indiana’s troubles continued when the No. 25 Hoosiers lost for the fourth time in the last six games, falling at No. 11 Louisville, 4-0. Indiana found itself down 1-0 in the sixth minute when Freddie Braun scored on a header off a free kick from Kenney Walker, and things went downhill from there.
 
Colin Rolfe made it 2-0 seven minutes later, and the Cardinals padded their lead in the second half thanks to a second goal from Rolfe and a goal by Mark Knight. Indiana had sophomore forward Will Bruin sent off for dissent. He will miss Sunday’s Big Ten match at No. 12 Northwestern.

Indiana fell to 7-6-1 with the loss. Five of its losses have been to teams ranked in the top 16: No. 1 Akron, No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, No. 11 Louisville and No. 16 Butler.

* WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS:
Top 25
No. 7 South Florida 1 (Mora 27) No. 18 Dartmouth 0.
No. 11 Louisville 4 (Braun 5, Rolfe 13, 56, Knight 82) No. 25 Indiana 0.
No. 13 N.C. State 2 (Zuerner 74, Sanchez 90) High Point 1 (Sloan 86).
No. 16 Butler 3 (Capito 6, Cardona 23, Gatzky 79) DePaul 1 (Lara 2).
No. 17 Tulsa 2 (Parada 10, Neil 83) SMU 3 (Soto pen. 13, Vasquez 26, Rosenbaum 63).
No. 23 Ohio State 0 No. 20 West Virginia 0.

Wednesday Results

* ATTINELLA SAVES USF. The Big East is loaded this season with top-flight goalies — most notably Josh Ford, who has eight shutouts in a row for Connecticut, and Zach Johnson, who has allowed only two goals in West Virginia’s last nine games. One of the best is Jeff Attinella, who came up big again for South Florida in the No. 7 Bulls’ 1-0 win over No. 18 Dartmouth. Midfielder Jorge Mora put USF ahead in the 27th minute, but the visitors from the Ivy League had plenty of chances. Attinella finished with eight saves, making several big stops in the second half.

* TULSA FALLS ON 70-YARD GOAL. No. 17 Tulsa had its 20-game unbeaten streak in Conference-USA regular-season play snapped when the Golden Hurricane fell at home to SMU, 3-2, in the pouring rain. “I think we started the game like we wanted to do,” Tulsa coach Tom McIntosh said.  “Our play in the backfield was poor tonight, and we gave away three easy goals.” The third came when Ryan Rosenbaum‘s clearance from 70 yards out bounced over Tulsa keeper Andy Aguilar‘s head and into the goal.

WOMEN’S NEWS … It’s not too early for teams to be evaluating their chances of making the NCAA Tournament. Win their conference and they’re in. Otherwise? The following teams could be categorized as bubble teams. Based on this week’s NCAA Women’s Division I RPI index, they would just miss out on the 34 at-large berths. But there’s still three weeks to go for these teams to improve their position before the NCAA Women’s Committee gets down to work and must pick the 64-team field.

* ON THE BUBBLE:
45. Duke (6-5-4) Takes 290-minute shutout streak into Thursday’s game against Virginia.
46. Memphis (11-5-0) Wins at Top 25 teams LSU and UCF work in Tigers’ favor.
47. San Diego State (9-3-5) Unbeaten in their last 10 games.
48. St. John’s (11-4-1) Fell out of the Top 25 after loss to Big East rival Rutgers.
49. Auburn (6-7-3) Tigers’ best result was 0-0 tie with North Carolina.
50. Charlotte (13-2-1) Unbeaten Dayton is its main rival in the Atlantic-10.
51. UAB (10-5-1) Beat Mississippi and lost to three other Top 25 teams.
52. UTEP (12-4-0) Best win was 2-1 victory over Washington State.
53. Michigan State (8-2-4) Only one win (over Penn State) in five Big Ten games hurts.
56. Virginia (6-5-3) Dragged down by poor ACC play (one win in five games).
57. Pepperdine (8-5-1) Must improve on 1-1-1 conference record.
58. N.C. State (7-7-1) Lost three straight to ACC foes Carolina, BC and Wake Forest.
59. Missouri (10-4-3) Tigers lead the Big 12 standings with 5-0-2 record.

* CROWD COUNT. Portland is on course to lead all NCAA Division I women’s programs in average attendance for the fifth straight year. UP and Texas A&M are once again the only programs averaging more than 3,000 fans a game. The SEC leads all conferences with four teams averaging more than a 1,000 fans a game. The Mountain West, led by BYU, has three teams in the top 12. The surprise is first-year program New Mexico State, whose outstanding play in the WAC (4-0-1 record) has helped boost interest. The Aggies’ average attendance is 1,145 fans a game.

* AVERAGE ATTENDANCE:
1. Portland 3683
2. Texas A&M 3180
3. North Carolina 2418
4. BYU 2171
5. Georgia 1591
6. New Mexico  1523
7. Notre Dame 1443
8. Stanford 1432
9. Florida 1340
10. Colorado 1283
11. Penn State 1282
12. TCU 1248
13. New Mexico State 1145
14. Virginia 1129
15. LSU 1065
16. Santa Clara 1061
17. Tennessee 1020
18. Fresno State 1017
(Averages through games played Oct. 18.)

— Seven different players scored as Boston University (11-5-2) defeated Bryant, 7-0, at Nickerson Field. In Wednesday’s only other game, Canisius beat Cleveland State, 4-0.

MEN’S NEWS … Akron achieved one of the most impressive results in its 14-0-0 season when it traveled to Ann Arbor to face the University of Michigan and returned home with a 5-1 win. The Zips had never won in Ann Arbor, but they made quick work of the Wolverines, going up 3-0 at the half with three goals in five minutes.

Darlington Nagbe recorded the first hat trick of his career to fuel the Zips. He also assisted on fellow sophomore Teal Bunbury‘s opening goal in the 31st minute, his team-leading 11th goal of the year. Michael Nanchoff added his fifth goal of the season in the second half.

“We knew this would be more of an open soccer game and I thought our attacking group was electric today,” said Akron coach Caleb Porter. “We still can learn some lessons from this game even with such a lopsided result. The nice thing is this team continues to elevate their performance in relation to their potential and because of that they are growing while winning.”

Tuesday Results

* TOP 25 ACTION. Eight other Top 25 teams were in action on Tuesday, and seven were victorious …

— Senior Zack Schilawski scored a pair of goals to lead No. 3 Wake Forest to a 3-0 victory at South Carolina. The Deacons ran their road record to a perfect 7-0 on the year.

— Jason Herrick continued his  hot streak with two goals in No. 5 Maryland’s 3-1 win over Seton Hall. He opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with his third straight game-winner.

— Stephane Diop and Max Wasserman scored their first collegiate goals as No. 6 Connecticut defeated Yale, 2-0 for its eighth consecutive shutout.

— No. 8 Harvard prevailed at Providence, 2-1, on a penalty kick by star Andre Akpan with 14 seconds left in regulation that capped a wild ending. Desmond Mitchell put the Crimson ahead in the 88th minute, Marc Cintron equalized for the Friars with only 27 seconds remaining in regulation. Just 13 seconds later, Harvard was awarded a penalty kick, and Akpan scored his team-best ninth goal of the year.

— Junior Matt Eliason scored his Big Ten-leading 11th goal in the 84th minute to give No. 12 Northwestern a 1-0 win over Loyola (Ill.).

— No. 12 Virginia shut out Howard, 2-0, on goals by Will Bates and Tony Tchani to improve its non-conference record to 7-0-1.

— No. 24 Brown had to settle for a 1-1 tie with St. John’s, the Red Storm’s eighth tie in 14 games.

— Ryan Finley, Cole Grossman and Christopher Tweed-Kent each scored in No. 24 Duke’s 3-0 win over Navy that gave Coach John Kerr his 100th career victory.

WOMEN’S NEWS … Stanford, No. 1 in this week’s Soccer America Women’s Top 25, is now top-ranked in the second NCAA Women’s Division I RPI index released this fall. North Carolina, which fell from No. 1 to No. 2, is one of six ACC teams in the top 15.

The biggest climber of the teams in the initial index’s top 25 was Notre Dame, which moved from No. 23 to No. 10. Four teams weren’t in the initial index’s top 25: No. 18 Ohio State, No. 20 Mississippi, No. 24 California and No. 25 Arizona State.

The RPI — Ratings Percentage Index — is the most important of the criteria it uses to determine the 64-team field for the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament. The RPI is a mathematical formula designed to objectively compare results and strength of schedule.

* WOMEN’S RPI (TOP 25)
1. Stanford,  Pac-10
2. North Carolina,  ACC
3. Portland, WCC
4. UCF, Conference USA
5. Florida State, ACC
6. UCLA,  Pac-10
7. Wake Forest, ACC
8. Boston College, ACC
9. Georgia, SEC
10. Notre Dame, Big East
11. Maryland, ACC
12. South Carolina, SEC
13. Santa Clara, WCC
14. USC, Pac-10
15. Virginia Tech, ACC
16. Florida, SEC
17. Penn State, Big Ten
18. Ohio State, Big Ten
19. Connecticut, Big East
20. Mississippi, SEC
21. LSU, SEC
22. Washington State,  Pac-10
23. Texas A&M, Big 12
24. California,  Pac-10
25. Arizona State, Pac-10

* TUESDAY’S RESULTS:
Ivy
Yale 2 Harvard 3

Non-Conference
Dartmouth 3 Vermont 0
Missouri-St. Louis 0 SIU-Edwardsville 4

SMALL COLLEGE NEWS … There are only seven unbeaten and untied NCAA Division II and III teams left in the NSCAA/adidas rankings: No. 1 Lees-McRae (10-0-0) and No. 3 Drury (12-0-0) in Men’s Division II, No. 1 West Florida (12-0-0) and No. 2 Saint Rose (13-0-0) in Women’s Division II and No. 1 Williams (11-0-0), No. 4 Trinity (Texas) (11-0-0) and No. 7 Concordia-Moorhead (14-0-0) in Women’s Division III.

WOMEN’S NEWS …. Central Michigan, which has the longest NCAA Division I women’s shutout streak in more than a decade, can clinch its first Mid-American regular-season title with one more victory. The Chippewas (13-3-0 overall and 8-0-0 in the MAC) have won 11 games in a row, all by shutout. Its the fifth longest shutout streak in NCAA history and the longest since Santa Clara set a record with 16 straight shutouts in 1998.

“Everyone focuses on defending as well as they can every second they are on the field,” CMU coach Tom Anagnost said. “That mentality has gotten us to where we are. Offensively, I feel we can be a little more dangerous than we have been in the last few matches in creating and finishing more opportunities.” The Chippewas, who host Bowling Green and second-place Toledo Sunday, have won their last three games by 1-0 margins. Their only losses were to Big Ten teams Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State.

* TAR HEEL HONORED. North Carolina graduate Yael Averbuch was named the recipient of the 2009 Patterson Medal, the most prestigious award presented to student-athletes at the University of North Carolina, along with Tyler Hansbrough, ACC basketball’s all-time leading scorer, and baseball star Dustin Ackley.

Averbuch, who is now with WPS champion Sky Blue FC, helped the Tar Heels win the 2008 NCAA Division I title. She won four ACC titles and two NCAA crowns in her career. She is the 11th women’s soccer player to win the award. Other winners included Shannon Higgins (1990), Kristine Lilly (1993) Mia Hamm (1994), Tisha Venturini (1995), Debbie Keller (1997), Cindy Parlow (1999), Lorrie Fair (2000), Meredith Florance (2001), Catherine Reddick (2004) and Heather O’Reilly (2007).

* LEADING SCORERS:
1. Morgan Marlborough, Nebraska  21
2. Sarah Hagen, Milwaukee 19
3. Kelley O’Hara, Stanford 17
4. Jessica Fuccello, Penn 16
5. Danielle Foxhoven, Portland  15
5. Britany Curry, Texas St. 15
5. Whitney Palmer, Oklahoma 15
8. Christen Press, Stanford 14
9. Kiersten Dallstream, Washington St. 12
9. Sydney Leroux, UCLA 12
9. Tiffany McCarty, Florida St.  12
9. Rochelle VanBuskirk, UC Davis 12
9. Sylvia Kowalski, Canisius 12
9. Marky Boyce, Charleston So.12
9. Corky Julien, James Madison 12
9. Dawn Ward, Texas Tech 12

Women’s Player of the Week: Sarah Hagen (Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Team of the Week

JUNIOR COLLEGE NEWS … Arnaldo Salazar, considered one of the top junior college prospects in California, was in serious condition at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa, Calif., with a broken neck and two broken arms suffered in a car crash that took place Saturday and killed a friend.

“He’s probably one of the most gifted players in this area, if not the most gifted,” Santa Rosa Junior College coach Marty Kinahan told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. “One of the big boys, Stanford, Cal. He would have gotten a scholarship.” Salazar played for the NPSL’s Sonoma County Sol and at Santa Rosa JC in 2008. He was rehabilitating a hip injury this fall and concentrating on his studies.

The accident took place on Highway 101 early Saturday. It killed Sonoma State University student Maribel Raya Medina and also injured two other students.

MEN’S NEWS … After a slow start, UIC is coming on. The Flames won back-to-back 1-0 games against ranked Ohio State and Horizon League rival Wisconsin-Milwaukee to improve to 5-4-4. Both goals came off corner kicks by Mike Giffin. “We’re battling things this year,” said UIC coach John Trask. “That’s who we are right now.”

The win over Ohio State was remarkable given the long list of absentees. Starters Robert Younger, Ian Sarachan, Matt Spiess and Ivan Stanisavljevic were out with injuries and Charlie Trout was suspended for the game. On top of that, center back Zach Tierney was injured in the first half and had to leave the game. Ohio State’s Joshua Breto was red carded for his foul on Tierney, a transfer from New Mexico.

The Flames are one of four teams in the top 12 in Soccer America’s preseason rankings who are not in this week’s Top 25. The others are St. John’s, Creighton and Notre Dame.

* MEN’S TOP 25 SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, Oct. 20
Michigan vs. No. 1 Akron
South Carolina vs. No. 3 Wake Forest
No. 5 Maryland vs. Seton Hall
Yale vs. No. 6 Connecticut
Providence vs. No. 9 Harvard
No. 12 Northwestern vs. Loyola (Ill.)
No. 15 Virginia vs. Howard
St. John’s vs. No. 22 Brown
No. 24 Duke vs. Navy

* SPARTANS END SKID. UNC Greensboro’s 3-1 over Gardner-Webb on Saturday ended the Spartans’ three-game losing streak and marked the return of long-time coach Michael Parker, who had been suspended from coaching at UNCG’s previous game, a 3-0 loss to Duke. Assistant coach Justin Maullin ran the team in Parker’s absence. Witnesses say that Parker launched a verbal assault at players and a coach at UNCG’s Southern Conference game against College of Charleston.

* LEADING SCORERS:
1. Andrew Bulls, UMBC 15
2. Matthew Skonicki, Winthrop 11
3. Issa Tall, Adelphi 11
4. JC Banks, Green Bay 11
5. Saeed Sulemana Baba, Western Mich. 10
5. Teal Bunbury, Akron 10
5. Matt Eliason, Northwestern 10
5. Levi Houapeu, UMBC 10
5. Andrew Wiedeman, California 10
5. Conor O’Brien, Bucknell 10
(Statistics through games played Oct. 18.)

Men’s Player of the Week: Austin da Luz (Wake Forest)
Team of the Week

MEN’S NEWS … No. 1 Stanford had a little luck in its 2-0 win over No. 4 UCLA in their much-anticipated Pac-10 matchup that drew an overflow crowd of 2,400 at Cagan Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but Coach Paul Ratcliffe insisted the Cardinal had created its own luck.

As it has done all season, Stanford had a big edge in the play but couldn’t score on the Bruins until well into the second half. Until then, the best chance fell to UCLA’s Olympic gold-medalist, Lauren Cheney, who hit the post. When the Cardinal’s first goal came, it was an own goal — scored when a clearance deflected crazily over goalkeeper Chante’ Sandiford and into the goal.

“You need a little bit of luck in soccer, and if you’re doing the right things, you create your own luck,” Ratcliffe said. “We created our own luck there. We put them in an awkward situation, putting them under pressure, and it ended up deflecting into their own goal.”

The second Stanford goal came less than two minutes later when Camille Levin, who was inserted at forward for the first time this season, headed in a cross to the far post from New Zealand international Ali Riley. “Cami had done very well in that spot, so I thought it would be a good element to throw out there,” Ratcliffe said. “I thought Cami was fantastic. She was a huge spark off the bench. She’s a player who should be starting. She’s that good.”

* GAME OF THE WEEK:
Oct. 18 in Palo Alto, Calif.
Stanford 2 UCLA 0. Goals: own goal 72, Levin (A.Riley) 73.
Stanford — Maker, Quon, A.Riley, Jenkins, Garciamendez, Noyola, Taylor, Nogueira, McCann, Press, O’Hara. Subs: Levin, Verloo, Heath.
UCLA — Sandiford, Cook, Belcher, Wilmoth, Barnes, Bywaters, Cline, Wright, Larsen, Cheney, Leroux. Subs: Williams, Smith, Metz, Zadro, Lee, Bearde.
Referee: Cory Dean.
Att.: 2,400.

This week’s Top 25

* HAGEN CARRIES MILWAUKEE. Wisconsin-Milwaukee clinched its 10th straight Horizon League regular season championship Sunday when it beat Wright State, 1-0, on a goal by Sarah Hagen, who set a school record with at least one goal in nine straight games.

Things didn’t look so great for Milwaukee earlier this season. The Panthers had gone winless with five losses and a tie in their final six non-conference games. Since then, Hagen has carried them with 15 goals in seven games, at conference wins. The sophomore sensation has 19 goals for the season, only five less than the conference-record 24 goals she scored as a freshman.

“It was a huge win for us,” UWM coach Michael Moynihan said. “We had a lot on the line today. If Wright State could have come in here and knocked us off, they would have most likely been hosting the conference tournament. It was important for us to play it here.”

MEN’S NEWS … It was a big week for the da Luz family at Wake Forest. On Thursday, Coach Tony da Luz earned his 200th coaching win in the Demon Deacon women’s 2-0 victory at N.C. State. On Saturday, son Austin da Luz, contributed on all four Wake Forest goals, scoring one and assisting on the other three, in a 4-1 win for the Wake men at N.C. State.

Austin da Luz set up goals by Zack Schilawski, Andy Lubahn and Ike Opara. The senior leads the ACC with 11 assists and holds the Wake career mark with 35 assists.

This week’s Top 25

* GOLDEN MOMENT. After seven ties, St. John’s finally won a game in overtime, getting a goal from Brazilian Tadeu Terra in the 99th minute to beat Louisville, 3-2. Sverre Wegge Gundhus and Pablo Punyed also scored for St. John’s, which went into the game with only 10 goals scored (and six goals allowed) in 12 games. The Red Storm (4-2-7) was ranked No. 3 in the Soccer America preseason rankings but has since fallen out of the Top 25.

* PEZZA NIGHT. Senior Mike Pezza has earned a solid reputation as a setup man in his career at Connecticut, but his game-winning goal in the Huskies’ 2-0 win over Pitt on Saturday was only the second goal of his career. And quite a goal it was. Pezza took a pass from freshman Carlos Alvarez, dribbled into the middle of the field, dodging two defenders, and took a shot with his left foot that sailed into the top left corner of the goal after slightly deflecting off a Panther defender. The shutout was the seventh in a row for the Huskies, who are 8-2-3.

WOMEN’S NEWS … No. 1 Stanford earned its first win over No. 4 UCLA since 2002 with a 2-0 victory Sunday before an overflow crowd of 2,400 at Cagan Stadium. The Bruins were riding a 22-game Pac-10 winning streak heading into the contest.

For only the second time in 14 games, high-scoring forwards Kelley O’Hara (18 goals) or Christen Press (14) didn’t score for the Cardinal, who won on an own goal and goal by sub Cam Levin 116 seconds apart in the second half.

The Stanford defense, anchored by freshman Alina Garciamendez and senior Alicia Jenkins in the middle, did an outstanding job against UCLA, which had won 12 straight games.

— In another Top 25 matchup of Pac-10 teams, No. 9 USC beat No. 17 California, 3-2, on Alyssa Davila‘s golden goal.

* TOP 25 UPSETS. Three Top 25 teams fell to unranked teams on Sunday:

— Freshman sensation Morgan Marlborough scored her 20th and 21st goals of the season to lead Nebraska to a 2-1 win over No. 16 Texas A&M.

— No. 18 Michigan State lost at Wisconsin, 1-0, on Alycia Herczeg’s early penalty kick.

—  A header by sophomore Tahnai Annis was all Florida needed to beat No. 24 Georgia, 1-0, in front of a season-high crowd of 2,023 in Athens.

(Click here for more weekend women’s results.)

* TOP 25 RESULTS:
Sunday, Oct. 18
Pac-10: No. 1 Stanford 2 (own goal 72, Levin 73) No. 4 UCLA 0.
(Game draws an overflow crowd of 2,400.)
WCC: Loyola Marymount 0 No. 2 Portland 4 (Enyeart 26, Chandhoke 39, Schmidt 46, Winters 65).
(Michelle Enyeart has three assists to go along with goal.)
SEC: Tennessee 1 (Imgram 70) No. 5 South Carolina 2 (Grimsley 33, Small 56).
(Game draws a season-high 1,332 fans at the Regal Stadium.)
Big East: No. 8 Notre Dame 2 (Knaack 17, Clark 27) Providence 0.
Pac-10: No. 17 California 2 (White 74, Morgan 78) No. 9 USC 3 (Freyer 19, Davila 31, 93) (OT).
——————————————————-
ACC: No. 10 Maryland 3 (Grove 81, Dreska 88, own goal 96) N.C. State 2 (Parrilla 26, Blosser 35).
ACC: No. 11 Virginia Tech 0 No. 7 Boston College 1 (G.DiMartino 9).
ACC: No. 13 Wake Forest 2 (Harrington 47, Logue 53) Miami (Fla.) 0.
Conference USA: Houston 1 (Vela 85) No. 14 UCF 2 (Thomas pen. 75, pen. 86).
Big 12: Nebraska 2 (Marlborough 20, 82) No. 16 Texas A&M 1 (Shipley pen. 68).
——————————————————-
Big Ten: Northwestern 1 (Herczeg pen. 21) No. 18 Michigan State 0.
SEC: No. 20 LSU 4 (Yepes 11, Boudreau 12, Banks 22, Alexander 44) Mississippi State 0.
SEC: Arkansas 0 No. 21 Mississippi 1 (Weatherly 91) (OT).
Big East: Louisville 0 No. 22 Marquette 2 (Bares 30, 31).
Big Ten: Minnesota 0 No. 23 Ohio State 1 (Martin 46).
WCC: San Francisco 2 (Mazur 43, Drake 51) No. 25 San Diego 3 (Vinti 36, Mock 61, Cartan 86).
SEC: No. 24 Georgia 0 Florida 1 (Annis 85).
(The game draws a season-high 2,023 fans in Athens.)
——————————————————-

Saturday, Oct. 17
ACC: No. 3 North Carolina 2 (Rich  51, Hawkins pen. 89) Virginia 1 (Farrelly 62).
Mountain West: No. 12 BYU 2 (Anderson 11, Payne 58) TCU 0.
(Cougars extend unbeaten streak to 11 games.)
Big East: No. 19 Rutgers 1 (Lang 6) No. 18 St. John’s 0.