Category: Story

MEN’S NEWS … The ACC season opened with two glamor showdowns, and a pair of freshmen played huge roles in the outcomes.

Enzo Martinez, the Uruguayan-born South Carolina prep legend, was the instigator in No. 2 North Carolina’s 2-1 comeback win over previously unbeaten N.C. State before 4,200 fans in Chapel Hill.

James Belshaw, who was developed in English pro club Walsall’s youth system and even suited up for a League One (third division) game against Carlisle last season, came up big in goal for Duke, helping the No. 20 Blue Devils edge No. 21 Virginia, 1-0, in overtime before 4,692 fans in Charlottesville.

Martinez, better known for his scoring (182 goals at Rock Hill Northwestern High School) than playmaking, was fouled for the penalty kick Zach Loyd converted (twice) and fed Michael Farfan on the winning goal. The Cal State Fullerton transfer took possession outside the box, beat a defender at the edge of the area, then blasted a shot that ricocheted off the right post for the goal.

Virginia had the edge in regulation, but the 6-foot-2 Belshaw was a dominating force in goal. The Blue Devils won on Daniel Tweed-Kent’s goal following a flurry of shots in the second overtime.

“We had an excellent game plan,” Duke coach John Kerr said. “We did our homework on Virginia and some of their weapons were not necessarily nullified, but less of a threat. We were fortunate a couple of times that they missed some opportunities, but we dug our heels in and worked together and found a way to win the game.”

* THIS WEEK’S TOP 25. Akron and North Carolina remained 1-2 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25. Wake Forest, Creighton and Dartmouth each moved up one spot to complete the top five. Five teams moved into the Top 25 for the first time this season: No. 12 Harvard, No. 16 Monmouth, No. 17 Butler, No. 18 Loyola Marymount and No. 25 Kentucky.

* TOP 25 RESULTS:
Friday, Sept. 11
No. 6 Dartmouth 0 No. 18 Connecticut 0.
No. 21 Virginia 0 No. 20 Duke 1 (Tweed-Kent 101) (OT).
(ACC opener for both teams attracts crowd of 4,692 at Klockner Stadium.)

Saturday, Sept. 12
No. 2 North Carolina 2 (Loyd 33, Farfan 65) No. 19 N.C. State 1 (Sanchez 2).

Weekend Scoreboard

* RECORD BOOK. Senior Alan McGreal became Canisius’ all-time leading scorer with 77 points when he scored in the Griffs’ 1-1 tie with Cornell in front of 1,206 fans at the Demske Sports Complex on Friday

WOMEN’S NEWS … Facing a make-or-break weekend, Santa Clara came through with wins over a pair of Top 10 team, Notre Dame (2-0) and Purdue (3-1), and won its Santa Clara Classic on goal difference over No. 2 Stanford.

Coming off a 4-12-4 record and their first sub-.500 season since 1983, the young Broncos have been under enormous pressure. They opened with shutout wins over San Jose State and UC Santa Barbara, then slumped to losses at Utah and Maryland.

Goalkeeper Bianca Henninger kept the Broncos in the first game with three saves in the opening minutes. Senior Jordan Angeli had the decisive goal against Notre Dame with a 35-yard rocket, and Santa Clara’s freshmen then went to work for the rest of the weekend.

Lauren Matheson added the second goal against Notre Dame. On Sunday, freshman Allie Vernon celebrated her first career start by scoring twice, the first just 168 seconds into the game when floated a ball over Purdue goalkeeper Jenny Bradfisch. Another freshman, Amanda Webster, had the third goal.

“I think [this weekend] really builds our confidence,” said Bronco coach Jerry Smith.  “Those were solid wins over two top-10 teams, and also NCAA Tournament teams, and it’s always good to win own tournament.  We had a number of contributors and a solid team effort over two games.”

“Our freshmen have also been making a number of impactful contributions whether it be goals, assists or significant plays,” said Smith.  “Olivia [Klei], Amanda and Lauren have been playing well in every game, and this was Allie’s first weekend and she was very good in both games.”

* THIS WEEK’S TOP 25. Unranked Santa Clara moved up to No. 10 in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25 with its wins over Notre Dame and Purdue. North Carolina, Stanford and Portland are again 1-2-3. The other unbeaten and untied teams in the Top 25 are No. 4 Boston College, No. 9 Maryland and No. 12 South Carolina. 

* TOP 25 RESULTS:
Sunday, Sept. 13
No. 2 Stanford 2 (Nogueira 56, Press 58) No. 7 Notre Dame 0.
No. 4 Florida State 8 (Lim 2, 25, McCarty 10, 29,  Bolinsky 33, 84, Switzer 51, Price 63) No. 24 UAB 0.

Saturday, Sept. 12
No. 1 North Carolina 2 (Washington 82, McDonald 88) No. 21 Texas A&M 0.

Friday, Sept. 11
No. 2 Stanford 2 (O’Hara 17, pen. 73) No. 8 Purdue 1 (Okoroafo 4).
No. 3 Portland 4 (Enyeart 6, 28, 62, Chandhoke 12) No. 20 Illinois 1 (Mykines 61).
(Michelle Enyeart records her first career hat trick in front of 3,524 fans.)
No. 10 Wake Forest 1 (Hutchinson 42) No. 23 Penn State 0.
No. 16 Virginia 1 (Farrelly 65) No. 15 West Virginia 1 (McCarthy 85).
(Game draws a crowd of 2,794.)

Weekend Scoreboard

* RECORD BOOK. Mississippi blanked Arkansas-Little Rock, 8-0, to set a school record with its fifth straight shutout.

MEN’S NEWS … Sophomore Stephen Knox‘s first goal of the season gave Boston University a 1-0 win over No. 3 St. John’s on Sunday night at Nickerson Field.

No. 1 Akron and No. 4 Wake Forest rolled on the road on Sunday. Golden goals gave New Mexico a 2-1 win at No. 15 Notre Dame and No. 17 Northwestern a 3-2 victory over Tulsa.

American was the only other Top 25 team to fall to an unranked team, dropping a 3-0 decision to Monmouth.

With UC Santa Barbara trailing Loyola Marymount, 2-0, in the second half, it looks like only three Top 25 teams will complete Week 2 with unbeaten and untied records: No. 1 Akron, No. 12 South Florida and No. 20 Duke (4-0-0).

(Read Monday morning’s Soccer America Daily for the new Soccer America Top 25.)

TOP 25 RESULTS:
Sunday, Sept. 13
Cincinnati 0 No. 1 Akron 3 (own goal 17, Nanchoff 80, Mwila 81).
Boston Univ. 1 (Knox 34) No. 3 St. John’s 0.
Clemson 1 (Thornton 89) No. 4 Wake Forest 3 (Opara 6, Randolph 60, 83).
(Ike Opara scores in last game before joining U.S. U-20s.)
No. 6 Dartmouth 2 (Keat 25, pen. 60) Rhode Island 0.
51st minute: No. 7 UC Santa Barbara 0 Loyola Marymount 2 (Baca 24, Da Silva 34).
Marquette 0 No. 8 UC Irvine 1 (Thompson 57).
No. 11 California 3 (Wiedeman 16, Cosgriff 35, Jimenez 71) Cal Poly 1 (Gray pen. 66).
No. 13 Louisville 1 (Rolfe 50) UIC 1 (Trout 63).
No. 15 Notre Dame 1 (own goal) New Mexico 2 (Davis 38, 92) (OT).
No. 16 Indiana 2 (Bruin 54, Adlard 83) Seattle 0.
No. 17 Northwestern 3 (Bellizzi 23, Eliason pen. 66, 99) Tulsa 2 (Albertson 33, Parada 75) (OT).
No. 18 Connecticut 0 Iona 0.
No. 22 Northern Illinois 1 (De La Cerda 85) Oakland 0.
Monmouth 3 (Clark 1, Kinne 7, Caiella 42) No. 23 American 0.
No. 24 Michigan 3 (Fuzetti 10, Saad 25, Keller 74) Lipscomb 0.
No. 25 South Carolina 1 (Ruthven 45) George Mason 0.

Saturday, Sept. 12
No. 2 North Carolina 2 (Loyd 33, Farfan 65) No. 19 N.C. State 1 (Sanchez 2).

(Read more below for other Sunday results and highlights from around the country.)

MEN’S NEWS … Unranked Santa Clara was the weekend’ big winner, beating No. 7 Notre Dame (2-0) and No. 8 Purdue (3-1).

No. 10 Wake Forest and No. 12 Indiana lost for the first time this season. Washington beat No. 20 Illinois, 1-0, and Penn edged No. 25 Pitt, 2-1, in overtime.

No. 10 Wake Forest and No. 12 Indiana lost for the first time this season. Dartmouth defeated No. 15 West Virginia, 1-0, Washington beat No. 20 Illinois, 1-0, and Penn edged No. 25 Pitt, 2-1, in overtime.

The biggest rout: Three days after losing for the first time, No. 4 Florida State took it out on No. 24 UAB with an 8-0 win. Three different Seminoles had two goals.

PERFECT STARTS
Unbeaten and untied Top 25 teams …
1. North Carolina (6-0-0) 1
2. Stanford (7-0-0) 2
3. Portland (7-0-0) 3
5. Boston College (6-0-0) 6
18. Maryland (7-0-0) NR
25. South Carolina (6-0-0) NR

TOP 25 RESULTS:
Sunday, Sept. 13
No. 2 Stanford 2 (Nogueira 56, Press 58) No. 7 Notre Dame 0.
No. 3 Portland 2 (Enyeart 11, Foxhoven 86) Miami, Fla. 0.
(Pilots complete sweep of Nike Portland Invitational before 3,038 fans.)
No. 4 Florida State 8 (Lim 2, 25, McCarty 10, 29,  Bolinsky 33, 84, Switzer 51, Price 63) No. 24 UAB 0.
No. 5 Boston College 4 (G.DiMartino 16, 63, V.DiMartino 54, Caldwell 76) Long Beach State 0.
No. 6 UCLA 2 (Larsen 2, 46) Gonzaga 0.
Santa Clara 3 (Patton 3, Webster 18, 82) No. 8 Purdue 1 (Forbes 15).
No. 9 California 4 (Omarsdottir 3, Morgan 9, 16, Kevorkian 81) SMU 2 (Briggs 18, Scovill 86)
Connecticut 4 (Cunningham 17, Giddings 31, 55, Clark 39) No. 10 Wake Forest 2 (Hutchinson 48, Fountain 88)
Arizona vs. No. 11 Rutgers (10 pm ET kickoff)
St. John’s 2 (Ludeman 73, McGrath 76) No. 12 Indiana 1 (McKay 11)
Colorado College 0 No. 13 Kansas 0.
No. 14 Florida 3 (King 41, Tymrak 48, Thompson 54) Colorado 1 (Russell 80).
No. 15 West Virginia 0 Dartmouth 1 (O’Dea).
No. 16 Virginia 4 (Lenczyk 12, 20, Rostedt 26, L.Miller 56) Seton Hall 0.
Charlotte 2 (Beam 26, McGowan 87) No. 17 Georgia 3 (Vorless 17, Perry 37, Dennis 64).
No. 18 Maryland 1 (Dreska 60) James Madison 0.
No. 20 Illinois 0 Washington 1 (Perez 83).
No. 23 Penn State 3 (Toney 29, 47, Evans 49) Boston Univ. 0.
Penn 2 (Campbell 85, McDermott 94) No. 25 Pittsburgh 1 (Nicassio 53) (OT).
No. 25 South Carolina 2 (Mattern 56, Grimsley 64) UNC Wilmington 0.
(Goalie Mollie Patton hasn’t given up a goal in 540 minutes.)
No. 25 Vanderbilt 1 (Andrews 3) Missouri 1 (Bonnick 56).

Saturday, Sept. 12
No. 1 North Carolina 2 (Washington 82, McDonald 88) No. 21 Texas A&M 0.

(Read more below for other Sunday results and highlights from around the country.)