WOMEN’S NEWS … The first major women’s conference kicked off play Thursday night when Marquette edged South Florida, 2-1, on Kerry McBride‘s late goal in the Big East opener, and a full slate of games is scheduled for Friday. Notre Dame and West Virginia were picked to win their respective divisions, but both teams head into conference play with .500 records.

The Big East is as deep as its ever been with all 16 teams beginning conference action with legitimate shots of claiming the divisional crowns. Five are ranked in the Soccer America Top 25: No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 18 St. John’s, No. 19 Connecticut, No. 23 Rutgers and No. 25 West Virginia. And only one team has a losing record in non-conference play. Here’s a look at the divisional races with the teams cited in order of their preseason ranking.

* AMERICAN
1. West Virginia, 2-2-3 (Mountaineers have scored only seven goals.)
2. Connecticut, 4-2-0 (Huskies have won four games in a row.)
3. Marquette, 6-2-0 (Golden Eagles are very tough at Valley Fields.)
4. St. John’s, 5-1-0 (C.J. Ludemann leads Red Storm with two goals and four assists.)
5. South Florida, 3-3-1 (Six of USF’s 10 goals came against Austin Peay.)
6. Pittsburgh, 4-2-0 (Panthers opened with four straight victories.)
7. Syracuse, 3-2-2 (Tina Romagnuolo has four of Orange’s six goals.)
8. Providence, 4-2-1 (Both Friar losses came in overtime.)

* NATIONAL
1. Notre Dame, 3-3-0 (Irish are unbeaten in last 52 Big East games — 50-0-2)
2. Rutgers, 5-1-1 (Erin Guthrie allowed her only two goals last Friday against San Diego.)
3. Georgetown, 6-1-0 (Ingrid Wells leads Big East with seven assists.)
4. Louisville, 2-3-0 (Cardinals have only scored four goals.)
5. Villanova, 6-0-1 (Katie Ryan leads Big East with seven goals and two assists.)
6. Cincinnati, 4-3-0 (Julie Morrissey had four goals last week in pair of wins.)
7. Seton Hall, 3-3-0 (Nicki Gross leads Pirates with four of their eight goals.)
 8. DePaul, 4-2-2 (Blue Demons have already equaled last year’s win total.)

Thursday’s Scoreboard

* WEEKEND TOP 25 MATCHUPS:
Friday, Sept. 18
No. 12 South Carolina vs. No. 17 UCF
No. 14 Florida vs. No. 6 Florida State
No. 25 Kansas vs. No. 21 San Diego (Jayhawk Invitational)