Soccer America Archives

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 … 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

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.