Notre Dame’s struggles resurfaced on the road, California faltered against its nearest rivals, Santa Clara won a neighborhood showdown and half the unbeatens dropped their first games during Week 6 of the college women’s season. The sixth-ranked Fighting Irish, coming off big wins at home over Nebraska and West Virginia during Week 5, clinched a tie for the Big East Conference’s Mid-Atlantic Division title despite suffering their first loss of the campaign, to Rutgers, and needing 82 minutes to conquer a packed-in Seton Hall defense. Freshman Carli Lloyd scored twice in the first 10 minutes of Rutgers’ 2-1 victory; Irish freshman Candace Chapman, a Canadian national-teamer, netted the winner against Seton Hall. Notre Dame (9-1-1), which had endured a difficult stretch early in the season, was among four teams to be beaten for the first time, joined by Stanford (7-1-0), Princeton (6-1-1) and Southeast Missouri State (9-1-0). No. 4 Stanford saw its 13-game home winning streak come to an end against No. 5 Santa Clara. Junior midfielder Aly Wagner’s free kick midway through the first overtime delivered to the Broncos the 2-1 victory. Princeton was beaten by No. 2 UCLA (2-0), after managing a 0-0 draw with Cal Poly, at the UCLA Women’s Cup, and Southeast Missouri State was toppled by Western Illinois (2-1). Four teams remain unbeaten: No. 1 North Carolina (10-0-0), UCLA (9-0-0) and West Coast Conference rivals St. Mary’s (9-0-1) and Pepperdine (5-0-3). St. Mary’s won its showdown with East Bay neighbor California, toppling the No. 8 Bears, 2-1, on Jennifer Barbera’s overtime strike. Cal then failed to hold off host San Francisco, which rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 3-3 tie. In other action: ò Top-ranked North Carolina opened its Atlantic Coast Conference campaign — and closed out a two-week, seven-game road trip — with 3-1 victories over Duke and Maryland. ò Christie Welsh netted four goals as No. 12 Penn State stomped Michigan, 6-2, to improve to 4-0-1 in the Big Ten. ò Abby Wambach’s 66th-minute goal, her seventh of the season, lifted No. 11 Florida to a 2-1 road win over No. 13 Connecticut. The Huskies also fell at Boston College, 2-0, in Big East play. ò No. 19 Brigham Young lost twice in overtime during a two-game Mid-Atlantic swing, both by 3-2 counts, vs. No. 15 Virginia and Wake Forest. ò No. 10 Texas A&M suffered its fifth postponement of the season, the third because of poor weather and insufficient field drainage. The Aggies’ match with Houston was called off after 15 minutes because of rain and a waterlogged field. Their first two home matches, against Samford and North Carolina, were canceled for the same reason, and games against Stanford and California were moved to San Marcos, Texas, because of the condition of A&M’s field. Two other matches, one an exhibition against the Mexican national team, were called off after terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. 10/1 RANKING … TEAM (CURRENT RECORD) … 9/24 RANKING 1. North Carolina (10-0-0) 1 10/2 at Duke (3-1), 10/5 at Maryland (3-1) 2. UCLA (9-0-0) 2 10/5 Loyola Marymount (3-0), 10/7 Princeton (2-0) 3. Portland (9-1-0) 3 10/3 at Oregon (3-0), 10/6 Oregon State (2-0), 10/7 Utah (2-0) 4. Stanford (7-1-0) 5 10/5 Santa Clara (1-2, OT) 5. Santa Clara (8-1-0) 6 10/5 at Stanford (2-1, OT) 6. Notre Dame (9-1-1) 9 10/5 at Rutgers (1-2), 10/7 at Seton Hall (2-1) 7. Nebraska (8-1-0) 4 10/5 Missouri (5-1), 10/7 Kansas (2-0) 8. California (8-2-1) 8 10/1 Hawaii (4-0), 10/5 St. Mary’s (0-1, OT), 10/7 at San Francisco (3-3) 9. Clemson (7-1-0) 12 10/2 South Carolina (2-0), 10/5 Duke (1-0, OT_ 10. Texas A&M (5-2-1) 7 10/5 Houston (Ppd., heavy rains, field conditions), 10/7 Baylor (6-0) 11. Florida (8-2-1) 15 10/2 at Connecticut (1-2), 10/5 Vanderbilt (4-0), 10/7 Kentucky (5-1) 12. Penn State (8-2-1) 10 10/5 Michigan State (4-0), 10/7 Michigan (6-2) 13. Connecticut (8-4-0) 16 10/2 Florida (1-2), 10/5 Syracuse (3-1), 10/7 at Boston College (0-2) 14. Florida St. (9-3-0) 13 10/2 at South Florida (1-0), 10/5 at Central Florida (5-0), 10/7 Duke (3-2, OT) 15. Virginia (7-2-1) 11 10/2 William & Mary (3-1), 10/4 Brigham Young (3-2, OT), 10/7 at George Mason (1-0) 16. Washington (6-2-1) 14 10/5 at Montana (1-0), 10/7 at Eastern Washington (7-0) 17. Texas (5-3-0) 17 10/5 at Baylor (2-0), 10/7 Houston (4-0) 18. West Virginia (7-2-1) 18 10/5 William & Mary (3-1), 10/7 at Villanova (1-1) 19. Brigham Young (6-4-1) NR 10/4 at Virginia (2-3, OT), 10/6 at Wake Forest (2-3, 2OT) 20. Tennessee (5-4) 19 10/5 at Auburn (1-2), 10/7 at Alabama (4-0)