NCAA men's and women's soccer weekend roundup
The GIST: From intrastate rivals ousting each others’ foes to unranked conquerors to epic golazos, here’s everything you need to know about yesterday’s women’s and men’s non-conference footy.
The women: The North Carolina dynasties did revenge after their disappointing Thursday: Wisconsin, who held No. 3 UNC to a scoreless draw last week, fell victim to the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils’ tridents in a 2–1 loss. Meanwhile, UNC had the Blue Devils’ backs, besting No. 24 USC 4–0 and extinguishing the SoCal gals’ Duke-defeat high.
- Elsewhere, two teams tasted bitter unranked defeat — Colorado took down No. 14 Michigan State 2–0 and, after just earning a rank last week, No. 25 Tennessee was bested 2–1 by SMU… likely dropping them from next week’s poll.
The men: The fellas saw a duo of Top 25 matchups and one pair of ranked upsets. No. 17 Georgetown sophomore Jacob Murrell’s 10th-minute strike had the Hoyas on top first, but No. 7 Stanford roared back to claim a convincing 5–1 victory. The go-ahead goal? This absolute rocket from junior midfielder Will Reilly — even a brick wall couldn’t stop that ball.
- After starting their season with an unimpressive draw, No. 10 UNCG failed their first ranked test, adding a 2–0 L at the feet of No. 14 Maryland to their opening record.
- Perhaps most surprising, however, were the California dudes. LA’s LMU Lions stunned No. 15 Virginia 3–1, while the San Diego Aztecs handed No. 6 Washington a 2–0 loss on the Huskies’ home pitch. Woof.
What to watch: The biggest gals’ teams have a few days off, so keep your eyes on the footy fellas: No. 12 Vermont heads to the heart of it all to take on No. 22 Akron tonight at 7 p.m. ET on FloSports. It’s the first time Vermont’s ever made the preseason poll, so tune in to see if the Catamounts can keep the ranked ball rolling.
