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College Top 25: Duke ousted, Charlotte climbing and more

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By JOHN BOSCHINI

It's more of the same at the top of the table this week as the top four schools in the NSCAA poll, Akron, Louisville, Maryland and North Carolina, stayed in the same position as last week. Southern Methodist moved up one spot to round out the Top 5, bumping Connecticut down to No. 6. The Zips again received all 23 first-place votes.

Buter's perfect record may be a thing of the past, but the Bulldogs retained some respect, dropping only one spot to No. 8. Virginia dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time this season, landing at No. 11.

Charlotte continue to climb up the rankings, rising from unranked two weeks ago to No. 16. Michigan State is headed in the opposite direction, dropping seven spots to No. 23.

Duke's freefall continues as the Blue Devils drop out of the rankings for the first time this season. They are joined on the outside looking in by South Carolina and Ohio State. Indiana, UC Santa Barbara and William & Mary broke into the rankings at No. 25, No. 19 and No. 17, respectively. 

The full NSCAA poll is after the jump:

  1. Akron (23) 575 (11-0-1)
  2. Louisville 547 (10-0-2)
  3. Maryland 527 ( 11-2-1)
  4. North Carolina 506 (11-2-1)
  5. Southern Methodist 475 (13-1-0)
  6. Connecticut 454 (10-1-4)
  7. UC Irvine 435 (12-1-2)
  8. Butler 402 (13-0-1)
  9. Creighton 387 (11-2-1)
10. California 352 (9-2-3)
11. Virginia 346 (9-2-3)
12. Monmouth 314 (10-1-2)
13. Brown 275 (8-1-3)
14. Pennsylvania 267 (11-2-0)
15. UCLA 244 (10-4-0)
16. Charlotte 175 (10-4-0) 
17. William & Mary 166 (11-2-1)
18. Boston College 144 (7-2-5)
19. UC Santa Barbara 132 (10-3-2)
20. Princeton 131 (10-3-1)
21. Loyola Marymount 113 (9-3-2)
22. Tulsa 103 (8-4-1)
23. Michigan State 75 (11-4-0)
24. South Florida 72 (8-3-4)
25. Indiana 69 (8-4-2)
Also receiving votes: Central Florida 56, Georgetown 29, Duke 19, Notre Dame 11, South Carolina 9, College of Charleston 9, Colgate 4, UAB 4, Florida Gulf Coast 3, Penn State 3, Loyola (MD) 1, San Diego State 1

Comments

  1. In terms of impact on a team, Josh Walburn at Princeton was injured and not available for the only losses Princeton had and did not start in the tie. He started in all the wins. It is probably not the toughest schedule Princeton has ever faced, most opponents are in the 2nd 50 in the RPI ratings. Walburn was there for the 3-0 win over Brown and despite the losses and a tie, PU is ranked 24th in the RPI and scored 3 goals in all but the last of their 8 wins in a row .

    I would hate for SI to put out a glossy to jinx any of the guys who are doing well now. ;>)

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  2. In the RPI ratings, the Big West’s first teams are UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine at 35th and 46th and only 2 UC schools rate above Santa Barbara. None of the UC schools do well in the RPI rankings, that is unlikely to be bias, but it could be an artifact of how the relative ratings are done. At least the RPI waits until midseason to make its first ranking so there is more than “reputation” behind the ranking.

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  3. I forgot about St. John’s, but that was a three-period exhibition game… let’s leave it out of the regular season record. I’d say it’s fairly obvious that Maryland is the better team, but they’ll have to wait two weeks to show that…

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  4. Speaking of individual players, I’ve been really impressed with the play of Georgetown’s left back, Jimmy Nealis: skilled, cultured left-foot, doesn’t depend on athleticism. He is sometimes a bit too aggressive and shirks his defensive duties, but I think that can be attributed to the Hoyas’ dependence on his creativity.

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  5. UNC did not beat UMD at UMD. They beat them at Chapel Hill. That game was close (2-1). The Terps out shot UNC and Zac MacMath should’ve stopped the first goal. Also, UMD has more quality victories including over #9 Duke, #2 UConn, #17 St. John’s, and tied #5 B.C at B.C.

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  6. I would be more interested in reports on how well individual players are doing than in how some colleges fare from week to week. The rankings are not very meaninful in soccer.

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  7. I’ve watched Charlotte play a handful of matches this season and they look good on all fronts, play the full 90 and have a swagger on the field… they’ve beat some big teams at home and on the road but also pitched a stinker or two…

    Won 7 in a Row and 5-0 in A10 play right now. A10 Tourney is also @ Charlotte next month…just sayin

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  8. Carolina and Maryland are both 11-2-1, Carolina beat Maryland AT College Park, yet Maryland is #3 and Carolina #4. Glad to see the NCAA is as corrupt as FIFA.

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  9. Butler @ Indiana tomorrow. If Butler is going to lose a game during the regular season, it will probably be this one. Bloomington is a tough environment to play in. It will be a good game, glad I’ll be able to attend.

    Go Butler!!!

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  10. Ives, do you ever cover D3? I had never thought about the quality of play much there until I recently attended a game between two teams in the SCAC, and was frankly impressed with the quality of the play, at least on the women’s side – the guys seemed to practice kick-it-hard-and-pray too much.

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