By IVES GALARCEP
Virginia Commonwealth came into the season with high expectations, but a season-opening 4-0 loss to UAB toppled the Rams out of the SBI Top 25 and raised questions of just how serious a contender they would be this season.
VCU responded this past week with a strong pair of results to re-establish themselves as a force. A 1-1 draw vs. SBI. No. 13 New Mexico, and a 3-2 win vs. No. 8 Maryland gave the Rams one of the more impressive weeks in the country.
It was a rough weekend for several top teams, with Akron, Georgetown, UCSB and Louisville among the teams to suffer their first losses of the season. SBI No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 7 North Carolina played to a 1-1 draw on Sunday to keep their unbeaten records intact.
Defending champion Indiana continued to struggle early in the 2013 campaign, posting a pair of defeats to drop to 1-3 on the season. UAB handed the Hoosiers the first of the losses, while West Virginia won a nine-goal shootout vs. Indiana.
COLLEGE SOCCER WEEKEND RESULTS
FRIDAY
St. John’s 2, (2) Akron 1 (OT). (RECAP)
(3) Georgetown 3, West Virginia 0. (RECAP)
(4) UConn 1, Boston 0. (RECAP)
(23) Duke 1, (8) Maryland 3. (RECAP)
Columbia 1, (9) Creighton 3. (RECAP)
(25) UAB 2, (10) Indiana 1 (OT) (RECAP)
Cincinnati 0, (11) Saint Louis 4. (RECAP)
VCU 1 (13), New Mexico 1. (RECAP)
(14) Coastal Carolina 1, Charlotte 2. (RECAP)
Clemson 2, (16) Virginia 0 (RECAP)
(17) Marquette 3, Bowling Green 0. (RECAP)
(18) UCSB 0, Gonzaga 2 (RECAP)
(20) Washington 4, Portland 1 (RECAP)
(21) Tulsa 4, Ohio State 1. (RECAP)
(24) Brown 1, Bryant College 0. (RECAP)
SATURDAY
(12) Louisville 0, Butler 1. (RECAP)
(15) Wake Forest 2, Boston College 0. (RECAP)
Xavier 0, (19) Northwestern 2 (RECAP)
Santa Clara 0, (22) Stanford 1. (RECAP)
SUNDAY
Rutgers 1, (2) Akron 2. (OT) (RECAP)
(3) Georgetown 0, (13) New Mexico 1 (OT). (RECAP)
(5) Notre Dame 1, (7) North Carolina 1 (OT). (RECAP)
(8) Maryland 2, VCU 3. (RECAP)
(10) Indiana 4, West Virginia 5. (RECAP)
(11) Saint Louis 1, Northern Illinois 0 (OT) (RECAP)
(17) Marquette 4, Drake 0. (RECAP)
(21) Tulsa 2, SIU-Edwardsville 0. (RECAP)
Providence 1, (24) Brown 1. (RECAP)
what is happening to indiana?
Nothing to be too concerned about.
Finding their stride while replacing the 3 key components from last season won’t be quick, but its obvious the talent is there. Might take some time for the D to gel.
They dominated 75 minutes of that UCLA game were unlucky not to win in regulation.
They dominated UAB, and frankly were screwed by that PK call. Weak, weak call.
Found their scoring touch vs WVU, but the defense was lackluster.
They’ll put the pieces together. Defense will be shaky for a bit. They are still the team to beat in the Big 10 and they’ll get a national seed come tourney time. Then we’ll see if they can put together another run.
As a ref who attended the Indiana-UAB game, that was not a weak PK call.
IU will NOT be fine and they did NOT dominate UAB by any stretch. They failed to convert key opportunities and LOST the match. You seem a bit star struck with last years team.
The only worthwhile contribution here is that none of these games/stats/etc matter until we get into conf play and the tourney.