By IVES GALARCEP
Notre Dame’s move to the ACC figured to set up some memorable match-ups for the Fighting Irish, and the first of those tough conference tests comes on Sunday, when the SBI No. 5 Fighting Irish take on No. 7 North Carolina.
The Tar Heels made a big climb into the top ten on the strength of an impressive 4-0 thrashing of Coastal Carolina, but Notre Dame figures to pose a much tougher challenge after tying UCLA and beating SMU in the season’s opening weekend.
No. 2 Akron stands poised to take over the top spot in the SBI rankings after UCLA’s loss on Thursday night to Cal Poly, but first the Zips must beat a pair of tough East Coast opponents in St. John’s and Rutgers this weekend.
New Mexico has a good road trip as well this weekend, with good tests against VCU and SBI No. 3 Georgetown on the slate.
Here is a rundown of who the teams in the SBI Top 25 will be facing off against this weekend:
COLLEGE SOCCER WEEKEND SCHEDULE
FRIDAY
4pm- (3) Georgetown vs. West Virginia
5pm- VCU vs. (13) New Mexico
6pm- (17) Marquette vs. Bowling Green
7pm- (14) Coastal Carolina vs. Charlotte
7pm- (24) Brown vs. Bryant College
7:30pm- (23) Duke vs. (8) Maryland
7:30pm- (4) UConn vs. Boston
7:30pm- Cincinnati vs. (11) Saint Louis
8pm- St. John’s vs. (2) Akron
8:30pm- Columbia vs. (9) Creighton
8:30pm- (25) UAB vs. (10) Indiana
8pm- Clemson vs. (16) Virginia
8:30pm- (21) Tulsa vs. Ohio State
10:30pm- (18) UCSB vs. Gonzaga
10:30pm- (20) Washington vs. Portland
SATURDAY
7pm- (12) Louisville vs. Butler
7pm- (15) Wake Forest vs. Boston College
7pm- Xavier vs. (19) Northwestern
10pm- Santa Clara vs. (22) Stanford
SUNDAY
11am- (11) Saint Louis vs. Northern Illinois
Noon- (3) Georgetown vs. (13) New Mexico
Noon- (5) Notre Dame vs. (7) North Carolina
1pm- Rutgers vs. (2) Akron
4pm- Providence vs. (24) Brown
7pm- (8) Maryland vs. VCU
8pm- (10) Indiana vs. West Virginia
When will soccer referee decisions and non decisions be tested with replays?
I especially hate watching International Referees that are blatantly inconsistent. I watch maybe 3 out of 10 games from the beginning to the end.
Ray O’Donnell
Checking in from the UAB-Indiana game. Not sure how many this stadium holds (3,000 maybe), but ten minutes before kickoff it’s standing room only. Not bad at all for a Friday night in football country.
Attendance announced at 3,205, a stadium record, so I wasn’t far off at all.
Creighton had 5102! 6th largest crowd. They would get more if they didn’t play when youth leagues are playing.
I’d like to watch some NCAA soccer on my downtime. Are these games televised? Also, do the Texas Longhorns even have a soccer team. I NEVER heard or saw them while in school. Sad but true.