The Akron Zips continue to be unstoppable. At this stage of the season, the Zips have begun their important conference schedule and look to roll through their opponents. This time around it was a 3-0 defeat of Florida Atlantic, proving that Akron can win on the road as well as at home. They'll have to back that up over the next two weeks, with three straight games away from home.
No. 2 Maryland's stay at the top will be short lived, as they dropped their second in a row on the road to No. 14 Duke. The Blue Devils are no slouches themselves, defeating the visiting Terps by a 2-0 scoreline. The ACC is certainly a powerhouse this year, and No. 3 Wake Forest put an emphasis on that with a 5-1 win against Virginia Tech. A Zach Schilawski hat trick keyed the Demon Deacons in the rout.
Out West, a record-setting crowd of 10,114 fans were on hand to watch No. 11 UCSB crush No. 9 Indiana 3-0. No. 4 UCLA continued their unbeaten streak but couldn't find that extra gear in a 1-1 draw against Washington. Cal opened their Pac-10 season with a 1-0 win against Stanford as well.
Everyone's favorite unknown suffered their first loss of the season, as newly-ranked UMBC (at No. 18) and the nation's leading scorer Andrew Bulls lost 3-1 against Vermont. Bulls tallied his 13th of the season but couldn't help the Retrievers to a win in their first league match of the season.
What did you think of this weekend's college soccer? Surprised to see UMBC lose? Make it out to a game of your own?
Share your thoughts below.
@ Artie-please be aware that UMBC is also very young. They’ll need time to adjust to conference play, and learn how to be competitive in the America East.
maybe i’m ignorant or maybe you are giving their opponents too much credit. Akron is undefeated and should be #1 but dominating crap teams is nothing to get all worked up about.
Traditional powerhouses yes, but also middle of the road (at best) teams nowadays…I’ll throw in St Louis too since you are hung up on tradition. St Louis is a rousing 5-4-0; SMU is 5-4-1 with wins over seattle, bradley, yale, cenetary and memphis. Tulsa is a bit better at 6-4-2 with at least kind-of a quality win vs a garza-less denver team.
as for Hartwick, they haven’t been to the tournament since ’05 and had a stretch where they tied marist and lost to bucknell and cornell all at home. i look past the school without big time athletics because they are a team that is not even close to the big time.
Seriously Matt? Tulsa and SMU are two of the more traditional powerhouses in college soccer. Those are good wins…
Look beyond the names, buddy. Hartwick’s got one of the stingiest defenses in the country (in the top 10). Look at the way Akron wins those games – sheer domination.
Pull up your skirt, your ignorance is showing.
hartwick has a long long history of success in soccer. fans who cannot get off the nuts of schools that do not have the big football/basketball programs show little knowledge and clearly never played college soccer.
Not to hate on Akron, but its hard to take them seriously with that schedule.
With the weak MAC conference (see below) you would think that they would try to play someone solid out of conference.
But they played in two pathetic tournaments (High Point/Cincinnati and Tulsa/SMU) instead of playing someone legit.
Indiana and Ohio State are good wins but how good are those teams (Indiana has gotten one point out of matches against St. Johns, wake, UCSB and Akron) and Ohio State has tied hartford and siu edwardsville and beaten absolutely no one.
MAC SOCCER CONFERENCE
-Akron
-Western Michigan
-FAU
-Northern Illinois
-Buffalo
-Bowling Green
-Hartwick (seriously, where is Hartwick and they arent D1 in all sports are they?)
no but i’m sure having herpes is. hahahaha sorry but my loyalty is like blood to Poly. and you guys would cry about one plastic bottle, leave it to SB to try and get a game ended because of it. regardless, the game in SB should be legit, and if we can somehow get a point it would be stellar.
x
Really Biggy??? Really?? Isn’t that getting old?
Just remember to leave the vodka bottles at home. You guys might like trash on your field, but we don’t.
why is UMBC unknown?
They have been ranked in the top 25 several times in the past decade. Just because they dont have a football team doesnt mean they are unknown in the soccer world.
Indiana looked really solid but UCSB broke through and after 2-0, just clinically broke down the Hoosiers. They looked pretty impressive especially with the majority of the team being quite young. Fresh/Sophs.
Indiana looked stronger than a couple MLS sides… a lot closer than 3-0, but UCSB attacked incessantly, but could’ve given up 1 a couple of times.
Wake looked very in-sync on a beautiful autumn Friday evening here in Blacksburg, dispatching the Hokie men 5-1 with 2 goals in the first 12 minutes and a quick 3rd score to open the second half. The Hokie women fared better here on Sunday; #1 UNC falling in a tightly-played 1-0 match.
—>Akron goes down 2-1 in Blacksburg October 13th.<— Don't forget you read it here first!
PS: Soccer is FREE at VT, there are giveaways, and the skyline is the awesome Blue Ridge Mountains…
UCSB = UCSTD
hopefully poly crushes them in SB this week.
Go Catamounts! Nice win for Vermont, who is rebuilding (lost the starting goalie, 3/4 of its backline, best playmaking midfielder and fastest striker, a group that led them to two NCAA bids), and oh yeah, beating the Retrievers was their first win of the season. UMBC’s start was more a product of their easy schedule and playing at home a lot. They should have enough to fend of most America East teams…but they are gonna struggle on the road, and on grass. Bulls however is in a class of his own, great player and is only a sophomore. I have to wonder if he keeps it up if he capitalizes on his success and turns pro.
Went out to UC Santa Barbara – Indiana. What a great game and amazing atmoshpere. The Gauchos play with such great style and zest. Their forwards got some insane speed and defense did a great job shutting doing the IU offense.
The College Cup next year is going to be incredible with those crowds.
WARNING: Throwing a tortilla back at the student section isn’t a smart idea, especially if you’re the opposing player.
UAB is an extremely fast squad..and they showed that v UIC at the start of the year.
However UIC wasn’t on its game at the start and now ride a 6 game unbeaten streak v #1 Akron @ Flames Field in Chi-town.
I predict Golden Goal OT upset!!!
And the FIRE PIT FANATICS will be ready for Meves!!!
UAB beat #13 Kentucky @ Kentucky! Good win for the Blazers and you should be seeing them in the coming rankings!
Watching major college soccer matches really shows why our U-20’s didn’t do well in the WC. Very few D1 programs select kids based on their skill and ability. They select based only on speed and strength. I think Cesc would of had a hard time developing in our American soccer culture.
Matt Eliason is a legit All-America candidate scoring 8 goals against quality competition. Northwestern and their usual stout defense headed by keeper rosenthal seem to be back on track after some early season stumbles
RBNY must draft Andrew Bulls.
Bulls has scored in every UMBC match this year – remarkable. He has a teammate who’s put in 8 or 9 himself, too, which adds up to a pretty substantial tally.
In the Midwest, while the Zips were polishing off Florida Atlantic, Northwestern showed that they are for real by shutting out a ranked OSU team in Columbus. Matt Eliason is no slouch in the scoring department himself with 8 goals on the season.
Saw Mason take down Maryland last week. Patriots are now #23 in the Soccer America poll after winning 5 in a row. Not too shabby!
UCSB = Soccer School USA