By JOHN BOSCHINI
The opening weekend of the 2011 NCAA Soccer season featured upsets for teams towards the bottom of the SBI Top 25, an impressive showing by the defending champions and an early peek at a possible national title game.
Top-ranked Louisville made quick work of No. 2 UCLA with a 2-0 win in front of a record crowd of 7,821 at Cardinal Park. UCLA defender Kenney Walker put the ball into his own net within the first 10 minutes to give Louisville the lead and the Cardinals added some insurance with a goal from Colin Rolfe just after the restart. Louisville currently holds a home unbeaten streak of 24 games, 11th longest in NCAA history.
Defending champions introduced a multitude of new players in impressive fashion with a 5-0 thrashing of Cleveland State in front of a record-breaking 5,241 fans. The home side was up 4-0 after barely half an hour with a brace from Jamaican striker Darren Mattocks and goals from Michael Balogun and Scott Caldwell. Akeil Barrett added a fifth in the second half as goalkeeper David Meves faced only one shot all game.
There were two games featuring a pair of top-25 teams as schools look to challenge themselves early on. No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 16 Indiana couldn't convert their chances and settled for a scoreless draw in front of a sellout crowd at Alumni Stadium. Goals were more plentiful at No. 6 Southern Methodist fell 3-2 to No. 23 William & Mary. Nicolas Abrigo scored twice, including the game-winner, along with a goal from Ben Anderson as the Tribe avenged their defeat to SMU in last year's NCAA Tournament. Emmet Kumeh and Arthur Ivo scored for the Mustangs.
Some top-25 teams put their ranked status in jeopardy as Butler, Michigan, Florida Gulf Coast and Duke fell to unranked opponents.
Here is a look back at the Top 25 action in college soccer:
SBI COLLEGE SCOREBOARD
Friday
No. 19 Boston College 3, George Mason 2: Junior Charlie Rugg scored twice, including a dramatic game-winner in the 89th minute, and Amit Aburmad added another goal as the Eagles began their season with a narrow victory.
Bradley 4, No. 21 Butler 1: Three first-half goals, one from Christian Meza and two from Bryan Gaul put Butler out of the game before halftime. Austin Oldham got one back for the Bulldogs but Alexei Davies-Campbell added a fourth for Bradley to put the result beyond any doubt.
Bowling Green 2, No. 24 Michigan 0: Underclassman Danny Baraldi and Ryan Snashall put two goals home in the second half in front of a record crowd of 2,133.
UNC Greensboro 3, No. 9 Duke 2:Hakan Ilhan scored a pair of goals while Oddur Gudmundsson opened the scoring in the ninth minute for the Spartans. Andrew Wenger brought two back for the Blue Devils but Duke couldn't find an equalizer.
No. 21 California 1, San Francisco 0:John Fitzpatrick scored the Golden Bear's lone goal in the 22nd minute as goalkeeper Robby Gogatz kept a clean sheet.
No. 20 Furman 0, Campbell 0:Campbell goalkeeper Martin Ontiveros came up big, making 10 shots as Furman couldn't find the back of the net.
No. 15 West Virgnia 1, No. 11 Virginia 0:Eric Schoenle's diving header with 23 seconds remaining gave the Mountaineers the victory.
No. 22 Monmouth 2, Saint Peter's 1: Ryan Clark scored early to give Monmouth a 1-0 victory on opening day for the third consecutive year.
Florida Atlantic 3, No. 25 Florida Gulf Coast 1: Darnell King scored twice and added a third Lukas Simons as Florida Atlantic upset its in-state rivals.
Saturday
No. 8 Connecticut 2, St. Francis 0: Carlos Alvarez scored the first goal of the season for Connecticut and St. Francis helped out with an own goal as the Huskies cruised to an easy victory.
No. 4 North Carolina 3, UNC Wilmington 1: Forward Billy Schuler marked his return to the field with a goal and Enzo Martinez and Rob Lovejoy provided additional offense to give North Carolina the victory. Daniel Roberts spoiled Scott Goodwin's clean sheet with a consolation goal.
No. 18 Penn State 1, Siena 0: Transfer Minh Vu scored 22 minutes from time to break Siena's defense and the Nittany Lions coasted to victory.
No. 7 Creighton 1, Denver 0: New coach Elmar Bolowich marked his debut with a shutout victory over Denver. Guido Pena provided the goal while keeper Brian Holt registered 28th career shutout.
No. 10 UC-Santa Barbara 3, Seattle 1: David Opoku scored the Gaucho's first two goals to seal the victory for Santa Barbara. Kevin Cook cut the lead to one but Peter Schmetz added an insurance goal in the 87th minute.
No. 17 South Florda 2, No. 14 Wake Forest 0: Dom Dwyer and a Deacon own goal gave South Florida the upset win on the road.
No. 13 Ohio State 1, American 1: Kenny Cunningham equalized for Ohio State in the dying seconds of the game and the Buckeyes held on through two overtimes for the draw.
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What did you think of the weekend's games? Can UCLA recover? Convinced Louisville is the team to beat or is Akron the favorite?
Share your thoughts below.
Pretty much what JT said. UCSB has arguably been more successful the past 5 years than UCLA. Cal has also done some things. The only thing UCLA had going for them was that Bob Bradley would come to home games, but that was about it as the atmosphere there stinks. I do agree that Salcedo is a crap coach, but I don’t agree that UCLA is the mecca of college soccer that you make it out to be.
There are several that have caught up. UCSB defeated UCLA to win the national title recently, and they also easily outdraw UCLA (and everyone else).
Also games at UCLA are extremely UN-fan friendly. The team plays in the track and field stadium, which means spectators are kept away from the field by a track which kills the atmosphere. You dont feel like you are a part of the game. A new stadium is needed.
name one
Akron should be required viewing for every soccer fan in the country. Now that they live stream every home game no one has an excuse not to watch.
“THE place to play NCAA soccer west of the Mississippi”???
I’m sure there are quite a few who would disagree with that now. Maybe 6 years ago, but not anymore. UCLA can’t even claim “best place in CA”.
7,800 people at the Louisville game was the announced attendance but ITT was probably closer to 9,500 if you counted the people outside the fence who didn’t pay. I hope they build the new soccer stadium they are talking about even though the field they have is only 7 or 8 years old.
What if Caleb Porter leads Akron to another championship, very possible, and after losing all those players to the MLS draft that would be insane.
Soccer is so huge in Seattle and Portland, why don’t any of the big universities in those states have better soccer programs?
No. 13 Ohio State 0, American 0: Kenny Cunningham equalized for Ohio State in the dying seconds of the game and the Buckeyes held on through two overtimes for the draw.
Hmm…
>>No. 13 Ohio State 0, American 0: Kenny Cunningham >>equalized for Ohio State in the dying seconds of >>the game and the Buckeyes held on through two >>overtimes for the draw.
Man, nice job by Kenny, but even I could equalize in a zero-zero game.
Oh, not two assists from Gaul; Two goals from Gaul, but only one from Meza. All in the first half.
“three first half goals from Meza and two from Gaul”
Man, that’s just poor drafting.
*Regardless
“Bradley 4, No. 21 Butler 1: Three first-half goals from Christian Meza and two from Bryan Gaul put Butler out of the game before halftime. Austin Oldham got one back for the Bulldogs but Alexei Davies-Campbell added a fourth for Bradley to put the result beyond any doubt.”
Maybe math isn’t my strong point, but 3 goals from Meza, two from Gaul, and one from Davies-Campbell seems to be six goals. Must be two assists from Bryan Gaul?
Regards, BRADLEY BRAVES gonna be tearin’ it up this year.
UCLA needs to fire Jorge Salcedo immediately. Absolutely embarrassing start to the season. They have the best player in the country, a bunch of future MLS draft picks, and the best recruiting class of 2010 and they get smoked right out of the gate.
Someone needs to be accountable for this debacle. This is the longest title drought UCLA has had since the pre-85 dark ages and it is completely unacceptable. UCLA is THE place to play NCAA soccer west of the Mississippi. It is the easiest place to recruit, there is no excuse for Salcedo’s failures. Guy has been coaching since 2003 and no titles to show for it. It was the same during his playing career he played with a bunch of talented choke-artists on LA Galaxy.
Salcedo is shaming the history, tradition, and pride of the UCLA soccer program. Heads need to roll.
A nice crowd in Louisville for the big game. Unfortunately one of their starters was injured and will be out for the season.