photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
The college season may still be in its infant stages but that doesn't mean there are no marquee matches to watch.
No. 1-ranked Louisville will aim to stay perfect in its quest for a national title, but it will have two tough road games against ranked opponents in a span of three days. Without injured midfielder Dylan Mares (ACL tear), the Cardinals will face no. 20 Wake Forest on Friday night before battling forward Billy Schuler and no. 3 North Carolina on Sunday.
Another duel between two ranked teams will be when no. 8 UCSB takes on no. 12 Duke. UCSB is coming off a 3-1 win against Seattle while Duke is fresh off a victory of its own against Furman. The sophomore match-up between Guachos forward David Opoku (who scored twice last week) and Blue Devils/U.S. U-20 men's national team defender Sebastien Ibeagha could be key in determining which team comes out on top.
UConn, currently at no. 7, will also face a fellow ranked team as it hosts no. 21 California. Currently at 2-0, UConn will have an advantage when it squares off with the Golden Bears, as the visitors should be more fatigued after going into overtime against Northwestern on Thursday night.
Here's a look at who the top 25 teams play this weekend:
FRIDAY
(1) Louisville at Wake Forest (20)
Oregon State at North Carolina (3)
Stanford at Maryland (4)
(5) UCLA at Santa Clara
(8) UCSB at Duke (12)
(9) SMU vs. North Carolina State
(10) West Virginia vs. Binghamton
Dayton at Notre Dame (11)
Georgia State at South Florida (13)
(14) Virginia vs. Cincinnati
(15) Indiana vs. Saint Louis
Stetson vs. Penn State (16)
Florida International at Ohio State (17)
Massachusetts at Central Florida (24)
(25) Brown at Providence
SATURDAY
(2) Akron at Cal State Northridge
SUNDAY
(1) Louisville at North Carolina (3)
Radford vs. Maryland (4)
(20) Wake Forest vs. Oregon State
(5) UCLA at UC Davis
Drexel at Creighton (6)
(21) California at UConn (7)
North Carolina State vs. UCSB (8)
(9) SMU at Duke (12)
(10) West Virginia vs. Old Dominion
Saint Louis at Notre Dame (11)
Robert Morris at South Florida (13)
(14) Virginia vs. Wisconsin
(15) Indiana vs. Dayton
Florida International vs. Penn State (16)
Stetson vs. Ohio State (17)
(18) Boston College at Dartmouth
Loyola at William & Mary (19)
Belmont at Central Florida (24)
(25) Brown at URI/Bryant
DO NOT PLAY
(22) Monmouth
(23) UNC-Greensboro
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What do you think of these matches? Which are you most looking forward to? Think Louisville will come away unscathed from its two games?
Share your thoughts below.