photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
If there was one weekend with matches most resembling what we could see in the tournament in December, it could be this weekend.
There are several mouthwatering battles between teams in Fox Soccer/SBI's Top 25 list on tap, including Friday's night headliner between No. 4 Creighton and second-ranked Maryland. The Bluejays are perfect through eight games and have yet to allow a goal this season. But Terps senior forward Casey Townsend, who has 10 goals on the year, will look to change that as he leads Maryland's attack.
Another of the weekend's top matches will be when top-ranked UConn travels to play No. 8 Louisville. The Huskies are perfect on the season at 9-0, but senior midfielder Tony Cascio will need to aid the visitors in setting the tone against a Louisville team looking to bounce back from a narrow loss to Notre Dame.
Currently ranked at No. 7, the Fighting Irish are also involved in a marquee match-up, as they hit the road to play 10th-ranked St John's. Notre Dame is on a four-game winning streak, and junior midfielder Dillon Powers is likely to play a big role in helping it extend that to five.
Here's a look at who the top 25 teams face this weekend:
FRIDAY
(4) Creighton at Maryland (2)
Duke at North Carolina (3)
(9) Boston College at NC State
California at UCLA (14)
(16) Washington at Oregon State
SATURDAY
(1) UConn at Louisville (8)
(5) Akron at Western Michigan
(7) Notre Dame at St John's (10)
Providence at South Florida (11)
(12) New Mexico at UNLV
(13) Central Florida at SMU (21)
(22) UC-Irvine at at UCSB (15)
Buffalo at Northern Illinois (17)
(18) Furman at UNC Greensboro
Michigan at Penn State (19)
(25) Bradley at Massachusetts
SUNDAY
(6) Indiana at Wisconsin
Stanford at UCLA (14)
Lipscomb at East Tennessee State (20)
Liberty at Coastal Carolina (24)
DOES NOT PLAY
(23) UNC-Charlotte
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Which matches are you most looking forward to? Expecting Creighton to keep Townsend and Maryland off the scoresheet? Do you see UConn staying undefeated against Louisville? Who will win between Notre Dame and St John's?
Share your thoughts below.
awesome atmosphere at duke-unc, packed crowd that literally was filling the aisles, and unc brought both the pep band and cheerleaders. the times they are changin’ indeed, quality talent on display.
I meant no love in the rankings, not the schedule.
Terps all the way! Townsend goes for 2 and another attendance record is broken.
Is Memphis Ranked? Who are they playing?
Go Irish!
Ives-
Why no love for Memphis? They are 5-2-1.
GO Jays!