Each week, The18 brings you a look at what's happening in Women’s College soccer. Before we dive in, let's take a look at the rankings:
Florida Win The Sunshine State
After losing to Oklahoma, the Gators haven’t messed around. They’ve come firing back with a blowout 4-0 win over Oklahoma State before taking down in-state rival and former #2 ranked Florida State.The win for Florida also snapped its three-game losing streak in the series, including back-to-back shutouts. Next up for the Gators are the scorching Stanford Cardinal. The Gators have had the burden of playing all these games on the road, but it hasn’t seemed to affect them as much as it should. During this six-match road swing, the Gators will travel more than 9,000 miles. We’ll see how they fair Friday in Palo Alto against a great Stanford team a long ways from home. But we could see this matchup again in the College Cup.
Clemson Win The Palmetto State
The Tigers are dealing with the investigation regarding a hazing incident from 2011, but it hasn’t affected their performance on the pitch. They haven’t played anyone very good to start the year, but wins against Auburn and instate rival and formerly 9th ranked South Carolina could get the Tigers going. They suffered a bad draw against a bad Charlotte team, but will have two chances to get their confidence up before back to back meetings against Virginia Tech and North Carolina. Clemson was a pest a season ago, drawing against Florida State and Duke and losing in overtime at Virginia Tech. Keep an eye on them.
Virginia Schools Rolling
The two schools in the top five without a blemish on their record. Both Virginia and Virginia Tech are undefeated, with nothing in the draw category. Virginia, currently ranked number two, has taken care of business every time with their average margin of victory being 3.4 goals through five games. They’ll face a good Tennessee team this weekend but the real trouble doesn’t start until the end of the month, with back to back games against FSU and Notre Dame. VT has looked just as good, just not against as good competition. The Hookies have a 6-1 victory under their belt against a high pre-season ranked Georgetown team, but like Virginia they should have smooth sailing until the end of the month when they’ll meet Clemson, Notre Dame and Duke in a span of 9 days.
Big Matches Ahead This Weekend
#6 Florida @ #4 Stanford
Starting Friday, there are plenty of good match ups across the nation. The first is #6 Florida traveling to Palo Alto to face #4 Stanford. Stanford arguably have had one of the toughest starts to the season, but it hasn’t slowed them down. The Cardinal haven’t conceded a goal in first five games, four of which have been against ranked opponents. Florida has the talent offensively led by SEC player of the week Pamela Begic, who had a goal and an assist against FSU.
#7 Texas Tech @ #11 CAL
The Red Raiders have been itching to show they’re the real deal after their impressive 2-1 win over Notre Dame earlier this season. Their last 3 games have been against lower quality opponents, but now they get their chance to face-off against a PAC 12 power. CAL hasn’t played the best competition this season aside from #24 Santa Clara, so this will be their biggest challenge yet. This is an opportunity for both teams to test themselves before heading into conference play as both will make the College Cup field. Texas Tech will need to take advantage of this matchup as this will likely be the highest ranked team they face for the rest of the season.
Georgetown @ #22 West Virginia
The Hoyas were preseason ranked and had plenty of promise going into the season. A good start, aside from their 0-0 draw with Long Beach State, had Georgetown in good position but then the Hoyas had to travel to Blacksburg and Winston Salem to face Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. G-town got smoked by VT 1-6 and continued their struggles in a 0-2 loss to Wake. This is Georgetown’s last big game before conference play in a weak Big East conference. They have to get a good result. West Virginia has puttered along, getting wins where they’re supposed to, but losing against quality opponents (#8 Penn State & #27 Duke). This is also their chance to get a good win against a big program and show they can compete for the Big 12. It’s a game filled with opportunity for both teams, and should be a good one in Morgantown.
