Welcome back to MLS On Campus, our weekly look at the goings-on in the college game. Every Monday, we'll give you the week's best highlights, the standout players, which games to watch in the week ahead and, of course, our national Top 10 list.
After all, the SuperDraft is only a few months away…
Big Men on Campus
Robert Morris sophomore forward Neco Brett – It’s not often that we talk about the NEC around here, but Brett’s week probably merits it. The Jamaican striker went haywire in the Colonials’ two games – indeed, the whole team went berserk, beating Sacred Heart 5-0 on Friday, then following up with a 4-1 win over Howard on Sunday – scoring two goals and registering five assists, as well. If you’re counting, that’s 12 goals and eight assists on the season for Brett, a former U-17 and U-20 international with Jamaica.
Georgetown senior forward Steve Neumann – We’ve wondered in recent weeks whether or not Georgetown were finally realizing all the potential that they had on offense. The answer seems to be an emphatic “yes,” as the Hoyas scored seven goals in their two games this week, and it’s no surprise who was leading the charge.
Neumann scored twice and added an assist that was the Hoyas’ 6-0 goalscoring party against DePaul, and though he couldn’t add a goal against Marquette, his 94th-minute corner ended up assisting the overtime gamewinner as Georgetown ruined the Golden Eagles’ perfect Big East season. Neumann now sits tied with sophomore Brandon Allen for most goals on the team with 10, and leads Georgetown with six assists.
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<strong>College</strong> |
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<strong>1</strong> |
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<b>5</b> |
<p class="rtecenter"><strong style="font-size: 16px;">Georgetown</strong><br><span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px;">(12-3-1)</span></strong></span></p> |
<p>It was a pretty great week for the Hoyas. As good as they played, though, it certainly didn’t hurt that three of the four teams ahead of them lost their first game of the season this week.</p> |
<strong>2</strong> |
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<b>1</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">California<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(10-1-3)</span></strong> |
<p>The party’s finally over in Berkeley. The Golden Bears dropped their first of the season to San Diego on Friday, losing 1-0 at home to the Toreros. At the very least, let’s call the result a headscratcher. USD entered the season ranked No. 16, but they’ve gone 4-6-4 since then. Tough to know exactly what happened to Cal, but they’ve collected enough scalps this season to not have this one result tank their ranking.</p> |
<strong>3</strong> |
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<b>4</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">Wake Forest<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(8-3-5)</span></strong> |
<p>Wake kicked off their week with a 4-0 win over Davidson before traveling to Duke and picking up a 2-2 draw. Solid week. But hey! Look who’s at the top of the ACC. Yes, after Notre Dame’s loss to Virginia on Saturday, the Demon Deacons now hold sole possession of top spot in the conference. It makes their upcoming matchup with the Irish on Saturday that much more crucial.</p> |
<strong>4</strong> |
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<b>9</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">UCLA<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(8-3-4)</span></strong> |
<p>Last Monday, the Bruins drew Washington 2-2 in Seattle, but they got their revenge on Sunday and handed the Huskies their first loss of the year with a 2-1 win in LA, two days after drawing 1-1 with Oregon State. There’s a lot to unpack here. OSU haven't won a game in more than a month, and their last Pac-12 result was a 1-1 tie against, you guessed it, UCLA. Also, Washington’s two goals were actually own goals that the Bruins scored on the Huskies’ behalf. This isn’t to diminish what was unquestionably a good week, but UCLA do move in mysterious ways.</p> |
<strong>5</strong> |
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<b>2</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">Washington<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(11-1-4)</span></strong> |
<p>So what about the Dawgs, then? They won their only other game of the week – a 2-0 victory over San Diego State – and they didn’t play badly against UCLA in either outing, and losing on the road to UCLA is not a bad scoreline. Even Cal had to wait until overtime to get their big win at Drake Stadium. That said, they’ll have to bounce back quickly, because both Cal and Stanford are coming to town this weekend.</p> |
<strong>6</strong> |
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<b>10</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">Maryland<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(8-3-5)</span></strong> |
<p>After losing 4-3 at home to Wake Forest last week, the Terrapins were able to regroup and pick up wins against Drexel and Syracuse. The win against ‘Cuse put them in a tie with Notre Dame for second-most points in the ACC, but the biggest takeaway is that, in one week, the Terps have doubled their number of shutouts for the season with routine 1-0 results. Huge achievement for a squad that’s let in a ton of goals this year.</p> |
<strong>7</strong> |
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<b>7</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">Coastal Carolina<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(12-2-0)</span></strong> |
<p>Another week, another win for the Chanticleers, who took down rivals Liberty 1-0 in their only game of the week. Next up for CCU is Elon, who are 11-4-1 but are 0-2-1 in their last three with losses to Furman and Duke. It will likely be the biggest test that Coastal face before the Big South tournament.</p> |
<strong>8</strong> |
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<b>3</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">Notre Dame<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(8-1-5)</span></strong> |
<p>One loss does not a season break – just ask Cal – but the 2-0 defeat at home to Virginia was a bad one for a Fighting Irish squad whose biggest achievement so far this season had been not losing. Notre Dame have pretty routinely beaten up on weaker teams, but against more impressive squads like North Carolina, Maryland and Northwestern, they haven’t been able to get wins. No. 19 Virginia’s not an easy win by any means, but losing removes a lot of the sheen from Notre Dame’s season.</p> |
<strong>9</strong> |
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<b>(N/R)</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">Penn State<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(10-3-1)</span></strong> |
<p>The Big Ten hasn’t performed particularly well out-of-conference this season, but you still get points for winning it. Penn State played their only game of the week on Sunday against visiting Northwestern, and after 109 minutes got a winner to clinch themselves a second-straight conference title. The Nittany Lions have won their last four games, picking up victories against Michigan State, Michigan and Indiana.</p> |
<strong>10</strong> |
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<b>(N/R)</b> |
<strong style="font-size: 16px;">UC Santa Barbara<br><span style="font-size: 12px;">(11-4-1)</span></strong> |
<p>It could have been a truly spectacular week for the Gauchos, who clinched top spot in the Big West North and a bye in the first round of the conference tournament. After a 2-1 win over Sacramento State on Tuesday, UCSB could have clinched the best record in the whole conference with a win on the road over rival Cal Poly on Friday. In the end, the match ended in a 1-1 draw.</p> |
Highlights
Notre Dame’s defeat against Virginia came courtesy of a brace from the Cavs’ sophomore forward and Philadelphia native Darius Madison. If Camilo and Thierry Henry haven’t satisfied your appetite for dirty, dirty goals, we present you this video of Madison’s work.
We at MLSsoccer.com love us some time-lapse videos, and fortunately the good people at Cal Poly are similarly enthused. More than 11,000 fans were on hand to watch the Mustangs play UCSB, matching the 10th-highest attendance figure for a soccer game in NCAA history, and now you get to see what it looked like in about three-and-a-half minutes.
Wake Forest vs. Notre Dame, Saturday, 7 pm ET
Wake Forest’s place at the top of the ACC table is going to be challenged immediately by the Fighting Irish. The Demon Deacons have had some good results of late, but the conference has been something of a bloodbath so far, and Notre Dame has all the motivation they need going down to Winston-Salem.
California vs. UCLA, Sunday, 4 pm ET (Pac-12 Network)
Cal got a dramatic winner in the reverse leg, but these two teams are in very different places going into this weekend’s matchup in Berkeley. It remains to be seen how the Golden Bears will react to their first loss of the season, but the Bruins just stole the role of challenger to Cal’s status as Pac-12 table-topper away from Washington, and are likely itching for a chance to steal the crown, as well.
