Women’s Soccer Games of the Week 8/30 to 9/1
The second weekend of women's soccer is full of big games. Friday alone features three games between highly ranked teams with Marquette taking on UCLA, Penn State traveling to Virginia and Florida hosting in-state rival Florida State. Saturday's big game includes Portland traveling to Palo Alto to play Stanford. The weekend concludes with a matchup of powerhouses when UCLA visits Notre Dame. UCF also travels to Florida State Sunday, as well as Texas A&M hosting Pepperdine. We'll take a look at four of those games in this weekend preview.
#4 Penn State (1-0-1) at #5 Virginia (2-0), 8/30/13, 5:30 pm ET
The Nittany Lions come into this huge game after going 1-0-1 during the opening weekend, surprisingly drawing even with West Virginia. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, outscored their two opponents last week, VCU and Santa Clara, by a score of 8-2. Morgan Brian earned conference Player of the Week honors after scoring a goal and assisting on three others in the two wins last weekend. Brittany Ratcliffe had three goals on four shots. Six separate Cavs scored. Penn State, last year's NCAA runners-up, will be looking to prove that last weekend's tie against West Virginia and one-goal win over Hofstra were just flukes. Maya Hayes has two of Penn State's four goals on the season. Despite giving up three goals in two games, goalie Britt Eckerstrom has nine saves on the year.
#2 Florida State (2-0) at #8 Florida (2-0), 8/30/13, 7 pm ET
Florida's Savannah Jordan had a heck of a collegiate debut, scoring five goals in the freshman's first two games of her career. For her performance, she was named National Player of the Week by the NSCAA and Top Drawer Soccer. Havana Solaun has the squad's only other goal. Like its instate opponent, Florida State also comes in after sweeping its two games last weekend. Berglind Thorvaldsdottir and Nora Kervroedan each have two goals. Kelsey Wys hasn't had alot of work as of yet, having to make only two saves. This game will be broadcast on Sun Sports.
#10 Portland (2-0) at #3 Stanford (2-0), 8/31/13, 7 pm PT
Portland comes into the game after sweeping both opponents last week, including a 1-0 shutout of Marquette. The Pilots had three different scorers last weekend, as Micaela Capelle, Ellie Boon and Ellen Parker each scored a goal. Erin Dees has made four saves on the early season. The Cardinal had a couple close encounters last weekend, defeating Boston College 2-1 in double overtime and UConn 1-0. Like their opponents, the Cardinal had three different scorers last weekend as Taylor Uhl, Sydney Payne and Alex Doll, had one goal each. Goalie Emily Oliver has saved 10 of the 11 shots that have come her way.
#6 UCLA (2-0) at #7 Notre Dame (2-0), 9/1/13, 1:30 pm ET
UCLA blew out both of its opponents last weekend, defeating Northeastern 4-0 and Cal State Northridge 3-0. The Bruins’ match against the Irish will close a weekend where they face two top Midwest squads, after facing Marquette Friday. Jenna Richmond and Darian Jenkins each have two goals on the young season for UCLA. Notre Dame is coming off of back-to-back 4-1 wins over Illinois and Northwestern. The match against UCLA is the team's second game of the Notre Dame Invitational. Lauren Bohaboy has scored three times in two games, while five other also have goals. Three players have two assists each.
