2015 College Roundup: Penn State, Santa Clara, and Duke Rising in Week 5

2015 college roundup week 5

Weekly roundup of women’s college soccer news you might have missed. Includes the past week’s crucial games, injury reports, news of note, upcoming games to watch, and general observations about the world of women’s college soccer.

So That Happened

Results from key games.

Penn State 4-0 Wisconsin
Penn State UniversityIn the opening match of Big Ten play, it was Penn State taking home the win against the defending champions. The Nittany Lions continued their run of good form, taking a 1-0 lead off a strike from veteran goalscorer Mallory Weber, and then bagging three second-half tallies. Start the conference season on a high note is a big plus and that was exactly what Erica Walsh’s team did last Thursday.

Duke 0-0 Florida State
Duke-100x100The Blue Devils have had some up and down weeks to begin the season. The highs have included three wins in which they’ve scored four-plus goals to balance out a home loss to Cal and a rough road trip to Louisiana. But a draw against the national champions to open ACC play certainly settled the nerves for Robbie Church’s side. The Blue Devils have a tricky week coming up as they travel to face Boston College and a red-hot McKenzie Meehan, who now leads the ACC with 10 goals, before facing Virginia in Charlottesville, which is never an easy task.

Santa Clara 1-0 Stanford
SantaClara-100x100Well, it finally happened. After 10 consecutive losses to Stanford, a streak that dates back to 2006, Santa Clara defeated its Northern California rival, 1-0, on Sunday evening at home. Broncos’ goalkeeper Andi Tostanoski was called into action for to save a penalty kick in the 78th minute and shortly after, Dani Weatherholt made the Cardinal pay for their missed spot kick by putting away a corner kick from Megan Crosson. The win will be a big confidence boost for the Broncos before they start WCC play on October 4th.

Minnesota 1-0 Penn State
Minnesota Gophers logoAs impressive as Penn State’s dominant win was against Wisconsin, the Nittany Lions have to be mentioned again here for their loss to Minnesota. The Gophers shocked everyone this past weekend, sweeping their Big Ten opening weekend with wins against Top 25 Penn State and Ohio State. This wasn’t luck either; Minnesota out shot the home team and also put more shots on goal.

Upcoming Games to Watch

Find a screen to watch these games.

Duke vs. Virginia
Duke is coming off of a draw against Florida State and will take part in a busy weekend, facing Boston College this Thursday before taking on Virginia. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers have their own challenges this week as they host Notre Dame before Duke. It will be interesting to see how Duke and Virginia approach this match considering it’ll be the second match played in four days for both. But with the Cavaliers conceding just once at home in six matches, the Blue Devils will have to do well defensively to stay in it against the 2014 NCAA Tournament runners-up.

UConn vs. South Florida
It’s a rematch of the 2014 American Athletic Conference finals in which South Florida lost at home in penalty kicks to UConn. The Huskies have flown under the radar to this point but are currently 9-1 with wins against Harvard and Georgetown. But after last season’s loss, the Bulls will have a little extra motivation to try and spoil UConn gaining positive momentum in conference play.

Texas A&M vs. South Carolina
Both teams head into this game with just one loss and a perfect conference record. Something’s gotta give. The Aggies were pushed a bit in their home stand this past weekend, eventually pulling out wins against Vanderbilt and North Texas. They’ve already won a big time SEC matchup on the road, taking down Florida in their opener, and will be business as usual against South Carolina. The Gamecocks had one game this past weekend, defeating Missouri, 1-0. This game is a chance for South Carolina to notch a signature win after falling to Clemson in the Gamecocks’ biggest game so far this season.

Notre Dame vs. Florida State
It’s a face-off between a Top 15 defense and a Top 15 offense so it’s obviously on OGM’s must watch list. The Irish have allowed more than one goal just once this season, and have eight shutouts on the year. They’ll be coming off a big match with Virginia, which could mean tired legs come Sunday. Florida State has scored at least three goals in six matches this season, and have been shut out once, which was this weekend at Duke. The Seminoles can’t overlook Clemson on Friday, but this matchup will be an absolute battle.

Top Performers

The players who made a difference this past week.

CeCe Kizer, Ole Miss
CeCe Kizer
Freshman forward CeCe Kizer’s brace on the road against Memphis this Sunday gives her nine goals on the season for the Rebels, which is tied for sixth best in the nation (behind Kelly Farrell, Jorian Baucom, Savannah Jordan, Nykosi Simmons, and Martha Thomas). Kizer has been on another level, with five of her nine goals standing as game-winners. The Rebels have won six games so far this season, and each of those victories have involved a goal from Kizer.

Simone Kolander, Minnesota
Simone Kolander
The Golden Gophers have reached the Keep an Eye On section of Our Game Magazine’s Top 25 rankings and a main reason for it is because of junior striker Simone Kolander. Kolander netted both game-winning goals this past weekend on the road and now has four goals scored in 2015. The Gophers will look to back up their impressive road trip with home games this week against Indiana and Purdue.

Natalia Gomez-Junco, LSU
Natalia Gomez-Junco
Natalia Gomez-Junco had quite the weekend, scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals against Georgia on Thursday. The defensive midfielder’s game-tying free kick made the SportsCenter Top 10 at No. 8 in the countdown. Gomez-Junco then followed it up with her seventh assist on the season in the team’s 5-1 win against Marquette. With that assist, Gomez-Junco now leads the SEC in assists, and is tied for fifth overall in the NCAA (two behind current leader Nora El-Shami of Georgia Southern).

You Might Have Missed

News from women’s college soccer you might have missed.

Join the Club

Savannah JordanWith her brace against Florida International, junior forward Savannah Jordan officially has more than 50 career goals for the Florida Gators. Jordan was the second-fastest Gator to achieve this milestone, behind only Danielle Fotopoulos, who notched 50 goals in 33 games. Fotopoulos is also the NCAA’s all-time leader in goals and points. Jordan is now the seventh Florida player to notch at least 50 goals, joining the likes of Fotopoulos, Abby Wambach, and Andi Sellers.

Break the Streak

After 23 straight losses, the Mississippi State Bulldogs have finally notched their first SEC win in more than two years. With the 2-1 come-from-behind victory, Mississippi State also earned its first win against Arkansas in more than a decade (2002). It was also the first time Mississippi State ever won on the road in Fayetteville. Finally, it was the third win of the season for the Bulldogs, meaning they have already tied their total number of wins from last season.

The Big 100

With their 3-1 win on the road against Tennessee this Sunday, the Auburn Tigers have won 100 SEC matches throughout the program’s 23-season history. Only four other SEC teams have reached this milestone, including Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky. To make things even sweeter, it was the Tigers’ first win in Knoxville since 2009, and first win against the Vols since 2011.

 

[divider]Contributors[/divider]

Rachael Caldwell will be graduating from the University of Arkansas in 2015 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and minors in Spanish and Business Management. Rachael played soccer from when she was three until her senior year of high school, where she was the captain of her state championship winning team. Rachael looks forward to writing more for Our Game Magazine and also writes about women’s soccer on her blog, rachaelfc.wordpress.com.

JJ Duke graduated from Rider University in New Jersey with a degree in Digital Media Studies. Although his playing days may have ended back in high school, he still prides himself on being a decent shot-stopper and an all-around fanatic of the beautiful game (fervent supporter of Manchester United and the founder of a Rider supporters group, the 206 Ultras).

Ruth Moore serves Our Game Magazine as a College Editor and the magazine’s Design Editor. She holds a degree in Professional Writing from Kutztown University, freelances in communication design, and loves coffee.