So That Happened
October 16, 2014
South Carolina 3-2 Florida
South Carolina handed the visiting Gators their first conference loss of the season, and bolstered its NCAA resume in the process. The Gamecocks have struggled to find offense during SEC play, but were able to outgun the then league leaders Florida with a stellar performance from freshman Savannah McCaskill. The forward added two goals, along with sophomore Chelsea Drennan’s early strike, and netted the second goal of her brace in the 89th minute to win the match. The Gators had a brace from senior Havana Solaun, but couldn’t overcome defensive lapses. South Carolina closed out a weekend sweep with a win against Ole Miss, and Florida fell to Kentucky on Sunday.
October 17, 2014
Kansas 0-1 Texas Tech
To almost everyone’s surprise, the Jayhawks entered this game undefeated in Big 12 play and sat alone atop the conference standings. While one of the preseason favorites to make noise in the league, Texas Tech came into this game looking to jump back into the conversation. The lone goal in this match came from freshman Alex Marmureanu just before halftime, when the forward took advantage of a defensive miscue by the home side. A stingy Red Raiders defense closed out the match, grabbing a big conference win. Kansas would fall again to another Big 12 foe on Sunday, losing to West Virginia. Texas Tech closed out their final road trip of the season with a win at TCU.
Oklahoma State 2-1 Oklahoma
After getting out to a 0-6 start to the season, it’s wild to see Oklahoma State sitting in second in the Big 12 standings. One of those six straight losses came to Bedlam rival Oklahoma, whose start to the season was a bit of a surprise. Fast forward to Bedlam take two, which saw the Cowgirls get their revenge against the Sooners this time around. Oklahoma State and Oklahoma played to a 1-1 tie in regulation, with goals from junior Delaney Kiely and freshman Lizzie Luallin, respectively. The game-winning goal for the home side came from junior Allie Stephenson. This was Oklahoma State’s lone game of the weekend, while Oklahoma lost to Baylor at home.
October 18, 2014
Pepperdine 1-2 San Diego
Pepperdine’s success has been front and center this season, notching wins over several power five conference teams, and the Waves seem intent on challenging on a national seed for this year’s NCAA tournament. The visitors got the win in this one, though, and it was needed one for this San Diego squad. Despite being outshot 23-6 in the match, the Toreros clawed back to .500 with the win and stay in the NCAA conversation. Sophomore Victoria Walker opened up the scoring for San Diego in the third minute. After sophomore Rylee Baisden equalized for the Waves, sophomore Jacqueline Altschuld notched the game-winner for San Diego. This was the only game this weekend for both squads.
October 19, 2014
Kentucky 2-0 Florida
Kentucky is officially back on track in the SEC, serving up Florida’s second conference loss in a row and extending its win streak to three games. The shutout is also the Wildcats’ third in a row, as they seem to be gaining momentum at just the right time. As for the Gators, their losses may benefit Texas A&M most, with the Aggies jumping to the top of the SEC table this weekend. Goals for Kentucky came from sophomore Zoe Swift, with senior leader Stuart Pope providing the insurance goal in the second half. Florida put four of their 12 total shots on goal, but couldn’t find a way past freshman keeper Taylor Braun. Florida fell to South Carolina on Thursday, while Kentucky defeated Ole Miss on Friday.
In and Out
BYU makes its first appearance in the OGM Top 25 since the beginning of the season with a 3-0 win over Loyola Marymount. The Cougars posted a 1-3-2 record to start the season but have bounced back nicely after their early season struggles by recording nine straight victories. They will face WCC rival Santa Clara at home this week, always a match to circle on the calendar and could be a big factor on their rankings toward the NCAA tournament.
Illinois fell out of the Top 25 this week after a rough week that saw them lose at Rutgers and draw at Maryland on the weekend. The Fighting Illini have lost four of their last five and if it wasn’t for their strong start to the conference season, they would be in danger of not making the Big Ten conference tournament.
Top Performers
Samantha Mewis (UCLA) — As UCLA continues its road to repeat as Pac-12 Champions, its going to rely on a plethora of veteran experience coming into the season. Thus far, Sam Mewis has risen to answer the call. The former United States U-20 international has recorded 10 goals and seven assists and was on form in UCLA’s two wins this past week. Mewis had two assists in UCLA’s 3-0 win over California, and added an assist and a goal in the 6-0 win against Arizona. With the Bruins going on the road for five games to finish out the regular season, Mewis will be looking to continue her form in this final stretch.
Kate Schwindel (West Virginia) — West Virginia had a tricky week, traveling to Iowa State and going against one of this season’s surprise teams in Kansas. But the senior got back to her standard goal-scoring form as she picked up three goals in the two games, scoring once in a 3-0 win at Iowa State, and netting both goals in the 2-0 win at Kansas. Schwindel has played in 11 of the team’s 15 games this season and saw her goal total climb to six on the season. While that is a little below her pace from her previous two seasons, West Virginia will be looking to her to find the back of the net more frequently over its final three regular season games before the Big 12 championship. After this past week’s performance, Schwindel looks to be on her way to be getting back on that goal-scoring form.
News
Earlier this week, Elizabeth Tucker, a 2014 graduate of Notre Dame was named the NCAA Woman of the Year. The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female student-athletes who participated in NCAA-sanctioned sports and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Tucker was the first woman from Notre Dame to win the award in the 24-year history of the honor. Tucker finished her athletic career as a two-time captain of Notre Dame, appeared in all 92 games that Notre Dame played during her career and was part of the 2010 National Championship team. Off the field, Tucker graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a 4.0 GPA. She also received the 2014 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and a 2014 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, while being named one of five finalists for the 2014 Wooden Citizenship Cup and a candidate for both a Rhodes Scholarship and University valedictorian honors, among many other academic awards.
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There were plenty of current Division I NCAA players taking part in the CONCACAF Women’s Championship during the past week as eight teams from the region are attempting to qualify for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. That list includes from the United States’s Morgan Brian (Virginia), Guatemala’s Daniela Andrade (South Florida) and Maria Monterroso (Grand Canyon), Costa Rica’s Raquel Rodriguez (Penn State), and Jamaica’s Lauren Silver (Florida).
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It was announced on October 13th that Kansas State will be adding a Women’s soccer program starting in the 2016 season and will be the final Big 12 member to sponsor the sport. Kansas State will be discontinuing its equestrian program to make room for women’s soccer. Per the school’s website, the search for the program’s first head coach will begin in January of 2015, and will start to recruit prospective student-athletes in preparation for the 2016 season. The school also stated it has started looking into potential areas on the campus for competition and practice facilities and will play an exhibition schedule during the 2016 season.
[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). He was the Student General Manager at 107.7 FM The Bronc while at Rider and contributed to various local newspaper and Web sites in the Trenton, NJ, area of high school and collegiate sports including T and Fish4Scores.com.
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.
Brandi Ortega designs, writes, and plays soccer in Southern California. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in English. Find her on twitter at @brandiortega.