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.
Harvard 2-0 Cornell
The final unbeaten has fallen. After posting an 8-0-3 record to start the season, Cornell now has a game in the loss column. The Big Red has allowed only three goals all season, but Harvard’s Emily Mosbacher and Margaret Purce netted goals to pull off a bit of an upset. The win puts Harvard atop the Ivy League standings with Princeton as the teams undefeated in conference play. Meanwhile, Cornell sits in third. Next up, Harvard hosts Brown and Cornell faces Colgate.
Ole Miss 2-0 South Carolina
A big-time two-win weekend for Ole Miss really boosts its NCAA Tournament hopes this season. The Rebels handed the Gamecocks their first SEC loss on the season, which was almost unthinkable heading into this weekend. Goals from Georgia Russell and Addie Forbus helped Ole Miss notch its first win over a top 10 team since 2009. It looked as if South Carolina had its first SEC regular season conference title since 2011 (and its second all time) all but wrapped up. However, thanks to this loss and Auburn’s wins this weekend, things could get interesting down the stretch.
Mississippi State 3-0 Kentucky
The Bulldogs kept the good going for the state of Mississippi this weekend with a huge upset over the ranked Wildcats of Kentucky. A brace from Red Bruffett and a goal from Morgan Mills helped the home side pull off one of the biggest wins this program has had in a while. The last time the Bulldogs beat an SEC opponent by three goals was 2002! Just last season Mississippi State was permanently at the bottom of the SEC table with zero conference wins or ties; it’s amazing to see them fighting for an SEC tournament spot and coach Aaron Gordon probably deserves to be a finalist for SEC Coach of the Year.
Florida State 1-0 North Carolina
The Seminoles have had North Carolina’s number the past few years, and this weekend was no different. A late goal from Berglind Thorvaldsdottir gave Florida State three points, first place in the ACC, and the No. 1 spot in the NSCAA and OGM polls. As for the Tar Heels, their overtime loss to Louisville Friday means they’ve lost consecutive games for just the ninth time in program history. It doesn’t get any easier for North Carolina going forward, as it still has to host Duke, Notre Dame, and Clemson. Florida State has Virginia and Virginia Tech to deal with before it can lock up a regular season ACC title.
Upcoming Games to Watch
Find a screen to watch these games.
Duke vs. North Carolina
There aren’t many better rivalries that top the Battle of Tobacco Road in college sports. And this contest between Duke and North Carolina should be no different, especially with all the factors both teams face coming into the weekend. North Carolina had a rough go of it last week as it was upset by Louisville and, in a preview of what could be the ACC Championship game, dropped a result to Florida State. The Tar Heels will need a win to keep their name in the playoff picture while anything less than three points for Duke will mean the Blue Devils cannot advance to the conference playoffs.
Kentucky vs. Texas A&M
Not many people would have thought back in August that these two teams would be coming into this matchup desperate for points. Texas A&M is currently sitting tied for fifth in the SEC standings with 12 points and Kentucky is tied for seventh with 11 points. Both teams are sitting dangerously close to the cut-off line to make the SEC playoffs (the top 10 teams advance with the top six earning a bye to the quarterfinal round) and while a draw for both sides won’t be the worse thing in the world, a loss for either team will make the final two weeks of the regular season a nervous one.
California vs. Santa Clara
Santa Clara has put together a nice season in 2015 and have scored some signature victories along the way, most notably a win at home against Stanford. But now the Broncos travel to Berkeley to face Cal, their other Northern Californian rival, who sit comfortably in the upper half of the Pac-12 standings and are only three points outside of third place. This will be the last big nonconference test for both sides and while the conference schedule is still in the big picture, a win against a rival isn’t something to shy away from either.
Minnesota vs. Michigan
It’s One versus Two in the Big Ten as Michigan travel to face Michigan on Sunday. Minnesota might be one of the surprise stories of the season with a 11-2-2 record and Simone Kolander’s 10-goal campaign. A win here for Minnesota could solidify its claim for the top seed in the Big 10 Tournament, which by doing so would give it home-field advantage throughout the entire tournament. The Big Ten changed its playoff format before the season, letting higher seeds host quarterfinal matches. The highest remaining seed would then host both semifinals and the final — opposed to having one central location for all three rounds as in prior years.
Top Performers
The players who made a difference this past week.
Stephanie DeVita, Furman
DeVita notched a brace in Furman’s win against Wofford this weekend, and as a result, took sole possession of the Southern Conference’s career goals record. The forward’s 60 career goals bests the original record of 59, set by Tara Chaisson of Georgia Southern in 1999. The senior is also the record holder for the most game-winning goals in Furman school history at 26.
Casie Ramsier, Auburn
The Ramsier sisters have always been a big part of the Tigers’ successes, and Casie is currently having the best season of her career. The junior’s brace against Texas A&M was her fourth multi-goal game of the season, putting her at 10 for the year. Not only is that a career high for Ramsier but it also means she is the first Auburn player to have 10 or more goals since Sarah Steinmann in 2003.
Elise Wyatt, DePaul
There was another record that was set this past week. In a 3-2 win over Butler, DePaul’s Elise Wyatt scored a hat trick and surpassed DePaul and former Chicago Red Stars legend Julianne Sitch for most career goals scored at DePaul. Wyatt now has 34 goals scored after that performance and added a pair of assists in a 3-0 win against Villanova on the weekend.
[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.