Well, it's officially spooky season. Conference play is wrapping up and the post-season looms right around the corner. Some teams have already been eliminated, some have been crowned conference champions, and some teams have one game left to claw their way into post-season tournaments. There are spoilers, champions, and pride to play for...as well as seeding and the chance to play on home turf. Let's preview some conference tournaments:
A10
The A10 starts on Friday, Nov. 1 with two quarterfinals being played and then another two on November 2nd. SLU was crowned regular season champions with a 0-0 draw against Dayton on Sunday. The key matchup? Saturday's 1:00 pm meet-up between the six-seed Loyola Chicago and the three-seed UMass. Both teams have given SLU trouble (if you like to compare to the top seed) and are capable of making a deep run. It's a heavy-hitter matchup with a lot on the line. Last time out UMass beat Loyola Chicago 2-0, so it's a test of how hard it is to beat the same team twice.
ACC
Duke has wrapped up the ACC regular season title, but the bracket isn't set quite yet. Notre Dame, Stanford (yes, Stanford!!), Wake Forest, Florida St., and Cal are all still alive and fighting for a spot. There are a lot of possibilities in play. Which is to say, you should be in front of your TV watching the final day of action on Thursday, October 31st. Spooky season isn't messing around when it comes to the ACC and most of the possible teams that won't make the ACC tournament will make the NCAA tournament.
Florida St. and Wake Forest have, on paper, the easiest matchups to gain three points. FSU plays Miami, which only has one ACC win, at 6:00 pm EST. Meanwhile, Wake Forest plays NC State, also with only one ACC win, at 7:00 pm EST. The big matchup will be Stanford v Cal, who play at 10:00 pm EST and, with a little help from Notre Dame, could be fighting a winner-takes-all to advance. Notre Dame plays Pitt at 7:00 pm EST and needs a win to avoid their fate being out of their hands. It's all going to be in play on Thursday so turn the lights out and leave the bowl of candy on the porch, you'll want to be watching ACC soccer.
Big 10
On Sunday, USC clinched the Big 10 title in a 1-0 thriller with UCLA. The tournament officially kicks off with two play-in games on October 31 (there is nothing spookier than a must-win game on Halloween!) The key matchup there is a 4:30 pm EST play-in game between No.8 Ohio State and No.9 Wisconsin. Both teams need the boost that comes with winning, though Wisconsin certainly needs the win more to convince the committee to give them a look at an NCAA tournament berth. The winner goes on to face USC, which isn't exactly appealing, but in playoff soccer, anything can happen, especially with teams desperate to firm up their resume. Ohio State and Wisconsin are capable of explosive offense and it will make for an entertaining matchup.
Big 12*
The Big 12 kicks off October 30th with four matches. TCU won the conference, granting them the No.1 seed and a first-round bye. Texas Tech, West Virginia, and BYU join them in avoiding a first-round matchup. The big match to watch? I'm going to cheat and give you two: start with OSU v Cincinnati at 9:00 am EST because OSU has to win to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive (and isn't it strange that OSU is in danger and BYU has a first-round bye in their conference tournament?). Then, at 3:30 pm EST watch Arizona v Baylor, mostly because Baylor has a nasty habit of grinding out surprise ties. With everything on the line, it'll be fun to see which version of Baylor shows up against an Arizona capable of more than they've shown this season.
*times have been adjusted due to anticipated inclement weather, so be sure to continue to check kickoff times and delays.
SEC
The SEC is a little more settled than the ACC but there are still two teams vying for one spot in postseason action. Tennessee plays Florida on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 7:00 pm EST in a makeup game. A win would see them leapfrog Missouri, while a tie would bring them level on points.
The outcome of that game will decide the tournament seeding, which makes it hard to tell you a game to watch leading into tournament action. However, looking towards the NCAA tournament, you won't want to miss any game that Georgia or Kentucky are playing. Both teams need wins to bolster their resume and both teams have spent large chunks of time occupying a place on the United Coaches Poll. Auburn is another team with impressive wins under their belt, but hasn't managed to sustain that energy consistently. The SEC has a lot of promising talent, which will make their tournament a bloodbath.
Quick Notes:
Wake Forest set their largest attendance record for women's soccer on Sunday. 3,761 people came out to watch the No.2 team face off against No.1 Duke. Wake Forest lost 2-0.
University of Kentucky head coach Troy Fabiano reached his 350th win as a head coach with a 4-0 victory over Tennessee. Notably, Malaka Woods scored her first career hat trick in the victory.
Villanova came back from down 3-0 with ten minutes to go to draw Providence 3-3. The goals came in the '81, '88, and '89 minutes to make it a thrilling conclusion.
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman visited Michigan women's soccer on October 26th.
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