It was a bad week to be a ranked opponent in women's NCAA soccer. Or maybe a good week, since losing this early means you can start the chip on your shoulder narrative early. Over the opening weekend, Auburn trounced No.4 Clemson 4-0 and Oklahoma St. blanked no.6 Nebraska 2-0. Granted, both teams bounced back in their Sunday games to start their season 1-1.
Here's the dilemma of college soccer. It's early, so of course there are adjustments to make and teams are not the well-oiled machines they will be by the time the tournament comes around. However, teams only have four weeks per season where they only play one game instead of two and conferences are so competitive that a single loss can be the difference between making conference and the NCAA tournaments. Ultimately though, those ranked opponents who lost this weekend bounced back in their second game and therefore shouldn't be too worried.
If you watched any of the matches this weekend, undoubtedly you heard the announcers talking about "putting the pieces together," a line they were likely quoting from coaches. And it's true, not everyone can be like Florida St. and steamroll a team 10-0 in their second game. Or be like no.4 Penn St. and cruise to a 4-0 win over no.8 Texas Tech and then have Sunday off. Some puzzles have more pieces missing than others right now.
The caveat for women's soccer right now: do not pay attention to the results. Instead, pay attention to the strength of schedule. Who are these teams playing against right now? How is their season structured? Where are those four weeks where they are only playing one opponent? What teams will lose players to national team competitions? With the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup this year from August 31-September 22, FSU will lose six players, and other teams can expect to be missing players of their own.
Colorado's close loss to UNC says more than say Mississippi State's 4-0 win over Northwestern State. Meanwhile, Michigan's pair of losses to Utah Valley (1-2) and Xavier (0-3) are a cause for concern moving forward. Duke lost to Ohio State 0-1, but had Sunday off, giving the team a full week to work out the kinks before another tough contest against Nebraska. It's all relative right now as different coaches have different strategies for testing their tactics, building a team's confidence, and transitioning from preseason to the sprint of the college soccer season.
An important note: women's college soccer does not alternate between non-conference and conference play. Once the conference slate starts, teams are locked into playing only conference opponents, which means that in a packed ACC or SEC, there is extremely limited ability to play an "easier" non-conference opponent to build confidence in between grueling, potentially nationally ranked, conference opponents. For example, Wisconsin (0-1 loss to BYU) has a stretch of at least three ranked opponents in the middle of their Big Ten season.
Right now, the college season is all about scale and getting comfortable home and away. Freshmen like Izzy Engler for Notre Dame answered some questions that a 0-1 loss to Michigan St. started asking. Bella Gaetino is doing what she was brought in to do for UNC, getting herself on the scoreboard early. No.20 Alabama saw both a junior and a freshman chip in their win over North Texas. The game was a lot scarier than it should have been, especially after Alabama dropped their opening game 3-0 against TCU.
This College Corner update is a lot of individual scores and individual game results because that's all the storyline is right now. No one has had a chance to breakout yet and no one's puzzle is 100% complete yet. Everyone is building, no matter what those Sunday scorelines seem to say about invincibility or weakness.
The season might be all gas, no breaks, but it's not time for those watching to hit the gas yet. For some teams, what will be the go-to starting IX hasn't been solidified yet. That's the major storyline in week one: it's all about who looks stronger in Week 2.
Quick Notes:
New Boston College Head Coach, Chris Watkins, picked up his first victory, a 1-0 win over Jacksonville
In Clemson's 4-0 loss to Auburn in their season opener, three of the four goals came from turnovers/miscues and one came from a set piece. Replacing midfielder Hal Hershfelt and goalkeeper Halle Mackiewicz was always going to be hard, so keep an eye on the turnover stats for the season.
Colorado, Texas, Stanford, and UCLA all won their opening games in their new conferences.
Kate Faase equals her goal total from last year by scoring a late brace to lift the Tar Heels to a 3-2 comeback win over a Colorado that looked primed for the upset.
Izzy Engle (Freshman, Notre Dame), Nicole Dallin (Graduate Student, Arizona St.). and Taylor Huff (Senior, Florida St.) all scored a hattrick on Sunday. Dallin actually scored four goals.
Santa Clara defeated Cal 2-1 in a game that saw a Sally Menti soft red card ejection for two fouls in five minutes. The game also saw two penalty kicks, one for each team.
Expanded VAR went into effect with no headlines this weekend despite being used in a couple of different games to review plays. Not everything is VAR reviewable. The official NCAA rules state that expanded VAR can look at potential penalty kicks, straight red card situations, denial of goal-scoring opportunities, and offsides ONLY in goal-scoring situations. Clemson Head Coach Eddie Radwanski wins the award for most casual VAR request after Clemson allowed a disastrous second goal through the middle of their center backs.
What/Where/When to Watch For Week 2:
Georgia v UNC, Thursday, Aug. 22 @5:00pm EDT, ACCN
No.14 Georgia just tied No.7 Pitt 0-0, No.8 UNC will be a good test of what, if any, the gap between those two places is and how consistent Georgia is.
SLU v BYU, Thursday, Aug. 22 @8:00pm EDT, ESPN+
Not to knock the A-10 but it's always worth it to see how SLU performs outside their conference.
Iowa v. Texas, Sunday, Aug. 25 @2:00pm EDT, SEC Network
This is another top-25 matchup, with Iowa at No.25 and Texas at No.17. It's a good test early for two teams looking to do more this year with their season.
ASU v LSU, Sunday, Aug. 25 @8:00pm EDT, ESPN+
Both ASU and LSU are up-and-coming programs that made the tournament last year. LSU won their home opener and doesn't have a game until Aug. 25. ASU tied their home opener.
*Coaching polls rankings are based on the Aug.6th poll as new rankings have not come out before this article was submitted.
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