College Soccer Professor: Taxing Trips

College Soccer Professor gives the rundown of week one NCAA action from coast to coast.

Sep 8, 2009 8:48:20 PM

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Brian Perk, USA U20 Goalkeeper, Adam Hastings (Goal.com)
By J.R. Eskilson

The rigors of college soccer are plentiful, and many of them you will never see on a box score, ranking, or press report. Travel is probably the most demanding of these challenges. Teams go from coast to coast in the first weeks of the season in an attempt to pick up meaningful wins and gain experience for the potential matchup with an opposite coast enemy in the tournament. In the first weekend alone, three of the top West Coast teams (California, UCLA, and UCSB) went East to try to prove their worth on the road. Prove their worth they did, coming away with four wins and only two losses. To put in perspective the difficulty of this, the distance between UCSB and where they played this weekend, West Virginia, is over 2,500 miles. That is further than any team will have to travel for a single game in the UEFA Champions League this season. Take that into consideration the next time you see the result of a coastal challenge.  
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Best Performances of Week One:
  • Brian Perk, UCLA, (vs. Maryland), GK, 10 saves, 0 goals against. It was the banner night for Maryland with the biggest crowd in school history. This was supposed to be their victory lap, but the shot stopper from Southern California stood on his head and gave a performance that will be remembered in College Park lore. Also, UCLA got vengeance for the loss Maryland gave them last year at the Home Depot Center on national television.
  • Babayele Sodade, UAB, (vs. UIC), Forward, 2 goals. Against the highly rated UIC on Saturday, Sodade’s first goal proved to be the game winner. His second goal came as a crushing blow after UIC had scored to make the game 2-1. Seconds after his team conceded, he pounced on a defensive mistake and put the game out of reach and seal the scoring at 3-1. He added another goal two days later to bring his season total to three.
  • University of Akron Zips: 1-0 win over Tulsa. 1-0 win over SMU. The box score will not stand out like a 5-0 thumping, but U. of Akron proved their defense was solid. They only gave up four shots on goal over the two games. It is going to be hard for other teams to score when they do not see much of the ball. A tremendously skilled midfield has shown no cracks so far.
  • Attendance: 6,700 in Maryland. Close to 4,000 in Indiana. Close to 3,000 in West Virginia. Over 1,500 in Georgetown. All over the country, there were record numbers in attendance. Credit to all the fans getting out to the games and seeing some great soccer.
College Soccer Professor’s Dominate Dozen:


Rankings Through September 9
  1. Wake Forest. 2-0-1. The draw against Notre Dame was not ideal, but a win over Indiana in Indiana is very difficult. Next game: @ Clemson Sept. 13
  2. North Carolina. 2-0-1. Ten goals for, one goal against over three games. Impressive numbers for the Tar Heels. Midfield transfer Michael Farfan seems to be fitting in quite well with two goals in his first three games. Next game: vs. NC State Sept. 12
  3. Akron. 2-0-0. As soon as the offense clicks and makes those final passes, this team is going to be the most dangerous in the land. Their talent is sublime, and they have a midfield unmatched in college soccer. Next game: vs. High Point Sept. 11
  4. Saint John’s. 1-0-1. Nelson Becerra is going to need some help in the offense if Saint John’s wish to return to the Final Four. Defense still appears to be solid, so they may be asked to carry the team till the offense can kick into gear. Next up: vs. Stony Brook Sept. 11
  5. Maryland. 1-1-0. The loss against UCLA is not as bad as it seems. UCLA are more skilled than most believe, and Maryland dominated most of the game. A win over California (albeit in overtime) is impressive, but in front of the home crowd, you would expect a statement win. Next game: vs. Boston College Sept. 11
  6. California. 1-1-0. A loss against Maryland will give the Bay Area boys something to take home from the trip back East. Striker Andrew Wiedeman’s goal against Georgetown showed how dangerous he is. An unassuming dribble at the top of the box, a quick step to the right, and the ball was in the back of the net. Next up: vs. George Washington Sept. 11
  7. Creighton. 1-0-1. Zero goals given up through two games. However, Creighton only managed to score one goal. Cal Poly is a good team, so that is a good resume win come tournament time, but this team still needs to show more to get into the top five. Next game: vs. Missouri State Sept. 19
  8. Indiana. 0-1-1. It was stiff competition for the Hoosiers, but playing at home, they needed to pull out a win to make this tournament a success. A loss and a draw is not the way coach Freitag wanted to start the season. Next up: vs. New Mexico Sept. 11
  9. Notre Dame. 1-1-1. Converting the penalty kick against St. John’s could have changed the game completely, but the saved shot, and two goals given up in the second half made it a day to forget for the Irish. Next up: vs. Seattle Sept. 11
  10. UCSB. 3-0-0. Three wins. Two on the road. Opponents were not of the highest class, but winning back East is never easy. Forward David Walker seems to have found his finishing touch, and Martin Hedevag has been sturdy in the middle. Next game: vs. Rutgers Sept. 11
  11. Dartmouth. 2-0-0. Eight goals for, zero against, the season cannot start much better than that. The Big Green will be tested this week against UCONN and Rhode Island. Next up: vs. UCONN Sept. 11
  12. UCLA. 1-1-0. Beating the defending champions on the road will put the nation on notice. Falling into the trap of a sleeper game two days after and losing 2-0 to Georgetown will bring you back to reality. Stud GK Perk and stellar midfielder Michael Stephens leave for Egypt this week with the USA U-20s. Not sure if UCLA can stay at this level without them. Next up: vs. UC Davis Sept. 10
Television Game of the Week:

UCSB Gauchos vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Friday September 11. 8 PM (PST) FSC.

Gauchos welcome Rutgers to Harder Stadium on Friday, which should showcase a great crowd even though the fall quarter has not started yet at UCSB. The Scarlet Knights did not look very effective against Stanford at home over the weekend, and will need to be much sharper against the more physical Santa Barbara side. Look for UCSB to utilize Waid Ibrahim’s speed up top against the Rutgers’ defense that was very flat on Stanford’s second goal.

J.R. Eskilson writes a weekly NCAA column on Tuesday for Goal.com. Follow the College Soccer Professor at twitter.com/NCAAsoccer

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