FRIDAY James Madison takes its unbeaten record to Norfolk to face conference rival Old Dominion. UCLA hosts Stanford in a battle of talented teams looking to build momentum for the stretch run. SATURDAY UNC Greensboro, the other undefeated team in the country and consensus No. 1 this week, goes to Charlotte to fave a team that's already upset Saint Louis and South Carolina. Virginia Commonwealth heads up I-95 to take on Maryland in a game that will be very big in the regional rankings. Saint Louis, looking to bounce back after a loss to Cincinnati, plays at Memphis and, get this - Memphis is the ranked team. (At least in the NSCAA poll.) In a game between two good teams that badly need a win, Seton Hall hosts UConn. The loser likely needs to win out, and get a W in its conference tourney, to make the NCAAs. Virginia, which barely beat one-win Longwood Wednesday, hosts a Duke team that has dropped its last two conference games. Clemson, which has yet to get a quality win this year, goes to Wake Forest, which is looking to establish some momentum and consistency. SUNDAY Indiana goes to Ohio State in a battle that will likely decide the Big Ten's regular season championship. UCLA hosts Cal in another key Pac-10 game. NC State goes down the road to North Carolina in a game that could see the loser's NCAA hopes take a big hit. James Madison finished its run through Tidewater with a game at William & Mary, which is looking to get back into the polls. Michigan looks to get back into the polls with a win at Northwestern, which is looking to show last week's upset of Indiana wasn't a fluke.
Oh yes, because a game featuring a team that is a game over .500 and has no quality wins clearly qualifies as "big."
So I guess if Drake would be 2 games over .500 like UConn where I am hard pressed to find any quality wins (maybe 1 if you really stretch it) and SLU with the win over UVA in the regular season being their only real claim to fame (ok UAB may qualify but the jury is out), this would qualify them as an eligible participant in a "big" match that includes the #4 team in the country in 2 of the polls??? I just wonder how you make your determination of "big matches".
James Madison goes down 0-1 to Old Dominion And I would love to hear a run down on the WF and Clemson match
WAKE FOREST 2 CLEMSON 0 Clemson got 3 yellows and a red and were outshot 16-4 - sounds like an ugly game on Clemson's side.
Good call on this one ... OverDose U. pulls off the 1-0 upset. Yet again Stanford finds a way to hang tough, with Janusz scoring on a direct free kick, their only shot attempt of the game. UCLA, who had 13 shot attempts, pulls out a 2-1 victory in minute 88. Coming from a Kamani Hill cross, it was Chad Barrett's first run-of-play goal all year.
Back in the 80's, Old Dominion was rated one of the nation's best party schools and because of the initials, a lot of people started calling ot OverDose U, especially after a couple of kids actually did OD. There's a lot you have to learn about our traditions and history, both involving college soccer and otherwise. Perhaps if you listened/read more and ran your mouth/talked sh!+ from a key board less, you'd pick some of this up!
Back to the thread of big games this weekend my Terps squeezed out a 2-1 win over a very good VCU team. UMD got goals from Jason Garey (his first in about 5 games) and Dom Mediate who's been on a roll lately. Maryland had a 2-0 lead for much of the game until VCU got one late to make it a bit exciting down the stretch. UMD only had 5 shots in the game while VCU pounded 17 at the UMD defense and really created problems but fortunately only one goal. A few player comments...Abe Thompson sat out with a knee problem for the 4th straight game and this is clearly not helping his draft status for next year....Kevin Reiman is very quick and super with the ball, a bit undersized but should be a force for UMD for the next three years.....Noah Palmer still needs one shutout to set the UMD all-time record and is running out of opportunities, his last good chance looks like Bucknell on Tuesday, after that it's all ACC & NCAA teams...... Dominic Oduro a junior from Ghana is a hand full, his pace and ability with the ball created problems for Maryland all day, he needs to improve his runs and availablity for teammate passes but definitely one to watch for the next level.