Friday
No. 2 North Carolina def. Clemson, 3-1
No. 4 Wake Forest def. No. 11 Duke, 3-0
No. 6 Maryland def. College of Charleston, 2-1
No. 9 Monmouth def. Mount St. Mary's, 3-1
No. 10 UCLA tied Oregon State, 1-1
No. 15 Charlotte def. Saint Joseph's, 2-1
No. 16 San Diego tied Portland, 0-0
No. 23 Dayton def. Xavier, 4-0
No. 25 Penn State lost to Indiana, 2-1

Saturday
No. 1 Akron def. Hartwick, 3-2
No. 3 UCSB def. UC Davis, 2-0
No. 7 Virginia def. No. 18 N.C. State, 1-0
No. 12 Harvard def. Columbia, 2-1 (OT)
No. 14 Tulsa def. UCF, 6-2
No. 17 Northwestern def. Michigan State, 1-0
No. 20 UC Irvine lost to Cal State Northridge, 3-0
No. 21 UNC Wilmington tied Hofstra, 0-0
No. 24 Butler def. Wright State, 3-1

Sunday
No. 10 UCLA def. Washington, 2-1
No. 15 Charlotte lost to Temple, 2-1
No. 16 San Diego def. Gonzaga, 1-0 (2 OT's)
No. 23 Dayton def. St. Bonaventure, 2-1 (OT)

All Times Eastern
Live Stats where available

Friday
No. 2 North Carolina @ Clemson, 7 p.m. - Live Stats
No. 4 Wake Forest vs. No. 11 Duke, 7 p.m. - Live Stats
No. 6 Maryland vs. College of Charleston, 7:30 p.m. - Live Stats | Listen: WMUCSports.com
No. 9 Monmouth vs. Mount St. Mary's, 2 p.m. - Live Stats
No. 10 UCLA vs. Oregon State, 10 p.m. - Live Stats | Listen
No. 15 Charlotte @ Saint Joseph's, 7 p.m. - Live Stats | Watch Online
No. 16 San Diego vs. Portland, 10 p.m. - Live Stats | Watch Online
No. 23 Dayton vs. Xavier, 7 p.m. - Live Stats | Watch
No. 25 Penn State @ Indiana, 3 p.m. - Live Stats

Saturday
No. 1 Akron vs. Hartwick, 7:30 p.m. - Live Stats
No. 3 UCSB @ UC Davis, 10 p.m. - Live Stats | Listen: KIST
No. 7 Virginia vs. No. 18 N.C. State, 7 p.m.
No. 12 Harvard @ Columbia, 4 p.m. - Live Stats
No. 14 Tulsa @ UCF, 7:30 p.m. - Live Stats | Watch Online
No. 17 Northwestern vs. Michigan State, 6 p.m. - Live Stats | Watch Online
No. 20 UC Irvine vs. Cal State Northridge, 10 p.m. - Live Stats
No. 21 UNC Wilmington vs. Hofstra, 7 p.m. - Live Stats| Listen
No. 24 Butler vs. Wright State, 3 p.m - Live Stats

Sunday
No. 10 UCLA vs. Washington, 4 p.m. - Live Stats | Listen
No. 15 Charlotte @ Temple, 1 p.m. - Live Stats
No. 16 San Diego vs. Gonzaga, 4 p.m. - Live Stats | Watch Online
No. 23 Dayton @ St. Bonaventure, 1 p.m. - Live Stats

Boston College may still be sitting outside the NSCAA Top-25, but no team has shown a better ability this year to knock off top-flight teams. For the second time in two weeks, the Eagles took down the No. 2 team in the nation, downing No. 2 Wake Forest, 1-0, in Newton on Friday night. The game's lone goal came off the foot of BC freshman Kevin Mejia, whose tally in the 51st minute stood up behind a Boston College defense that's now allowed only four goals in its last six games and hasn't given up more than two goals in a game this year.

Photo Courtesy of Boston College

Early on, inconsistency kept the Eagles from renting time on the national stage, as a 1-3 start gave way to a three-game win streak (including wins over then-ranked BU and then-No. 11 Duke), which, in turn, collapsed into a three-game losing streak. But since BC's loss to Yale on Oct. 6, the Eagles have won five of six, with their only loss coming to Virginia and two of those wins coming against the second-ranked teams in the country. To make its way into the NCAA Tournament, BC might be hard-pressed to notch an at-large bid, but make no mistake -- this is a team with the potential to capture the most competitive conference tournament in the nation.

Elsewhere, No. 11 Charlotte followed up a tie at home on Sunday with a loss on the road on Friday to Dayton. Featured last week on NCAA.com for its resurgence, the 49ers have begun to slow a little bit in A-10 play. With three games left in the league before the postseason begins -- all of them on the road, a task that requires the 9ers to head north to play in front of hostile crowds and on unfamiliar pitches -- Charlotte faces a tough road ahead.

Heading south, Clemson may only have two wins in the ACC this year, but they've both been massive. The first came against then-No. 8 Virginia on Sept. 26 -- the Tigers' first win of the entire season. The second came on Friday, with Clemson's Austin Savage slipping in a shot at 84:46 for the game's lone goal, as the Tigers took down No. 13 North Carolina State, 1-0.

Iona, the fourth top-25 team to fall on Friday, took a tumble in Baltimore, watching its eight-game win streak end at the hands of Loyola (Md.), 2-0.

The other two top-25 teams in action on Friday all escaped with wins, with Monmouth taking down Central Connecticut State, 3-0, Stanford winning, 3-2, on the road at Oregon State

Monmouth took its first loss of the year last week, falling from No. 7 to No. 14 and reflecting just how important an at-large bid will be with conference tournaments on the horizon for teams across the country.

A month ago, Connecticut languished outside the top-25, a program that started slow -- slower than usual -- and took longer, much longer, to pick up the speed that had made it one of the premier teams in the country over the past few years.

Consider the Huskies caught-up.

A week after being profiled by NCAA.com, Connecticut shot up to No. 8 in Tuesday's poll, following a week in which the Huskies dropped Yale and Seton Hall to up their unbeaten streak to nine games (an 8-0-1 run). The Huskies' shutout streak ended at 799:39 in the Seton Hall win -- the first goal scored against Connecticut in October -- but a 3-1 win over the Pirates should soothe the sting.

Photo Courtesy of Virginia

And as the Huskies climbed higher in the top-10, two more teams made their way into the top flight of college teams, with South Florida and Virginia breaking back in at No. 9 and 10, respectively. For the Bulls, it was a return to a tier that they'd once surveyed from near the top -- as high as No. 3 -- but a loss and a tie three weeks ago sent them hurtling downwards. But, three straight wins have the green gang back on track. For Virginia, a 2-0 win over Boston College gave the Cavs their third straight win, sending them back into a top-10 crammed with four ACC teams.

All in all, the poll saw a good deal of disruption, although only three teams entered the top-25, with all of them checking in at No. 22 or below. Into that No. 22 spot moved Iona, followed by UNC Wilmington at No. 23 and Missouri State at No. 25. Moving out to make room were Cal, Drake and Ohio State.

For Cal, the drop has been dramatic. Two polls ago, the Bears stood at No. 10 in the country. But a disastrous run through two straight Pac-10 weekends -- weekends that handed Cal four straight losses, including two shutouts at the hands of UCLA and a combined one goal scored by the Bears -- has them reeling.

On the opposite side of the coin, Akron stood atop the country yet again, blowing to a 5-1 win over Michigan last Tuesday -- the Zips' first-ever win over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor -- and then blowing past Buffalo this weekend. The Zips, who surprised some people in the country with their early success, just seem to be getting better.

But their accompaniment in the No. 2 position did change this week, with former No. 2 UCLA falling for the first time in 11 games with a loss to Stanford on Sunday, and Wake Forest sliding into the second spot after a Friday win over then-No. 5 Maryland (who slipped one spot to No. 6) and a 4-1 breeze past Davidson on Sunday. The Bruins took a tumble, however, falling five spots to No. 7.

Heading down the chart, North Carolina (up one spot to No. 3) and UCSB kept on climbing, with the Gauchos taking down Cal State Fullerton most recently.

Leaving the top-10 were Monmouth, which took its first loss of the season to St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday and sunk from No. 7 to No. 14, and Charlotte, which fell to No. 9 after picking up a win and a tie in conference over the weekend.

Other big movers were Northwestern, moving up five spots to No. 12, and Butler, up six to No. 17.

Only one undefeated team remains in the NSCAA top-25, in Akron, after No. 7 Monmouth went deep into Western Pennsylvania and came out with a 2-0 loss to St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday. In a game pushed back three hours and moved to the Red Flash's artificial-turf football field because of a deluge in Loretto, Penn., the Hawks' school-record 14-match unbeaten streak hit the wall.

But theirs was not the only streak to come to an end this weekend, as No. 2 UCLA's 10-game unbeaten run ended at the hands of Stanford on Sunday, just two days after UCLA shut out California for the second straight week and the Cardinal took a bruising overtime loss to San Diego State. The loss was the Pac-10-leading Bruins' first in the conference, after jumping out to a 4-0-2 record to start league play, while Stanford climbed back to .500 in the league at 3-3-1.

In the Game of the Weekend, No. 3 Wake Forest got on the board just over five minutes into the game and held the lead the rest of the way, downing No. 5 Maryland, 1-0, in Winston-Salem. The win sent the Deacons, who came into the game trailing Maryland in the ACC race, into a two-way tie for first in the conference.

For more from the weekend, click on any of the games below!

Friday
No. 1 Akron def. Buffalo, 1-0
No. 2 UCLA def. No. 20 California, 1-0
No. 7 Monmouth def. Robert Morris, 1-0
No. 9 Charlotte def. La Salle, 3-0
No. 19 Duke def. Clemson, 2-1
No. 21 Stanford lost to San Diego State, 2-1 (OT)
No. 24 Drake lost to Evansville, 1-0

Saturday
No. 3 Wake Forest def. No. 5 Maryland, 1-0
No. 5 North Carolina def. Virginia Tech, 1-0
No. 6 UC Santa Barbara def. Cal State Fullerton, 2-0
No. 8 Louisville def. Rutgers, 2-0
No. 10 Connecticut def. Seton Hall, 3-1
No. 11 Harvard lost to Princeton, 2-1 (2 OT)
No. 13 South Florida def. Villanova, 3-1
No. 15 Dartmouth lost to Columbia, 2-0
No. 18 Brown def. Cornell, 1-0
No. 22 UC Irvine def. UC Davis, 2-1
No. 23 Butler vs. Detroit, Postponed until Oct. 27

Sunday
No. 2 UCLA lost to No. 21 Stanford, 2-0
No. 7 Monmouth lost to St. Francis, 2-0
No. 9 Charlotte tied Fordham, 2-2
No. 12 Virginia def. Boston College, 2-0
No. 16 Tulsa def. Marshall, 2-1
No. 17 Northwestern def. Indiana, 2-0
No. 20 California lost to San Diego State, 2-0
No. 25 Ohio State lost to Wisconsin, 2-0

The biggest game of the weekend -- and doubtless one of the biggest games of the 2009 regular season -- kicks off in Winston-Salem on Friday night when the top two teams in the nation's top conference do battle.

Here, we have a matchup of the last two national champs (Maryland last year, Wake in 2007). A matchup of two longtime rivals who have split their all-time series down the middle, at 14-14-1. Not to mention a rematch of a game last Sept. 26 that pitted the No. 1 team in the country (then the Demon Deacons) against the No. 2 team (the Terps), a game that Wake Forest won, 2-1.

And most of all, it's a game that would either give the Terrapins -- now sitting atop the ACC with 13 points -- a six-point lead over the Deacons in the league standings, or one that would pull Wake Forest into a tie for first.

Had Wake not fallen at home to Virginia on Sept. 18, ending the nation's longest home unbeaten streak, the Deacons would have had to have the advantage going into this one. But the mystique around Wake Forest soccer games at Spry Stadium has begun to thin, leaving us with just the bare essentials of this match: a chance to watch two of the finest teams in collegiate soccer battle for supremacy right as they hit their peaks.


Last weekend was a rough one for California. So tough that the Bears fell from No. 10 to No. 20 in the country after falling first to UCLA and then to San Diego State -- the latter of which having become a master of meddling in the Pac-10. But, on the bright side, Cal gets two chances at revenge, not to mention six conference points, this weekend when it hosts the same two teams in Berkeley.

But to get those points, they'll have to do something no team (including Cal) has done since Sept. 6: beat UCLA. The Bruins head into the game on Friday riding a nine-game unbeaten streak, one that's seen them outscore their opponents 20-6 and take the No. 2 spot in the country in the NSCAA Top-25.

We talked last week about UCLA's scoring offense, led by Kyle Nakazawa and his now-defunct eight-game points streak, but this time, we look at the Bruins' defense. Or, more specifically, at the man standing in front of their net.

Brian Perk comes into the game as the reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week, an award he notched for a record-tying fourth time in his career, after shutting out Cal and Stanford last weekend. Oh yeah -- the shutouts came just a week after getting kicked in the face and having to be hospitalied for an eye injury sustained during the Bruins' match with San Diego State. The U-20 National Team member will have his hands full, however, against the nation's 14th-best offense, led by Andrew Weideman and his 10 goals and 23 points.


No. 9 Charlotte (8-1-3, 2-0-1 A-10) vs. La Salle (4-7-3, 0-2-2), Friday, 7 p.m. - Live Stats | Watch Online
No. 9 Charlotte (8-1-3, 2-0-1 A-10) vs. Fordham (7-5-1, 4-0-0), Sunday, 1 p.m. - Live Stats | Watch Online
Charlotte, profiled earlier this week by NCAA.com, is now a marked team, and the 49ers know it. And with every game they win (the 9ers are currently riding an 11-game unbeaten streak), the target just grows bigger. Against two teams that'll scrap and grind for wins, they'll have to work to get six points in the always-chaotic Atlantic-10 standings in their final home games of the regular season.

First, it'll be La Salle, a team that's struggled this year and hasn't yet recorded a win in four conference games. Then, on Sunday, the 49ers take on relatively unlikely conference leader Fordham, who has a perfect 4-0-0 mark in the league -- although only one of those wins has come against a team in the top half of the A-10 standings. 

When we spoke on Wednesday, coach Jeremy Gunn talked about the adjustments his team has to make every year, going from playing a style of soccer conducive to the fields of the South -- those of trimmed, brushed bluegrass -- to the tougher, sloppier Northern pitches and the kind of game that comes with that. So, before the 49ers finish with four games on the road, look for them to try to dictate the style of play early in this pair, before it gets much more difficult next weekend.

No. 7 Monmouth (12-0-1, 4-0-1 NEC) @ Robert Morris (2-11-2, 2-2-2), Friday, 3 p.m. - Live Stats
No. 7 Monmouth (12-0-1, 4-0-1 NEC) @ St. Francis (Pa.) (5-9-1, 1-4-1), Sunday, 1 p.m. 
Monmouth, after playing just one game last weekend, is back to double-dipping. And as the undefeated Hawks continue to win, the question keeps looming: When will they lose? Or will they? They've been dominant in NEC play, but seem to struggle when they split the cornfields of Western Pennsylvania. And even though both opponents have records way under .500 this year -- RMU didn't have a single win or tie until NEC play began -- could one of these low-lying teams be a snake in the grass for the Hawks?

Said head coach Robert McCourt in the Monmouth release: "Our last two meetings with Saint Francis (Pa.) have been overtime games and with RMU we have a tie and a loss. It will be a difficult trip, but the guys are excited about the challenge."

Ray Reid isn't usually this patient.

In the past, a season-opening stretch like the one his Connecticut team waltzed through this year would have driven him crazy. The special kind of madness reserved for a guy who's been subjecting himself to it for two decades.

But there was something about this Huskies team this year. Something worth waiting for, even through the losses - a 3-0 trouncing to BU on Sept. 5, when UConn was ranked No. 12 and a 2-1 loss to Rutgers on Sept. 20 - and the consecutive scoreless ties (against Dartmouth and Iona on Sept. 11 and 13).  

"To be honest, I was very patient with them," he said. "Normally I'm not. But I knew we had a lot of potential. I like the older kids in the program, and I like our new guys."

The Huskies ended that six-game run at 2-2-2, falling out of the top-25 a year after advancing to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

They haven't lost since. They haven't even let up a single goal since, rattling off a 6-0-1 record that includes five BIG EAST wins and a 4-0 non-conference tally against then-No. 6 Harvard last Wednesday. Their 6-1-1 mark in-conference gives them the lead in the BIG East's Blue Division and represents the best ledger on either side of the conference.

And going into this week's matchups with Yale and Seton Hall, the 17th-ranked Huskies look to be among the nation's biggest movers when the NSCAA Poll comes out on Tuesday. Following yet another upset-riddled weekend,

"I just think we're always a slow-developing team because of the way we try to play," Reid said. "It takes a little time to get our legs under us."

Five players in Reid's top 13 are freshmen. One of them, Carlos Alvarez, leads the team in assists, with seven, and was named the TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Week on Monday for his seven-point (2 goals, 3 assists) week in UConn's two wins last week. Another, Stephane DIOP, is tied for second in assists, with four.

"Alvarez, you know he's got unbelievable composure and subtlety for a kid that's 18 years old," Reid said. "He's got great vision and great feet."

The young guys - ranks that include the Huskies' top scorer Tony Cascio, a sophomore whose five goals and four assists give him a team-leading 14 points - have helped, certainly, Reid said. But it's the older guys that have turned this team from initial disappointment to a national force, now that the year's hitting the back stretch.

First, there's Kwame Watson-Siriboe, the senior back who anchors a defense that's allowed just six goals in 13 games. Providing extra support on the back line has been junior Robert Brickley, who slid back from midfield to center-back, playing in front of redshirt junior goalie Tom Ford, who's posted a 0.44 GAA and a.864 save percentage this year.

The defense has been a "full-team effort," Reid said, and he's hesitant to single people out. But one of the biggest forces behind the overall team turnaround this year, he said, has been the return of Mike Pezza.

A senior, Pezza was held out of action early in the year with an ankle injury. But, with the return of the man who led the team in assists in 2008 and the country in 2007, the Huskies have gone from a team that averaged just 0.83 goals a game in their first six contests to one that's put up two per game in their last seven.

"He has been outstanding for us," Reid said.

Pezza tallied the first assist in that Harvard game, a 4-0 blowout in a game that pitted the top two teams in the NSCAA Northeast Region against each other. And maybe just as importantly, in holding the Crimson scoreless for just the second time this year and scoring as many goals in a game (4) as Harvard had given up the entire season, the win signaled to the country that the Huskies are back.

"[The win] just showed us that on any given night we can play with any of the better teams in the country when our guys want to," Reid said. "We just gotta continue to stay very, very focused."

While No. 10 Cal struggled on the West Coast, falling in two Pac-10 matchups to No. 4 UCLA and San Diego State (in that order), the biggest story of the weekend came on the other coast, where red-hot Boston College up-ended No. 2 North Carolina in an ACC clash at Fetzer Field. The Eagles, who have now won three in a row, moved to 3-2 in conference play.

Heading back West, fourth-ranked UCLA moved its unbeaten streak to nine games, and although Kyle Nakazawa extended his points streak to eight games with an assist in the Bruins' win over cal on Friday night, the streak ended in UCLA's win over Sunday. His goal-scoring streak stopped at seven, after being held scoreless against the Bears.

Just up the coast, No. 3 UCSB fell to Cal State Northridge, 1-0, despite setting a school record for consecutive shutout minutes at 542:10. But Northridge got a goal in the 77th minute to give the Gauchos their first loss since Sept. 25.

Four days after shooting into the top-10 on the strength of a 5-1-1 mark in BIG EAST play, Louisville lost to St. John's (N.Y.), 3-2 in OT. The Red Storm, who started the season as high as No. 1, are now unbeaten in their last six...although that includes four ties.

In the Big Ten, RPI-No. 1 Northwestern saw its 10-game unbeaten streak come to an end with an overtime loss to Wisconsin in Evanston on Saturday, while Indiana continued its fall with a 1-0 overtime loss to Michigan State. A day later, Penn State cooled down with a 2-1 loss to Ohio State.

Elsewhere, Akron kept rolling, although the Zips' 1-0 loss could be construed as a slowdown. They were averaging nearly three goals a game. So, looming crisis or not, they moved to 13-0-0.

Friday
No. 4 UCLA def. No. 10 Cal, 1-0
No. 8 Monmouth def. Bryant, 2-0
No. 9 Maryland def. Clemson, 1-0
No. 18 Stanford def. San Diego State, 2-1 (OT)

Saturday
No. 1 Akron def. Northern Illinois, 1-0
No. 2 North Carolina lost to Boston College, 2-1
No. 5 Wake Forest def. No. 14 N.C. State, 4-1
No. 6 Harvard def. No. 15 Brown, 1-0
No. 7 Louisville lost to St. John's (N.Y.), 3-2 (OT)
No. 11 Virginia def. Virginia Tech, 3-1
No. 12 South Florida def. Syracuse, 3-0
No. 13 Charlotte def. Saint Louis, 2-1
No. 16 Northwestern lost to Wisconsin, 2-1 (OT)
No. 17 Connecticut def. Pittsburgh, 2-0
No. 19 Drake lost to Missouri State, 2-1
No. 20 Dartmouth def. Penn, 3-1
No. 22 Portland lost to San Francisco, 1-0
No. 23 Indiana lost to Michigan State, 1-0 (2 OT)
No. 25 William & Mary def. Delaware, 3-2 (OT)

Sunday
No. 3 UCSB lost to Cal St. Northridge, 1-0
No. 4 UCLA def. No. 18 Stanford, 2-0
No. 10 Cal lost to San Diego State, 2-0
No. 24 Penn State lost to Ohio State, 2-1

Photo Courtesy of Penn State

Yesterday, we ran a story about teams rescuing their seasons by grinding out wins in-conference. Today (a rare thing, we know) we have proof.

When the NSCAA top-25 came out on Tuesday, half a dozen teams that have ransacked their leagues were rewarded. Some handsomely -- Louisville jumped to No. 7 from No. 12, while Connecticut rocketed from outside the poll to No. 17 -- and some just enough -- conference pot-stirrers Penn State and William & Mary checked in at Nos. 24 and 25, respectively.

Conversely, teams that haven't fared quite as well found themselves sitting significantly lower on the chart -- and some, not at all. South Florida, after a week that saw the Bulls fall under the rambling herd at Louisville and then tie unranked St. John's in BIG EAST play, dropped from No. 3 to No. 12. Duke's drop was even more dramatic. After climbing all the way up to No. 9 following a win over Maryland two weekends ago, the former darlings of the conference lost first to unranked (but streaking) Davidson and then to ACC rival NC State -- the Wolfpack's second upset in Durham in as many years -- to sink all the way to No. 21.

Dropping out of the poll completely were former No. 16 Boston University and No. 25 UMBC, both of whom have lost two straight in the America East, along with No. 20 Old Dominion, which lost two games in the CAA last week.

Overall, two teams dropped out and two made their way into the top-10, with Louisville and Maryland (at No. 9 following wins over Loyola [Ill.] and Virginia Tech) taking the top-10 spots once held by Duke and South Florida.

Working our way from the top, where Akron once again sits at No. 1 after a week that saw the Zips outscore Illinois-Chicago and Western Michigan by a combined margin of 7-1 and North Carolina held onto its No. 2 spot following a tie with No. 6 Wake Forest, the nation has a new No. 3 team. Ever since playing on national TV two Fridays ago, when UCSB dominated Indiana, 3-0, the Gauchos have done nothing but prove themselves to be among the nation's best.

No. 4 UCLA held firm in its spot, while Wake slid into No. 5, a place occupied by Cal -- now the nation's No. 10 team -- before the Bears fell to Washington Friday night. Harvard, despite tying unranked Ivy rival Cornell, moved from No. 8 to No. 6.

A spot below seventh-ranked Louisville sits No. 8 Monmouth, who moved up to its highest-ever national ranking (again) by virtue of the Hawks' refusal to actually lose a game. Monmouth's now 12-0-1, and doesn't look to be slowing anytime soon against its NEC opponents.

Rounding out the top-10 are No. 9 Maryland and No. 10 Cal.

Big movers outside the top-10 were N.C. State, up from No. 18 to No. 14, Northwestern, up from No. 22 to No. 16, and Stanford, hitting No. 18 from No. 23. Moving in the other direction were Indiana, falling to No. 23 from No. 14, and Portland, sitting at No. 22 after a No. 17 ranking last week.

N.C. State's Ronnie Bouemboue Photo Courtesy N.C. State

In our weekend preview, we told you to watch out for San Diego State as an upset-seeker against No. 4 UCLA on Sunday. But before the Aztecs even got a chance to show themselves, the cross-town University of San Diego picked up one of two big West Coast surprises on Friday night, knocking off No. 17 Portland, 2-1, on the road. The loss was the Pilots' first since the season-opener.

Down the coast, the Pacific Northwest got revenge, as Washington followed up a 1-1 tie with UCLA last Sunday with a 2-0 win over No. 5 Cal in Berkeley on Friday night. The Huskies, who got goals from Matt Van Houten and Brad Keller, defeated the Golden Bears for the first time since 2005 and extended their unbeaten streak to five games.

In the ACC, where both top-25 matchups took place, No. 2 UNC and No. 6 Wake Forest played to a 2-2 draw, while No. 18 N.C. State picked up an upset over No. 9 Duke for the second straight year, winning, 1-0, on a goal from Ronnie Bouemboue with just 49 seconds left in double-OT. For Bouemboue, it was his second-straight game-winner in the Wolfpack-Blue Devils series, after he scored both goals in N.C. State's in Durham last year.

Two Fridays ago, Maryland looked to be ready to set the pace in the ACC, with the then-No. 4 Terps dropping No. 2 North Carolina, 1-0. Today, the Terps find themselves out of the top-10, coming in at No. 11 as the recipients of two tough losses last week -- the first to unranked George Mason on Tuesday, then another to No. 14 Duke on Friday night.

But, after a poll last week that looked like a tornado hit it, this week's looks relatively tame. Only two teams exited the top-25, with two more -- Drake and previously ranked Dartmouth -- taking their spots at No. 22 and 24, respectively. Two more left the top-10, with Indiana also falling after a 3-0 loss at UCSB on Friday night. In their places climb those Gauchos (up to No. 7 after taking No. 11 last week) and Duke, with the not-so-surprising-anymore Blue Devils firing five spots up to No. 9.

Photo Courtesy of Duke

Meanwhile, Akron maintained its hold on the top spot, despite scoring only six goals and posting two shutouts in two wins last week against Ohio State and Florida Atlantic. In doing so, Michael Nanchoff, who -- along with his legendary Akron family -- was profiled by NCAA.com last week, earned a spot on his third straight Team of the Week, this time on the College Soccer News squad, after two straight weeks on the Soccer America team. The Zips earned a total of 575 points, including all 23 first-place votes.

Just below the Zips sits North Carolina, who rose up from No. 5 after a huge ACC win over Virginia, which the Tar Heels took, 1-0 in OT. South Florida's in third now, up from No. 6 last week, thanks to a shutout win over Cincinnati.

UCLA stood firm in the No. 4 spot, after a weekend that saw the Bruins go 1-0-1, downing Oregon State and tying Washington. The win marked Kyle Nakazawa's sixth straight game with a goal and pushed UCLA's unbeaten streak to six games.

Into the fifth spot slides Pac-10 rival Cal, whose conference win over then-No. 20 (and now No. 23) Stanford moved the Golden Bears up one spot in the polls.

A 5-1 win over Virginia Tech couldn't offset Wake Forest's loss earlier in the week to Charlotte, as the Demon Deacons fell to No. 6 after standing at No. 3 last week. For Charlotte, who snapped Wake Forest's nation-leading non-conference win streak and tacked on a win over Furman on Saturday, the 49ers made the biggest jump up, now finding themselves at No. 15, up seven spots from No. 22.

Rounding out the top-10 are No. 8 Harvard and No. 10 Monmouth, who both hung onto their spots from a week prior with wins over Yale and Fairleigh Dickinson, respectively.

In the second stratus, the big risers included N.C. State (up six spots to No. 18), Portland (up four to No. 17) and Northwestern (who dropped Ohio State in its Big Ten opener to shoot up to No. 21).

UMBC led teams taking the biggest hits, as the Retrievers plummeted seven spots to No. 25 after taking its first loss of the year in its first game in America East play, falling 3-1 at Vermont. Higher up the poll, but falling five spots, was Indiana, whose loss in Santa Barbara trumped a 3-0 win over then-No. 20 Kentucky earlier in the week.

Ohio State goalie Matt Lampson has put together three straight shutouts, including a blanking of No. 21 Michigan State on Sunday.

A weekend that started with an assault on the nation's elite, with four teams in the top-12 falling to unranked clubs on Friday, became an all-out pillaging of the top-25 by weekend's end.

By the end of Sunday, 11 teams in the NSCAA poll had fallen to teams outside of it. Still more ended in ties. Click here for Friday results or here for Saturday and Sunday's finals.

Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, one of those unranked teams is off to the best start in program history.

After knocking off No. 21 Michigan State, 1-0, in East Lansing on Sunday - MSU's first home loss to a Big Ten team for the defending regular season and tournament champions since Nov. 4, 2007 - the Ohio State now stands at 5-0-3.

A largely untested team learned a lot with the win, said Ohio State coach John Bluem. About how to battle through a conference game. About what it means to go on the road and take three points from a team in a year when the Big Ten changed its bylaws to denote the regular season champ as the official conference champion. And, most importantly, about how to survive.

"We have a fairly young team, a lot of freshmen and sophomores, and they're getting to play for us," Bluem said. "I think this game showed them quite a bit about the difference between regular season games conference game in terms of intensity and desire to win the game. Nobody gives any ground in conference matches."

"I'm a little bit surprised," he said of the undefeated start. "If you looked at our schedule, and you look at how the teams are doing that have been on the schedule, they've been difficult games. They're not Akron; they're not Michigan State, though. I think Michigan State was the first big test for us, and we got past it. They were tremendous in the second half against us, and were very unfortunate to have not scored."

The Buckeyes shot ahead in the 18th minute, getting a goal from 10 yards out by Sam Scales. And after a first half that saw Ohio State out-shoot MSU, 9-5, the Spartans struck back. Blasting 10 shots in the second half to OSU's five, Michigan State looked every bit the defending champs.

Meanwhile, OSU goalie Matt Lampson looked not one bit like a redshirt freshman who hadn't earned a starting spot until Sept. 18, splitting time with sophomore Ryan Dalton (3 starts, 0.62 GAA, .905 save percentage) to open the year. Now the official starter in net, Lampson hasn't allowed a goal in 322:19 minutes of play this year.

Making four saves and a series of big defensive plays, Lampson out-dueled Michigan State's Avery Steinlage, whose own NCAA-record scoreless streak ended last week. And on Monday, Lampson took home Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors.

"Going into the season, we were a little concerned about youth and inexperience," Bluem said. "But Matt and Ryan have been splitting games, and now that we've stuck with Matt for three games, he's had 3 shutouts."

On Wednesday, the Buckeyes head cross-state to show everything they've learned thus far to Akron. Top-ranked Akron. Undefeated, 7-0 Akron. The same Zips team that's outscored its opponents, 18-1 in its last five games, including a 6-0 win over Bowling Green on Saturday. A team that's allowed just one goal in seven games this year. And, finally, a team that's 44-2-4 at home since 2005.

"Going to play Akron at Akron is a big challenge," Bluem said. "They've become a powerhouse.

Ten players have scored goals for Akron. Eleven have tallied points. For Ohio State, those numbers fall to six and nine, respectively. But for an OSU team that's found ways to win - or, Bluem said, at least not lose - a game against the top-ranked team in the country on its own turf represents more than a chance to make a statement: it offers a chance for a benchmark, to see exactly how good this group of young men is.

"We're gonna prepare as best we can to go up there," he said. "But Akron's got a great team. We're gonna go into that match to see what we can do, to see how we measure up."