Long Beach State headed north last week and turned in two outstanding performances, and this week Aimee Medwin and her teammates will head south to San Diego attempting to maintain that solid form. First up, Beach face San Diego, who have already defeated two other Big West teams on their way to a 3-1 record. However, Long Beach State will be battle-hardened from their games against Pepperdine and UCLA, and are tipped to win the Big West. This game will be followed by a clash with San Diego State, who suffered a 6-0 loss at the hands of Amy Sayer and Stanford last week as they fell to a 1-3 record. This game looks as though it could go one of two ways: either San Diego State come out firing as they look to take their frustrations out on this weekend’s opponents, or Long Beach State dominate an Aztecs side bereft of confidence following some heavy defeats. Whatever may happen, expect Medwin to be right in the middle of things for Long Beach State as her transfer from Ole Miss looks to be a masterstroke at this stage.
Not only did Stanford defeat San Diego State 6-0 last week, they also dominated Cal State Northridge 7-0, but those games were merely tune-ups compared to what Amy Sayer and her teammates will face this weekend. The Cardinal head across the country this week to the Research Triangle as they take on one of the toughest road trips in college soccer, facing Duke and North Carolina in the space of three days. Two of Stanford’s national championship victories came against these two schools, but those games in 2011 and 2019 are merely history now, particularly as the Cardinal look to bounce back from their disappointing spring campaign. So far, they have done an excellent job of consigning that season to the history books; however, the two Tobacco Road sides pose the first true test of the fall campaign. The Stanford rotation, of which Sayer is a large part, is looking far more cohesive than in spring, and they have every reason to be optimistic about their chances. However, teams don’t just roll into Chapel Hill or Durham and roll out with three points under their belt, so they will have to be at their absolute best if this winning streak is to continue from three to five games.
A 5-0 defeat to Jacksonville State aside, Alabama State have been highly competitive in every game this season, falling to four single-goal defeats. This week, Madi Chambers, Grace Norbury, and the rest of the Hornets get two more chances to pick up a first win, including a battle against fellow HBCU side South Carolina State. Interestingly, South Carolina State have struggled to field a full side at any point this season, which in and of itself will have a significant bearing on each team’s chances of victory in this game. However, despite playing with just 10 players, the Bulldogs did keep Jacksonville (not to be confused with Jacksonville State) to just two goals in a 2-0 loss, a vast improvement from the 7-0 loss to the same team a couple of weeks earlier. The Hornets then head home to welcome Gardner-Webb to the ASU Soccer Complex, with the Runnin’ Bulldogs also still yet to tally a win this season. Hopefully by that time, Alabama State have a win on the board and will be looking for two in a row. Hopefully we also see both Norbury and Chambers in the starting lineup for the first time since the game against Presbyterian, with both players showing good form to start the season.
Butler bounced back from their opening day 5-0 loss to Michigan with a pair of résumé-building wins over Big Ten opponents, and this week they welcome Pac-12 side Utah as they continue to litter their schedule with power conference foes. First though, they will have to get past an IUPUI (that’s Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, so you can see why they abbreviate it) side that is yet to pick up an NCAA Division I victory this season. These games can be particularly annoying; Butler are in good form, and their eyes could easily wander towards the Utah game later in the weekend. However, should they maintain focus, they should go into the game against the Utes with a win under their belt. Claire Farrington will be integral to their fortunes in both games this weekend; after easing her way into things in spring, the former Brisbane Roar player has made an impressive jump; of course, when you’ve played in a W-League team brimming with Matildas legends, why should anything faze you?
Full Schedule
(All Times AEST)
Alabama State (Madison Chambers, Grace Norbury)
This week: @ South Carolina State – 9am, Saturday September 4; v Gardner-Webb – 5am, Monday September 6
Butler (Claire Farrington)
This week: v IUPUI – 9am, Friday September 3; v Utah – 3am, Monday September 6
Creighton (Ayana Aoyagi, Renee Pountney)
This week: v South Dakota – 10am, Friday September 3; v South Dakota State – 6am, Monday September 6
DePaul (Katie Godden)
This week: @ Milwaukee – 10am, Friday September 3; @ Michigan – 3am, Monday September 6
East Tennessee State (D’arne Boato)
This week: @ Radford – 9am, Friday September 3
Eastern Illinois (Ashleigh Harvie)
This week: v Chicago State – 6:30am, Saturday September 4; @ Cincinnati – 9am, Monday September 6
Grand Canyon (Sandra Hill)
This week: @ Northern Arizona – 12pm, Saturday September 4; v UNLV – 6am, Monday September 6
Hawaii (Eliza Ammendolia)
This week: @ Gonzaga – 12pm, Friday September 3; @ Washington State – 6am, Monday September 6
Hofstra (Grace Watson Carr)
This week: @ Columbia – 9am, Friday September 3; v Pennsylvania – 2am, Monday September 6
Illinois (Ashleigh Lefevre)
This week: v Xavier – 10am, Friday September 3
Illinois State (Indianna Asimus)
This week: v Utah – 9am, Friday September 3; @ Milwaukee – 4am, Monday September 6
Incarnate Word (Madison McComasky)
This week: v UTEP – 8am, Saturday September 4; v New Mexico State – 2am, Monday September 6
La Salle (Alyssa Van Heurck)
This week: @ Drexel – 8am, Friday September 3; @ Rutgers – 3am, Monday September 6
Long Beach State (Aimee Medwin)
This week: @ San Diego – 12pm, Friday September 3; @ San Diego State – 12pm, Monday September 6
Louisiana Tech (Caitlin Le Roux)
This week: @ Missouri State – 4am, Monday September 6
Louisiana-Monroe (Brianna Edwards, Siobhan Edwards)
This week: v Nicholls State – 10am, Friday September 3; @ Northwestern State – 9am, Monday September 6
Massachusetts (Hannah Peric)
This week: v Bryant – 6am, Friday September 3; v Merrimack – 3am, Monday September 6
Oregon (Lara Kirkby)
This week: v UC Santa Barbara – 12pm, Saturday September 4
Rhode Island (Teresa Morrissey)
This week: @ Brown – 9am, Friday September 3; v Boston University – 4am, Monday September 6
San Francisco (Ashley Jordan)
This week: @ California – 12pm, Friday September 3; v UC San Diego – 6am, Monday September 6
Stanford (Amy Sayer)
This week: @ Duke – 9am, Friday September 3; @ North Carolina – 3am, Monday September 6
Tennessee-Martin (Kiarnie Latham)
This week: v North Alabama – 10am, Friday September 3; v Wright State – 4am, Monday September 6
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Molly Arens)
This week: @ Prairie View A&M – 10am, Saturday September 4; v UTRGV – 10am, Monday September 6
UMBC (Isobel Davy, Annaliese Grove, Abi Jordan)
This week: v Delaware – 9am, Friday September 3; v VMI – 9am, Sunday September 5
UNC Asheville (Jasmine Barry)
This week: v Elon – 8am, Friday September 3; v Indiana State – 2am, Monday September 6
USC (Talia Grossman)
This week: @ Michigan – 9am, Saturday September 4; @ Western Michigan – 1am, Monday September 6
VCU (Greta Kraszula)
This week: @ Old Dominion – 9am, Friday September 3; @ East Carolina – 3am, Monday September 6
Washington State (Aly Hay)
This week: @ San Diego State – 12pm, Friday September 3; v Hawaii – 6am, Monday September 6
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