It was a tumultuous week in the women’s Top 10, while the top of the men’s rankings dominated their opposition. Several LIers continued to make an impact, particularly on the men’s side.

Men
The Top 4 of UConn, Maryland, North Carolina, and Akron were a combined 5-0 this week, with Akron winning their third straight over #7 Indiana, 1-0, in a battle of Top Ten teams. In fact, none of those teams gave up a single goal. The same can’t be said of #5 South Florida, who dropped a 1-0 decision to unranked South Carolina. #16 UC Irvine was the only other top 20 team to lose to an unranked opponent, falling to Stanford, 2-0. #24 Tulsa fell to #12 UCLA, and #25 Washington was a 1-0 loser to top-ranked UConn.

Locally, St. John’s climbed three spots to #15 with wins over Princeton (3-0) and William & Mary (2-1). Massapequa’s Daniel Herrera scored in the Princeton victory, and Patchogue-Medford’s Jimmy Mulligan was credited with his first career game-winner in the win over the Tigers. Elsewhere, Stony Brook was a 3-0 loser to #10 Charlotte, and Iona dropped 2-1 decision to USF.

Hofstra was 2-0 on the week with wins over Binghamton and Albany. North Babylon’s Tyler Botte recorded the first two-goal game of his career in the Binghamton victory, and had goal and an assist for a seven-point week. Coram’s Adam Janowski got his first career start in goal and made three saves to record the win. Hofstra is now 4-0-1, their best start since 1985.

Women
Parity is the word that best describes the top of the women’s college rankings. Four teams in the top ten (#3 OK State, #6 Penn State, #8 Marquette, and #10 Missouri) all lost to unranked or lower ranked teams this weekend, and #12 Louisville dropped a game to unranked Kentucky. In addition, #1 UCLA, #8 Marquette, #18 Portland, #19 Georgetown, and #20 Tennessee all settled for ties in what we would term winnable games this week.

Soccer America says that UNC is the team to watch. The Tar Heels (ranked #14 coming into the week) shut down Marquette, 4-0, and did it without several players who were part of the U20 women’s team at the World Cup. They are now 3-1-1 and are steadily climbing the board.

Hofstra split a pair of games this week, topping St. Bonaventure, 2-0, thanks to a goal from Levittown’s Jill Mulholland, but losing to Marist despite a goal from East Meadow’s Lulu Echeverry. Stony Brook fell to Rutgers, 2-0 this week, but Oceanside’s Ashley Castanio was outstanding in goal with a career-high 10 saves. St. John’s capped off their non-conference schedule with a 2-1 overtime win over Columbia, moving their record to 4-3 on the season.