As we head towards the midpoint of the college season, several of the top ranked men’s and women’s teams are establishing themselves as serious championship threats. But several ranked teams also fell this week, showing us that this is the time of year when the best programs kick things into another gear.

Women
Only two upsets stained the women’s collegiate Top 25 this week as #14 Tennessee dropped a 2-0 decision to unranked LSU, and #24 Texas A & M lost 1-0 to Missouri. But it took some late game dramatics to keep the top two teams in the country undefeated.

Stanford’s Lindsay Taylor scored on a diving header in the 86th minute to give the top-ranked Cardinal a 1-0 victory over Washington State and keep them among the ranks of the undefeated with their 10th win in 11 games (10-0-1). UCLA’s Kylie McCarthy also scored a late-game header to lift the #2 Bruins over Oregon, 1-0. Rounding out the top three, Oklahoma State trounced cross –state rival Oklahoma in Norman, 3-0 in front of more than 2,000 fans, a Sooners record.

In other Top 25 action, the Memphis Tigers scored the lone goal of the game in the final minute to outlast Marshall and likely keep them in the Top 10 for another week. In the SEC, #15 Florida and #20 Auburn were both winners, and Big East power West Virginia, ranked #21, took a 3-1 decision from Georgetown.

The ACC is loaded this year, as in most years, and the level of competition this week bore that out. On Thursday, #4 Duke and #7 Virginia played to a 0-0 tie, and #6 Wake Forest also played to a scoreless tie against Virginia Tech. #9 North Carolina managed to escape with a 2-0 win over #10 Florida State, and 11th-ranked Maryland held off Clemson, 2-1.

On Sunday, two games of interest include #6 Wake at #7 Virginia, and the 17th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers travel to play the #25 Buckeyes at Ohio State.

Men
On the men’s side, once again it was the ACC that provided much of the excitement this week. #2 Maryland defeated visiting #3 Creighton, 1-0, in front of more than 5,600 fans, in one of the games of the season thus far. But more than a victory over a top opponent, the Terps’ win ended Creighton’s 8-game winning streak. It was also the first time all season that Creighton had been scored upon.

Also in the ACC, Virginia was dominant in a 2-0 win over Clemson, and visiting Duke played to a 2-2 tie with the rival 4th-ranked Tar Heels in front of more than 4,800 fans, a UNC record.

Among the other Top 25 teams, UCLA needed a golden goal to top Cal, and #17 Boston College dropped a 2-1 decision to NC State. Other upsets included UC Santa Barbara’s (#7) 1-0 loss to UC Riverside and #8 UC Irvine’s loss to Cal Poly, 1-0. James Madison also upended #25 West Virginia, 2-0.

Locally, #15 St. John’s defeated Princeton, 3-2. Adrian L’Esperance scored in the 62nd minute to give the Red Storm a 2-0 lead, but the Tigers came charging back to tie the game less than 15 minutes later before L’Esperance fed Battuto Punyed for the game winner in the 110th minute.