In the early going, the only suspense has been who will be No. 2 behind defending champion Wake Forest. SMU is the latest to claim the No. 2 spot after moving up three spots thanks to a pair of wins at its Prego's Express Italian Invitational.

Senior Paulo da Silva had goals in wins over George Mason (3-0) and Oakland (3-1), but the big story was the play of the Mustang freshmen.

Like Da Silva a Brazilian exchange student, Diogo de Almeida scored the third goal against GMU, while Payton Hickey and Joe Cooper, MLS star Kenny Cooper's younger brother, both capitalized on rebounds to score against Oakland.


UCLA SLUMPS. First, UCLA lost at home (actually Home Depot Center) to Maryland, 2-1, after blowing a late lead. Now, the Bruins were crushed by Indiana, 3-0, at Drake Stadium. At 1-3-1, UCLA looks to be in danger of falling apart.

IU went into the play with a three-game scoreless streak, but the Hoosiers broke out with  three goals in a seven-minute span. Kevin Noschang, Will Bruin and Eric Alexander all scored their first goals of the season.


LATE SHOW. Santa Clara-Cal -- a battle between 2007 WCC and Pac-10 champions -- was scoreless for 89 minutes at Buck Shaw Stadium on Friday night when fireworks hit. Connor Mitchell put the Broncos ahead with 44 seconds to play, but Tyler Barry equalized on a penalty kick with four seconds left.