The 2006 college season opens Friday for both men and women. Traditionally, women's teams started and finished their season a week before the men, but both seasons will begin and end at the same time in 2006. The regular season will end on the weekend of Nov. 4-5, and the Men's and Women's College Cups will take place Dec. 1-3 in St. Louis and Cary, N.C., respectively.

Protests about the parallel seasons -- scheduling conflicts arise most notably during conference tournaments -- resulted in the NCAA reverting back to the traditional scheduling formula for the 2007 season. The 2007 Men's College Cup will be played Dec. 14-16 in Cary. The 2007 women's final four will be played a week earlier at a site to be determined.

MEN'S ATTRACTIONS

A full slate of men's tournaments will take place this weekend. Five tournaments feature at least two teams ranked in the Soccer America Preseason Men's Top 25:

" WAKE FOREST ADIDAS CLASSIC. No. 1 North Carolina, No. 18 Wake Forest (host), Central Florida, William & Mary.
" GREAT WESTERN PLAZA/GOLDEN HURRICANE CLASSIC. No. 2 SMU, No. 24 Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Tulsa (host), Wisconsin.
" VIRGINIA SOCCER CLASSIC. No. 3 Virginia (host), No. 7 Akron, No. 21 UC Santa Barbara, Davidson.
-- News flash: UCSB opened with a 5-0 victory over Akron. scoring three goals in the first half hour.
" MIKE BERTICELLI MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT. No. 10 Notre Dame (host), No. 13 Creighton, No. 14 Indiana, UAB.
" BAY AREA CLASSIC. No. 17 San Francisco, No. 20 California, Santa Clara, Stanford.