4. WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTS: Louisville stays alive

• by Soccer America , Oct 27, 2006

Women's conference tournament action began Thursday with two first-round games in the Big East.

Louisville improved to 13-4-1, establishing a school record for wins with a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh. The two teams battled for 106 minutes until Jamie Craft scored on a rocket from 35 yards.

Erin Bohn converted a penalty kick in the 86th minute and Krystle Jalalian added an insurance goal with 17 seconds left to lead St. John's past Seton Hall, 2-0.

No. 1 Notre Dame heads five ranked Big East teams who will be in quarterfinal action this weekend. The Irish host St. John's, while No. 8 West Virginia meets Louisville, No. 13 Villanova is at Marquette and No. 22 Rutgers welcomes No. 25 Connecticut.

In other women's tournament play, Wisconsin-Milwaukee is riding a school-best 10-game winning streak into the Horizon Tournament. The Panthers, who staked a claim to the program's seventh consecutive regular-season championship, host Cleveland State in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Ball State beat Miami (Ohio), 4-2, on Thursday to clinch its first Mid-American regular-season title in the program's eight-year history. The Cardinals will turn around and face the RedHawks in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on Sunday.

Maine, one of the top teams in New England, is in action Friday, hosting Vermont in the first round of the America East Tournament.

(Click here for Soccer America's women's conference tournament scoreboard.)

REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPIONS
The following women's teams have already clinched regular-season titles:
ACC: North Carolina.
America East: Hartford.
Atlantic Sun: Kennesaw State.
Big East: West Virginia (American), Notre Dame (National).
Big Ten: Penn State.
Big 12: Texas A&M.
Horizon: Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Mid-American: Ball State.
Mid-Continent: Valparaiso.
Missouri Valley: Drake.
Mountain West: Utah.
Ohio Valley: Samford.
SWAC: Alabama A&M (Eastern); Grambling State (Western).