Top 25 teams fall by the wayside
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Aug 31, 2009
-- Duke fell twice, losing to UNC Greensboro, 1-0, and UCF, 3-2, at the Carolina Nike Invitational. The Blue Devils outshot UNCG, 22-5, but couldn't win in a game delayed 69 minutes because of lightning. Against UCF, Duke lost starting center back Nicole Lipp in the 25th minute with an injury and did not return. Coach Robbie Church took the blame for the loss, saying he failed to readjust his defense after Lynnea Pappas equalized in the 85th minute. Less than two minutes later, Stacie Hubbard scored the winner on a UCF corner.
-- USC fell to 0-2 after losing to St. John's, 2-1, on Sunday. (Two days earlier, the Trojans lost to Mexico's national team, 2-0, in an exhibition.) Sunday's defeat was USC's first at McAlister Field since 2006. The Trojans lost despite playing with a player advantage after Courtney Lane was red carded in the 54th minute for a foul that led to the tying goal on a penalty kick by Megan Ohai. Raelynne Lee later gave St. John's the win.
-- The highest ranked team to lose was Texas A&M. It took Sylvia Forbes only four seconds to score for Purdue, and the Boilermakers went on to win, 3-2, before 6,589 fans. "We're upset with the result, but you can't take anything away from Purdue," said A&M coach G Guerrieri. "They played great."
-- Other wins by unranked teams over Top 25 teams: BYU-Connecticut (1-0), Utah-Santa Clara (1-0), Georgia-Minnesota (2-0), Hofstra-Richmond (1-0), Colorado College-Washington State (2-1).
* Here is this week's Soccer America Women's Top 25.
* As a precaution, Stanford assistant coach Jay Cooney decided to drive his own car to the No. 2 Cardinal's game at Cal Poly, and it's a good thing he did. He got the call after he had driven for about an hour that his wife, Greta, was in labor. He turned around, missing Stanford's 2-1 win, and made it in plenty of time for the birth of their second son, Hayes, at 6:25 p.m. Hayes' numbers were as healthy as the Cardinal's: 20.5 inches, 7 pounds, 13 oz.
