The ACC season kicks off with two big games: Duke-Virginia and Notre Dame-Clemson. The Irish have yet to concede a goal, and one of the reasons is the play of MichaelShipp, Harry‘s brother. After winning at Maryland and Georgetown, Akron rides into FirstEnergy Stadium to play Saint Louis in the Zips’ 1,000th match. OnSunday, Creighton will play its first game since taking over the top spot in the Soccer America top 25 rankings when it travels to Michigan State.
Men’s Top 25 Matchups, Week 3:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
No. 14 Georgetown 3 (Campbell 39, 88, Basuljevic 47) No. 16 UCLA 1 (Yueill 71). Att.: 2,159.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8
No. 15 Louisville 2 (Schmid 26, Johnson 28) No. 25 Kentucky 0. Att.: 4,507.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
No. 8 Akron vs. No. 17 Saint Louis
No. 3 Notre Dame vs. No. 5 Clemson
FRIDAY, 7 pm ET,ESPN3: Duke-Virginia. Off to a 4-0-0 start to the season, its best start to the season since 2009, Duke opens ACC play when it hosts defending nationalchampion Virginia in the 86th meeting between the teams.
The Blue Devils, who haven’t beaten UVa since that 4-0-0 start, have been led by sophomore JeremyEbobisse, who has four goals and two assist. But John Kerr‘s team has gotten balanced scoring with goals from eight different players.
Virginia, second in the Soccer America Top 25, most recently defeated George Mason 2-1 after tying Tulsa 1-1 four days prior. Riggs Lennon and
FRIDAY 7 pm ET: Akron-Saint Louis. After winning at Maryland and Georgetown — the first back-to-back regular season road victories over top 10 opponents since the 2010 national championship campaign –Akron rides into FirstEnergy Stadium for the 1,000th match in program history. But the Zips will come up against Saint Louis, which has not allowed a goal in two wins.
Canadian sophomoreRichie Laryea had a pair of goals and assisted on a third goal by Adam Najem to spark the Zips to a 3-2 victory pastMaryland three days after Najem’s goal gave the Zips a 1-0 win over Georgetown. Najem is coming off a season in which he ranked fourth in the nation with 14 goals.
Senior
SATURDAY: 7 p.m ET, ESPN 3: Notre Dame-Clemson. One of top early matchups of theseason is this rematch of the 2014 ACC Tournament semifinals Clemson won on penalty kicks en route to taking the conference title.
For the No. 3 Irish, it is the start of a stretchof games that also includes contests against Xavier, No. 6 North Carolina, Michigan State and No. 2 Virginia. The five games are all against teams that made the 2014 NCAA Tournament, includingdefending champion Virginia.
Notre Dame has yet to give up a goal in four games, and one of the keys is Michael Shipp — Harry‘s brother — who was named last week’s ACC Defensive Player of the Week.
The No. 5 Tigers are coming off a 1-1 tie with Coastal Carolina on Monday night, their firstblemish after three minutes. Coach Mike Noonan liked how Clemson responded after Coastal equalized in he second half.
“I thought that ourresponse in the second half was good and, in particular, I thought we went for it in overtime,” he said. “They’re a good team, it’s a difficult style to have to playagainst.”
SUNDAY, 2 p.m. ET, BTN Plus: Michigan State-Creighton. Creighton will play its first gamesince taking over the top spot in the Soccer America Top 25 rankings when it travels to East Lansing,Michigan, to face Michigan State. The Spartans were hit hard by losses, losing Fatai Alashe and Jay Chapman to MLS, butthey have done well to start out 3-1-0. Their lone defeat was 1-0 at Oregon State.
Michigan State has spread out its six goals among five different players. Zach Carroll is the lone player with two goals, both game-winners, including his overtime penalty kick to beat West Virginia on Monday. Goalkeeper ZachBennett (0.26 GAA) has allowed just one goal in four starts this season and already owns MSU career marks for victories and shutouts.
Creighton is 4-0-0 with wins over Michigan(1-0), Milwaukee (4-0), Cal State Northridge (2-1) and ranked UC Irvine (4-0). Junior Fabian Herbers has lived up to his billing as a Player of the Yearcandidate with four goals and three assists.