Men's Week 3: Four games to follow this weekend
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 11, 2015
Men's Top 25 Matchups, Week 3:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
No. 10 Maryland 2 (Elney 67, Kabelik 84) No. 8 Akron 3 (Najem 22, Laryea 39, 83). Att.: 4,003.
No. 14 Georgetown 3 (Campbell 39, 88, Basuljevic 47) No. 16 UCLA 1 (Yueill 71). Att.: 2,159.
No. 5 Clemson 1 (Burnikel 28) No. 9 Coastal Carolina 1 (Follensbee 77) Att.: 2,748.
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
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
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 national champion 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 Jeremy Ebobisse, 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 Niko Corriveau have all of Virginia’s goals with two apiece.
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 sophomore Richie Laryea had a pair of goals and assisted on a third goal by Adam Najem to spark the Zips to a 3-2 victory past Maryland 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 Vince Cicciarelli had three of the four goals as the Billikens beat Memphis and Tulsa. Sophomore goalkeeper Sascha Otte posted shutouts in both games.
SATURDAY: 7 p.m ET, ESPN 3: Notre Dame-Clemson. One of top early matchups of the season 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 stretch of 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, including defending 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 first blemish after three minutes. Coach Mike Noonan liked how Clemson responded after Coastal equalized in he second half.
“I thought that our response 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 play against.”
SUNDAY, 2 p.m. ET, BTN Plus: Michigan State-Creighton. Creighton will play its first game since 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, but they 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 Zach Bennett (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 Year candidate with four goals and three assists.
