This week in women's college soccer

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Aug 23, 2016

Defending national champion Penn State is missing four players who are red-shirting -- Emily Ogle, Maddie Elliston, Ellie Jean and Kaleigh Riehl -- as they prepare for the Under-20 Women's World Cup Nov. 13-Dec. 3 in Papua New Guinea. A fifth U-20, sophomore goalkeeper Rose Chandler, is in school and training with the Nittany Lions.

Q&A: U.S. U-20 coach Michelle French on country vs. college conflict

“We support the dreams of our student-athletes on and off the field," head coach Erica Dambach said in a statement. "We are excited to follow our five Nittany Lions work toward their dreams of playing in a World Cup, but it is time for our team to turn its attention to the upcoming season.”

Riehl, Elliston and Ogle started for the Nittany Lions in their 1-0 win over Duke to capture their first national title in 2015. Jean came off the bench.

Dambach has extensive experience with the women's national team program.

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“She presented it as, ‘Guys, this is such a great opportunity,’” Elliston told the Centre Daily. “And it really is, and we know that.”

No college player picked to the U-20s' July camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., played on Week 1 of the 2016 women's season.

No school is as impacted as Penn State, though Notre Dame is close. The Irish have players hoping to make the U.S., Mexico and Brazil teams: Sabrina Flores, Natalie Jacobs, Monica Flores and Jennifer Westendorf. U.S. U-20s Sabrina Flores and Jacobs were the top Notre Dame scorers in 2015 with remaining eligibility.

U.S. U-20 WNT (July 2016 camp)
GOALKEEPERS:
Rose Chandler (Penn State), Casey Murphy (Rutgers).
DEFENDERS:
Madeline Elliston (Penn State), Emily Fox (high school senior), Sabrina Flores (Notre Dame), Ellie Jean (Penn State), Natalie Jacobs (Notre Dame), *Taylor Otto (North Carolina), Kaleigh Riehl (Penn State).
MIDFIELDERS:
*Marley Canales (UCLA), Katie Cousins (Tennessee), *Savannah DeMelo (USC), Kelcie Hedge (Washington), Emily Ogle (Penn State), Courtney Petersen (Virginia), Parker Roberts (Florida).
FORWARDS:
Ashley Sanchez (high school senior), Jessie Scarpa (North Carolina), Ally Watt (Texas A&M).
*Incoming freshman.

THIS WEEK'S SOCCER AMERICA TOP 25 -- Stanford remained No. 1 in the SA Top 25 rankings thanks to a 2-1 win over Navy and 3-0 victory over Georgetown, both on the road. The top seven teams were unchanged. The big climber: Santa Clara, which knocked off ranked USC and Cal, debuts at No. 8. A second WCC team moved into the Top 25: Pepperdine. bit.ly/2bKoMAy

LOOKING AHEAD -- Stanford may have the best defense in the country, but it will be tested when the Cardinal hosts Florida.

The Gators are led by Savannah Jordan, who scored the final goal in each of Florida’s wins last weekend -- 5-2 against Iowa State and 3-0 over Florida Atlantic -- to give her 67 in her career, third on Florida's all-time list behind Abby Wambach (96) and Andi Sellers (71). She also registered four assists on the weekend, including a career-high three in Friday’s win.

Friday:
1 Stanford vs. 6 Florida
5 Penn State vs. 13 BYU
4 West Virginia vs. 9 Clemson
12 Texas A&M vs. 14 UCLA
Sunday:
14 UCLA vs. 6 Florida
10 Connecticut vs. 16 Rutgers
23 Pepperdine vs. 17 USC

College Soccer: On the Air

MONDAY NIGHT UPSET -- Nebraska (2-0-0) knocked off No. 13 BYU, ending the Cougars' 18-game home winning streak dating back to 2014 -- the longest in the nation -- with a 1-0 decision. The Huskers scored in the 55th minute when Mel Brandt headed in Alli Peterson's cross. The goal matched BYU's total goals allowed at home in 2015.

TRIVIA. Name the only Power 5 team without women's soccer. Answer below.

BRONCOLAND UPDATE -- Santa Clara opened with wins over two Top 25 teams  for the first time since 1993 when it defeated USC, 3-2, and California, 1-0. Both games were decided on golden goals, first by Kellie Peay and then Jenna Roering.

"The challenge in a weekend like this, similar to the NCAA Tournament, is that you play two great teams," Smith said. "We invested a tremendous amount of energy on Friday night so it's not easy to do that again two days later. We didn't do a good job with that in the first half. At halftime, we talked about working harder and investing more energy. Once we did that, the game was at least even, if we weren't the better team." bit.ly/2bah7Pw

THE 300 CLUB -- Nikki Izzo-Brown won her 300th game as a college coach as No. 4 West Virginia edged Buffalo, 2-0, at the Penn State Invitational. Izzo-Brown coached one season at West Virginia Wesleyan before becoming the WVU head coach in 1996. The Mountaineers have made the NCAA Tournament the last 16 years. John Hedlund, the only coach the North Texas women's program has ever had, won his 300th game as the Mean Green head coach with a 4-0 win over Incarnate Word. Hedlund ranks fourth among active Division I women's coaches with 21 straight winning seasons.

Consecutive Winning Seasons:
37 Anson Dorrance (North Carolina)
34 John Daly (William & Mary
23 G Guerrieri (Texas A&M)
21 John Hedlund (North Texas)

TRIVIA ANSWER. The launch of Kansas State's women's program leaves the ACC's Georgia Tech as the only school in Power 5 conferences that doesn't have a varsity women's program. Just 29 of the 65 Power 5 schools have men's programs.

AND BRONZE GOES TO ...

Canada:
Kadeisha Buchanan (West Virginia)
Jessie Fleming (UCLA)
Nichelle Prince (Ohio State)
Rebecca Quinn (Duke)
Ashley Lawrence (West Virginia)