The Southeastern Conference has fared well in the first three weeks of women’s soccer play. Nine SEC schools retain a winning record and five teams have made the Top 25 so far this season.
Close games have not been friendly to SEC teams. So far there have been 29 one-goal matches and the SEC is barely above .500 with a 15-14 record. SEC teams have done worse in overtime games (4-5-7), already competing in sixteen games beyond regulation.
The University of Florida is the highest ranked team with a No. 3 ranking in the Soccertimes.com poll. The Gators are 6-0 and first place in the SEC East. They will finish their seven game home stand on Sunday against No. 25 Missouri.
Ole Miss is the only other team to win all its games as it has tied its longest winning streak in the program’s history with six wins to open the season. Ole Miss currently ranks first in the SEC West and gained its first ever win over a Top-25 team when it defeated No. 25 Missouri last weekend. The Rebels were rated No. 21 in the Soccer Buzz Rankings. They will take their first road trip of the season this weekend as they head to Tallahassee, Fla. Ole Miss will face off against Jacksonville and Florida State. The Seminoles dropped the Rebels last year in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs also gained their first win over a Top-25 team by beating Missouri. Australia native freshman goalie Luisa Marzotto earned her second straight SEC Defensive Player of the Week honor. Marzotto set an MSU record by shutting out Missouri and extending her consecutive shutout minutes streak to 369:08. Marzotto has helped State place fourth in the NCAA in goals against average with .19 and sixth in shootout percentage. The Bulldogs have yet to lose a game posting a 4-0-1 record and head on the road for three straight games.
The University of Tennessee is the second highest nationally ranked team in the SEC. The Volunteers were rated 13th in the Soccer Buzz poll. UT captured its own Tennessee Classic for the first time by shutting out two teams which reached the 2002 NCAA tournament, Richmond and Charlotte. The Vols travel to Maryland this weekend to face first-time foes William & Mary and Maryland.
Auburn is the only other SEC team in the national ratings. It placed No. 19 in Soccer Buzz and holds their place in the SEC West. The Tigers lost to No. 9 Pepperdine 4-0 last weekend and will take on Harvard and Dartmouth in the Dartmouth Tournament this weekend.
Georgia is fresh off last weekend’s successful weekend in Spring, Texas where they defeated Houston and Rice and hold third place in the SEC East. Senior forward Jessica Winton was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week following her performance where she scored three goals including the overtime winner against Rice.
The Bulldogs will travel to California this weekend and face Santa Clara, last year’s national championship runner up, on Friday before playing Stanford on Sunday. Both games will be televised on College Sports Television as Santa Clara was ranked No. 2 and Stanford No. 11 in last week’s Soccer Buzz Top 25 poll.
The LSU Tigers are coming off a difficult weekend. On Friday the Tigers tied Tulane 1-1 then traveled to Texas where they could not hold on to a 3-1 halftime lead and lost in overtime. But LSU should have an easier time this weekend when they face UL-Lafayette and Southeastern Louisiana. Freshman Stacy Bishop currently leads the SEC in points per game average and is sixth nationally.
Kentucky fell out of the Top 25 rankings after losing to BYU and Rutgers at this past weekend’s Kentucky Invitational. The Wildcats will travel to Arizona this weekend and face the University of Arizona on Friday and Arizona State on Sunday.
If the Crimson Tide win both games this weekend, it will make 100 victories for Alabama coach Don Staley. Alabama will play Rice Friday night and then must face Sam Houston State on Saturday.
Arkansas and South Carolina rank last in their respective divisions and will need to win this weekend if they hope to begin their climb out of the cellar.