When Hofstra and Maryland met last week in what was ostensibly a soccer match, no one could have guessed that the contest would actually turn into Rocket League.
But it did.
The Hofstra Own Goal Against @MarylandMSoccer Last Night... pic.twitter.com/dPwyl06skI
Ah, finals...every student’s favorite time of the year, also known as hell week. It’s a time when all your teachers decide to test you on everything you may or may not have learned over the semester. A time when your stress increases and your sleep decreases.
Teachers expect you to put their class at the top of your priority list even though you have a million other things to do and worry about. But, we’ve all been there before, and in order to get to where we want to be, we must prove that we can succeed under pressure.
Following last fall’s incidents involving the Harvard men’s soccer team and their creation of a “scouting report” that lewdly ranked women’s team players since as far back as 2012, ultimately resulting in the suspension of the team for the remainder of the season, the scandal is back in the limelight with the University now beginning a thorough review of their 42 varsity progr
Stanford have repeated as NCAA College Cup champions by defeating Wake Forest in penalties. A scoreless encounter in Houston gave way to penalties, Stanford goalkeeper Andrew Epstein proving to be the hero with two big saves to win the shootout 5-4.
The first half showcased the talents of Stanford goalkeeper Epstein. The redshirt junior was voted to the NCAA Division I Men’s All-America second team on Friday, and he came up with two big saves in the first half to deny both Jon Bakero and Ian Harkes.
The College Cup has finally arrived in Houston, home to this season's semifinals and final, and Stanford looks poised to become only the second team to win repeat championships. The last team to do it was Indiana in 2003 and 2004. With their defeat of Louisville in the quarterfinals, Stanford will now play the ninth-seeded University of North Carolina in the semifinals on Friday night.
Stanford vs. University of North Carolina | Friday, 8:45 PM ET | ESPNU
It’s been unpredictable in the Women’s NCAA Division I and Division II soccer tournaments, and we still have some time left to enjoy these crazy games. The semifinals are up next.
Division I
Providence provided the upset of the 2016 Men's NCAA Tournament by shocking top-ranked and previously undefeated Maryland 5-4 in the second round. Even more stunning than the upset was how they went about achieving it.
Down 4-1 in the 54th minute, the Friars' season appeared all but over. However, Providence got a glimmer of hope in the 70th minute, Julian Gressel scoring his second of the match and cutting the defecit to 4-2. Thirty six seconds later, Nick Sailor scored his first goal of the season for Providence with a stunning effort from 30 yards out.
The 2016 NCAA Men’s College Cup kicked off this week. Defending champions Stanford had a bye from the first round as a series of unseeded, round one games took place. Men’s NCAA soccer concludes with the oddly numbered 48-team bracket. To make it even more confusing, the selection committee identifies the top 16 seeds and then places them around the bracket.
This, um, is not how you're supposed to act during a soccer game. You're supposed to be nice and play soccer. UMass Boston did neither of these things, unless you count punting the ball into a guy's face as "playing soccer".
We do not count punting the ball into the guy's face as "playing soccer", although we will note that of the five violent things UMass Boston players did in that video, that was the least-violent thing. Punting a ball is less violent that elbowing, eye-raking, headlocking and headbutting.
The 2016 NCAA Women’s College Cup kicked off this past weekend. Penn State, the 2015 champion, kicked off the opening round by steamrolling their opponent, Bucknell, 6-0. As always, though, it is a wide open field, with strong teams across different conferences and a few players from the Olympics looking to make a big impact.