Last weekend and early this week brought a barrage of upsets in NCAA soccer

October 19, 2022
After the barrage of upsets last weekend and early this week, yesterday’s soccer polls sent several squads spinning, with some nabbing a rankings’ golazo and others sailing over the crossbar.
CollegeGeneral
Last weekend and early this week brought a barrage of upsets in NCAA soccer
SOURCE: TWITTER/NCAA SOCCER

The GIST: After the barrage of upsets last weekend and early this week, yesterday’s soccer polls sent several squads spinning, with some nabbing a rankings’ golazo and others sailing over the crossbar.

The gals: Despite notching their first loss of the season, the UCLA Bruins held onto the top spot, while the team who bested them, Stanford, received a two-spot reward to No. 7 for the effort. But the biggest glow-up went to the Michigan State Spartans, who leapfrogged a full nine spots to No. 6 after defeating then–No. 5 Northwestern on Sunday.

  • And cue the walk-up tunes, because BYU showed up to the party at No. 19 after handling then–No. 14 Portland 4–1 on Saturday.
  • The squads contending with gravity? The aforementioned Northwestern, who fell to No. 13, and No. 21 Portland and No. 14 Rutgers, who fell seven and six spots, respectively.

The fellas: Then–No. 25 Duquesne and then–No. 7 Maryland both fell to unranked teams on Monday, completely ousting Duquesne from the poll and knocking Maryland down a peg to No. 8.

  • But what’s sus about these rankings? The lack of punishment parity. Bottom-third schools like Cornell and Clemson plummeted down (or out of!) the rankings after posting tight losses to unranked squads, while the ones toward the top, like Maryland, Marshall and Portland, dropped a mere step or two for the same thing. Hmm.