Recapping the opening weekend of NCAA women's soccer

The GIST: Hurricane Hilary wasn’t the only storm brewing yesterday, and despite the weather canceling No. 1 UCLA’s and No. 22 USC’s matches, the NCAA gals (thunder)struck pitches nationwide, with ranked squads proving their Top 25 mettle. Here’s whose season started like lightning.

The biggest battle: In the only ranked soccer Sunday matchup, the No. 6 Florida State Seminoles toyed with host No. 9 TCU for nearly 71 minutes before junior Taylor Huff broke the scoreless game open. Just 130 seconds later, senior Onyi Echegini, fresh off her WWC run with Nigeria, notched another to give the ’Noles the 2–0 win.

The nail-biters: No. 7 Alabama surprisingly needed senior Kate Henderson’s 79th-minute scramble to slot in the game’s lone goal and snag the win over host UAB. Also surviving with a 1–0 W? No. 16 Georgetown, who just squeaked by LMU, and No. 20 Memphis, who squeezed by Ole Miss thanks to fifth-year Saorla Miller’s first-half poke.

• No. 18 Northwestern wasn’t so lucky. Their 0–0 draw with Kansas State made them the only Top 25 squad to finish the day without a dub over an unranked team. The hits just keep on comin’ for those Wildcats.

The blowouts: Other ranked squads notched wins with gusto: No. 12 South Carolina and No. 15 Texas netted six goals each while shutting out Jacksonville and Rice, respectively, but it was No. 10 Penn State’s eight goals and No. 25 Clemson’s nine that took the Top 25 cake.

• Slamming the door the hardest, though, was unranked Jacksonville State, whose 13–0 annihilation of South Carolina State included four-goal games from junior forward Laleh Lonteen and sophomore midfielder Camryn Davis. It’s giving 2019 WWC.