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Super Spartan - Michigan State Forward Laura Heyboer Has Been In Scorching Form in 2011

(46) Michigan State vs (26) Wisconsin – 5:00 PM EST [Last Year: Wisconsin 2 - 0 Michigan State]

A week after a fixture with massive title implications against Penn State, Wisconsin faces another challenge at the top of the league as they travel to East Lansing to take on the Spartans of Michigan State. Despite a rather gaudy 8-1-0 record, Michigan State hasn’t really faced an opponent of any repute since the team’s 3-2 loss in the opening match of the season against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After eight rather tame tests, the Spartans get a chance once again to prove they aren’t a bunch of flat track bullies against Wisconsin. Bullies may be exactly what the Badgers were to Penn State last weekend in a rather cynical display that saw them kick lumps out of the Nittany Lions but come away with a 1-0 win and a priceless three points in the Big Ten standings. It’d be naive to expect Wisconsin to come out any differently against Laura Heyboer, Olivia Stander, and the rest of the MSU offense Friday afternoon. The question is, will the Spartans be able to fight through their opponents and generate some offense? And will Wisconsin themselves be able to light up a Michigan State offense that has conceded five goals over the past three matches after keeping five straight clean sheets in a row. Wisconsin will move a big step closer to the Big Ten title with a win, while an MSU victory would have to see them recognized as title contenders.

(47) Georgia vs (5) Florida – 7:00 PM EST [Last Year: Florida 2 - 1 Georgia (aet)]

The rampant Gators begin the conference season on the road as they start the quest for yet another SEC league title after having dominated the league for the past half decade. It’s also been domination in non-conference play for Florida this season in most part as the side from Gainesville have put on some frightening displays thus far in 2011. Since losing a 3-2 thriller to rivals Florida State, the Gators have clobbered an underrated Florida Gulf Coast team by five goals, beaten Missouri convincingly on the road, and then followed that up with a stunning destruction of Kansas who were down 6-0 just a few minutes after the second half had started. Florida will be wary of a potential slow start in league play though with a tricky road trip to start off their SEC campaign. Test #1 for Becky Burleigh’s side is a Georgia team desperate for a quality win on their resume after a less than convincing non-conference run that has the side from Athens needing a good league season to have any chance of making the NCAA Tournament after missing out last year. Georgia has a little offensive maestro in sophomore Alexa Newfield who has taken her team on her back at times this season but will likely need support from teammates if she’s to escape the attentions of midfield destroyer Holly King and star center-back Kathryn Williamson of the Gators. For their part, Georgia will have to keep junior Erika Tymrak in check, knowing full well the playmaker nearly single-handedly did them in both meetings last season.

(25) Tennessee vs (49) South Carolina – 7:00 PM EST [Last Year: South Carolina 2 - 1 Tennessee]

If before the season you said that one of these clubs would be battling on the bubble and one would be a dark horse for a league title, you probably wouldn’t have guessed the former would be South Carolina and the latter would be the Lady Vols. Tennessee have turned back the clock to their glory days and have stormed out of the gate with a 7-1-0 record and have now won five in a row, keeping clean sheets in all five of said victories. The last four wins have been against cannon fodder though, meaning it should be a much sterner test on Friday when South Carolina comes calling. The Gamecocks are sweating on the bubble right now with no quality wins and what looks like a bad loss to Arizona State on their resume. Carolina knows that they need a big SEC season to extend their streak of NCAA Tournament appearances, and that starts on Friday night in Knoxville. While most of the attention will fall upon the teams’ great strikers, Kayla Grimsley for SC and Caroline Brown for the home side, don’t ignore the team’s excellent freshmen goalkeepers. The Gamecocks’ Sabrina D’Angelo and Tennessee’s Julie Eckel have both started their collegiate careers in promising fashion and will naturally be looking to add to their growing reputations in this prime SEC clash.

(29) Ohio State vs (39) Illinois – 7:30 PM EST [Last Year: Illinois 2 - 1 Ohio State]

Two sides with everything to prove meet up in a crucial Big Ten tilt on Friday night. Both of these teams went to a draw in their league openers against teams they should be beating if they want to put in a title challenge in 2011. The home side were the beneficiaries of a beautiful strike from Danica Wu last Sunday against Minnesota that salvaged a point in dreary conditions against the Gophers. Dreary is how you might call OSU’s season up to this point. They’ve beaten West Virginia on the road but done very little else to justify some of the lofty praise that was thrown their way at the beginning of the year. Opponents Illinois have done a fine job in pasting some inferior opposition but have had noticeable wobbles against sterner foes, including a 4-2 loss to Pepperdine and last weekend’s 2-2 slip to Iowa where the Illini had to rally back from two goals down to take home a point in Iowa City. The Illinois defense has been struggling badly as of late, having only kept one clean sheet in their past six, while also giving up at least two goals a game in four of their last five. That might be music to the ears of an Ohio State squad that’s struggled offensively at times this year, especially Paige Maxwell, who has been ice cold for the first half of the year after a great campaign in 2010 for the Buckeyes and Lori Walker.

(13) Oklahoma State vs (42) Kansas – 8:00 PM EST [Last Year: Kansas 0 - 2 Oklahoma State]

If you look carefully, you can spot Kansas picking the ball out of the back of their net again. Florida absolutely punished the Jayhawks in a 7-2 hammering last Sunday, and one has to wonder if there’ll be any lingering effects heading into Friday’s Big XII opener for both sides. It hasn’t been a great two weeks for KU who’ve just won one of three while seeing their RPI slowly erode back towards the bubble. It hasn’t been a great year for defense in Lawrence either, with the home side only keeping one clean sheet thus far in nine attempts. That could spell trouble against an Oklahoma State team that keeps on chugging along. One of the three teams left in America with a 100% record, the Cowgirls passed two more big tests last week by beating BYU and Utah State in Stillwater to stay perfect. OSU has now scored multiple goals in four of their last five after scoring once in four of their first six. After a bit of a sluggish start and missing two matches, Krista Lopez is also back and firing true for the home side with seven goals to her name, including three match winners. The schedule breaks almost perfectly for OSU, who could still be perfect near the end of October for what could be a winner takes all showdown for the Big XII title at Texas A&M.;

(12) Auburn vs (17) Kentucky – 8:30 PM EST [Last Year: Kentucky 1 - 1 Auburn]

Two teams meet up in their SEC opener with a big chance to take a giant step forward in their hunt for an NCAA Tournament berth this year. The Tigers’ disastrous 4-1 opening night loss to Wake Forest looks like an aberration at the moment, with Auburn having gone 6-0-1 since that defeat. With wins over Duke and Denver, you might say that Karen Hoppa’s team is already close to at-large bid safety, but a win over Kentucky would get them that much closer. The Tigers might also have their eyes on a dark horse SEC title run and could very easily be 4-0-0 in league play before a showdown with Florida if they win tonight. Their Friday opponents get a rough start to league play this year with their first four SEC matches away from home, including South Carolina and Florida next week. That makes a quick start for the Wildcats a necessity if this UK team wants to keep its momentum going after a strong start to the season. Kentucky will also be looking to pad its resume which looks a little lacking at the moment with the win over Central Michigan the relative high water mark. A win on the road against high-flying Auburn would solve most of those problems while also helping the team get off to a fast start in league play.

(41) Santa Clara vs (67) Washington State – 10:00 PM EST

Is this the day when Santa Clara wins again? The Broncos have now gone almost a month without getting in the win column, first drawing four consecutive matches against tough opponents before being felled by fierce rivals Stanford last Sunday night. Jerry Smith’s side is lagging in the RPI with no quality wins and desperately needs to get back in the win column before WCC play starts to stave off some of the mounting pressure. They won’t have it easy Friday night though as their opponents are also hungry for a win to work themselves up the bubble hierarchy. Wazzu perhaps showed a little of what they could do a few weeks ago when they battled Virginia to a draw but are still searching for that one signature win themselves. The Cougars are much improved over last year’s squad but will surely want to record a potentially massive bubble win over SCU on Friday before they start league play against USC on Sunday. The Cougars have been getting scoring from Eileen Maes and Micaela Castain, with four and three goals respectively, while Gurveen Clair has impressed in goal for the side from Pullman. But being dragged to extra time by Gonzaga and Idaho this past week is a worry, and the visitors will have to step it up if they have any hope of pulling off the upset on Friday.

(1) UCLA vs (64) Washington – 10:30 PM EST [Last Year: Washington 1 - 0 UCLA]

The Oh-So-Intriguing Bruins of Westwood make their Pac-12 bow against a Washington side again needing to make things happen in league play to make it into the Big Dance. The Huskies have rallied nicely with a four match unbeaten run to lift themselves out of the doldrums but still need more in the coming weeks to continue to rise. After the offense flatlined for a while in Seattle, the team has responded with nine goals in four games, though the defense has suffered in the same time span, as UW has not kept a clean sheet in any of those matches. The defense obviously has to tighten up against a UCLA side that’s a clear #1 in the RPI right now after the Bruins rolled right through non-conference play, their only blemish a draw against surging Pepperdine. UCLA’s turned it on against in-state rivals over the past two matches but have already shown their fortitude this season with the come from behind win against Tennessee and the battling draw against the Waves, whom they trailed very late. Sydney Leroux looks like a star again, and the Bruins’ galaxy of young talent has been extremely impressive though. The intensity level ratchets up with league play though, meaning B.J. Snow will have to have UCLA on guard against upset happy Washington at Drake Stadium on Friday night.

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