Support women's sports and SHARE this story with your friends!

 

Cincinnati

Grade: (C-) – Draw with Elon looks terrible, and best win being over an underwhelming NC State doesn’t bode well.
Current RPI – 186
Top Scorer – Laura Rose (4 G, 1 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Nothing approaching a quality win out of conference means Bearcats’ only hope is likely to qualify for the postseason first and go on a miracle run through the Big East Tournament.

DePaul

Grade: (C+) – Draw with Wright State and loss to Loyola (Ill.) not exactly positives, but victory at Dayton gets a thumbs up.
Current RPI – 104
Top Scorer – Amber Paul & Natasha Radosavljevic (2 G, 1 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Not great, but not hopeless either. None of the losses are truly horrible, though Loyola (Ill.) could end up moving that way in the end. Still, with Louisville, Rutgers, and Notre Dame on the schedule, they could make a move with a strong league campaign.

Georgetown

Grade: (B-) – Beat everyone they were supposed too and got a solid draw with Santa Clara, but heavy defeat to Stanford an ominous sign.
Current RPI – 82
Top Scorer – Kaitlin Brenn (5 G, 1 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Being as low as they are in the RPI with a 6-1-1 record is pretty damning, though the Santa Clara draw should give them some credit. Will have to win a good many Big East games to get over the hump though.

Louisville

Grade: (B) – Not much in their wins and loss to Kentucky was disappointing, but no real bad results on the resume thus far.
Current RPI – 33
Top Scorer – Angelika Uremovich (6 G, 1 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Probably shakier than they’d like. One win over a current uRPI Top 100 team is problematic, though their one loss, to Kentucky, isn’t that bad, though it could hurt the Cardinals if both are on the bubble. Should be fine if they play up to their level in league play, but could miss out on national seed.

Marquette

Grade: (C+) – Win over Northwestern might actually mean something this year, but little else of note on resume, with draw against Central Michigan only counting for so much to go along with shreddings at the hands of Duke and North Carolina
Current RPI – 73
Top Scorer – Kate Reigle (2 G, 2 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Not exactly bulletproof at the moment. The win over Northwestern is looking like a quality one right now but could degrade over time, while the other two wins aren’t much to shout about. They don’t have any bad losses though, and it’d be a shock if they didn’t work themselves back to safety in Big East play.

Notre Dame

Grade: (B) – Baby Irish have been a roller coaster, but win over Santa Clara and draw at Portland shows the potential of this club. Losses to North Carolina and Washington show there’s still a ways to go though.
Current RPI – 21
Top Scorer – Elizabeth Tucker (2 G, 1 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – No bad losses and a win over Santa Clara and draw with Portland should be good enough to get them over the hump if need be. Getting a national seed looks a little more dicey though, and Irish may need to win and win big to get the all-important home advantage that would be huge with such a young squad.

Pittsburgh

Grade: (B) – Not exactly overwhelming expectations coming into the season, but have looked competitive throughout, despite loss to VCU over the weekend.
Current RPI – 156
Top Scorer – Roosa Arvas (1 G, 6 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Looks extremely unlikely given dearth of quality wins, and will likely be relying on a postseason run through the Big East Tournament if they want to go dancing.

Providence

Grade: (C+) – A pretty flat schedule relatively speaking as far as difficulty is concerned beyond opener against Boston College. Generally have beaten who they’re supposed to, though draw with Holy Cross was puzzling.
Current RPI – 86
Top Scorer – Catherine Zimmerman (5 G, 1 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Probably not as good as their current RPI would indicate. Quinnipiac’s RPI will likely degrade over time, making the Friars’ loss to them look worse. No real bad losses, but no real great results either, with no wins over any uRPI Top 100 teams.

Rutgers

Grade: (B) – Hard to argue too much with 7-1-0, though the RPI looks a bit inflated. Solid win over Ohio State but were crushed by Texas A&M in biggest test of the season thus far.
Current RPI – 25
Top Scorer – Jonelle Filigno (7 G, 2 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – I think they’re being heavily overvalued in the current RPI, as wins over Stony Brook and Dartmouth will likely degrade. Much will likely depend on how Ohio State performs, with Rutgers’ win over the Buckeyes on opening weekend likely to be their ace in the hole. If they can just avoid bad losses in the Big East, they should be fine.

Seton Hall

Grade: (D) – Loaded up with creampuffs early and were then exposed in three straight losses to top-line mid-majors.
Current RPI – 173
Top Scorer – Ashley Clarke (2 G, 5 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Pretty grim. None of their losses are truly horrible, but the wins on their profile aren’t anything to speak about, with no victories over any teams in the uRPI Top 180.

South Florida

Grade: (B-) – All over the collective map right now. Win over Miami (FL) looks pretty good, but it’s basically all they have, with shaky losses to Georgia and Dartmouth also on record.
Current RPI – 83
Top Scorer – Sharla Passariello (4 G, 1 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Maybe just a little better than their RPI would indicate. Victory over Miami (FL) could go up in value, though they’ll really be banking on that if Dartmouth’s RPI begins to sink. No other really big wins could harm them in the end if they don’t enjoy a strong Big East season.

St. John’s (NY)

Grade: © – Were headed straight for a failing grade until a weekend sweep on the road this past weekend. Got trounced by Penn State in only big match, which is understandable. Also lost by three goals to Stony Brook and Brown, which is far less understandable.
Current RPI – 78
Top Scorer – Emily Cubbage (3 G, 1 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – I think the RPI is seriously overrating the Red Storm at this point, as I see Stony Brook and Brown’s RPIs both degrading severely from this point, meaning those defeats will look all the worse for the club. There’s not much behind the wins either, so it’s going to be a tough ask for this club to even get on the bubble.

Syracuse

Grade: (D) – Drowning in a pool of mediocrity. Best win is over Colgate, and they even needed extra time for that. Also lost to Army and drew with minnows Albany, whose uRPI is 260.
Current RPI – 148
Top Scorer – Alexis Koval (3 G, 0 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – Exceedingly slim. No wins over a uRPI Top 100 team, just one over an uRPI Top 200 team and a bad draw with Albany hanging around their neck like an albatross. None of the losses are that bad, but there just seems to be too much room to make up for an at-large bid.

UConn

Grade: (B) – One of those frustrating teams who’ve played much better than their record indicates. No wins of any note, but played Boston College, North Carolina, and Santa Clara all hard but only emerged with a draw against the latter to show for it.
Current RPI – 62
Top Scorer – Danielle Schulmann (7 G, 6 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – It’s a good news, bad news situation for the Huskies. The good news is that none of their losses are bad at all, and their draw with Santa Clara will probably look good at season’s end. The bad news? Well, none of UConn’s wins are exactly glittering, unless you believe Marist’s RPI will still be in the Top 100 come the end of the season. In other words, the Huskies need a very good Big East season.

Villanova

Grade: © – Another who looked to be headed towards a very bad grade until recently, with shock win over La Salle. Also has a draw with Maryland, but consistency has been lacking on the whole.
Current RPI – 169
Top Scorer – Heidi Sabatura (1 G, 5 A)
NCAA Tournament Prospects – To give you just a little hint of how much trouble Villanova is in, consider they just beat a team that was pretty darn high in the RPI before the loss in La Salle, and the Wildcats are still not in the uRPI Top 150. They also have a draw with Maryland, but unless Nova can go on a serious run in the Big East, they’re probably staring at the necessity of the league’s auto bid to get in the Big Dance.

Preseason Predicted Order of Finish:

American Division:

1. Marquette
2. UConn
3. St. John’s (NY)
4. Syracuse
5. South Florida
6. Providence
7. Pittsburgh

National Division:

1. Notre Dame
2. Louisville
3. Rutgers
4. Seton Hall
5. Georgetown
6. Villanova
7. Cincinnati
8. DePaul

Current Predicted Order of Finish:

American Division:

1. Marquette
2. UConn
3. South Florida
4. Providence
5. Syracuse
6. St. John’s (NY)
7. Pittsburgh

National Division:

1. Louisville
2. Notre Dame
3. Rutgers
4. Georgetown
5. Villanova
6. Seton Hall
7. DePaul
8. Cincinnati

Support women's sports and SHARE this story with your friends!

Filed Under:  

• Soccer
• Sports
• W. College Soccer
• NCAA

This post is related to an ongoing story:

• 2012 NCAA Soccer

View Original Post at allwhitekit.wordpress.com

View jennaawk's Full Profile