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Holly King Will Look to Captain Florida to Another SEC Win on Friday Against Missouri

(8) Florida vs (12) Missouri – 7:00 PM

Florida took one giant step towards an SEC title last Sunday by beating Texas A&M in College Station and could essentially get one hand on the trophy on Friday night as they square off against fellow title rivals Missouri. The clubs sit joint top of the SEC table at the moment, with twenty-one points, though the Gators have the slightly superior goal differential at the moment. The winner will have their title destiny in their own hands, with a draw potentially letting Texas A&M back into the mix.

Since losing their SEC opener to Kentucky, Florida has been in smoking form, winning seven in a row and looking imperious in the process. The Gators have scored multiple goals in each of those wins, while the defense has generally bent but not broken, keeping only two clean sheets during that winning streak but never conceding more than once. It’s left them in sight of regaining their SEC title, while also giving them a shot at a high national seed, which looked unlikely given some early season slips. Goals from Jo Dragotta and Adriana Leon completed a comeback against the Aggies last Sunday and gave the Gators a statement win on the road in hostile territory.

Missouri will try to do the same on Friday as they head into Gainesville in search of a win that would put them alone on top of the table. Coming off a disappointing loss to Tennessee on the road, Missouri went into last weekend knowing they needed maximum points to keep up with the league leaders. They delivered just that with a pair of assured wins that set the club up for a fantastic finish, with Florida and Texas A&M both still to come on the road.

Mizzou isn’t just in search of three points though, they’re also in the hunt for a defining win to stick on their resume. While the Tigers have their fair share of good wins, they don’t have a “great” one yet and will be eager for the opportunity to rectify that in Gainesville on Friday. It’s a potential title decider under the lights that could also end up as a defining game in each club’s season when all is said and done.

(26) Georgetown vs (23) Notre Dame – 3:00 PM

The National Division of the Big East, and perhaps the league title for the entire conference, figures to be decided on Friday afternoon, as Notre Dame travels to take on Georgetown in a mouthwatering late season tilt. Both clubs have looked irrepressible against most of their Big Ten opponents, despite slipping to draws last Sunday.

The home side are fueled by the talents of midfielder Daphne Corboz, a likely All-America selection this season and a contender for the NCAA’s unofficial Golden Boot at this point. Corboz has logged a point in ten of the club’s fourteen games thus far, including eleven goals in Big East play so far. Those efforts have propelled the Hoyas to the top of the table, with the club conceding just once and scoring twenty-four times, a clip of over three goals a game. While some might cite the Hoyas for beating up on the bottom tier of the league, they’ll have a chance to silence all those critics if they can shoot down a youthful Notre Dame side on Friday.

The Irish have been nearly as impressive on offense, with twenty-three goals in seven league games, though the defense has been slightly more leaky, conceding five goals in that span. It’s mattered not, as Notre Dame sits joint top of the table with Georgetown and Marquette at this point, and will be looking to boot the Hoyas down the table with a road win here. Unbeaten in eight since a mauling at the hands of Washington, Notre Dame is still in range for a national seed, but like their opponents on Thursday, need a big RPI boost with their league brethren unlikely to help them out much in that regard for the rest of the regular season.

Whereas Georgetown has mostly ridden the goals of Corboz to success so far, the Irish offense has been a relatively well balanced affair in the league. Crystal Thomas leads Irish league scorers with five goals, though the game winning strikes have come from sophomore Lauren Bohaboy most often, with the second year player netting the winner twice in Big East play thus far. Defense could be the key for a road victory though. A defense led by superb freshman Katie Naughton put the clamps on Louisville’s Christine Exeter in large part earlier this year, and Notre Dame will be looking to do much the same here. If the Irish can stymie Georgetown’s star figure, they could have a great chance of running out as winners and the new favorite to lift the league title come the end of the regular season.

(41) Arizona State vs (33) Cal – 4:00 PM

Arizona State’s battle to not only escape the bubble but to finish at .500 and earn eligibility for the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection continues in Tempe on Friday afternoon. The Sun Devils currently sit a game under .500 after a 2-0 defeat at Washington last Sunday. ASU has six games remaining with what looks like a rather forgiving run-in, so a defeat on Friday wouldn’t be fatal, but it would make life harder for the club. The home side have been consistently inconsistent for much of the season, trading wins and losses since a victory in the non-conference finale against Florida International.

Against Washington last weekend, ASU struggled to put together offense, seeing leading offensive threat Cali Farquharson marked out of the game and held without a shot through ninety minutes. With the Sun Devils having conceded multiple goals in four of their five league games, it’s safe to say a similar offensive collapse could spell trouble on Friday.

Opponents Cal enter this one in excellent form, having won five straight and nine of ten overall. The Golden Bears’ offense has been in explosive form thus far in 2012, having scored multiple goals in each of their past five games, with Cal also having been shutout just once this year, by WCC contenders Santa Clara. Two wins on the road last weekend saw Cal boost their NCAA Tournament hopes by leaps and bounds, with the Golden Bears rocketing up the RPI with the pair of victories. Rookie attacker Ifeoma Onumonu led the offensive charge last weekend, scoring three goals on the road swing, including the winner against Utah on Sunday.

While Cal will surely relish taking on ASU’s sometimes erratic defense, they are not without defensive worries of their own. Despite entering the season full of potential in the rearguard, the Golden Bears have given up goals in four of their five league matches, including in each of the last three. The relatively forgiving defenses of both sides could mean fireworks in the desert in this Friday Pac-12 showdown.

(43) Rutgers vs (34) Louisville – 5:30 PM

Though not quite a bubble elimination game, these two Big East sides will be desperate to avoid defeat on Friday and a potential tumble down the RPI rankings. Neither of these sides entered last weekend in the best of health as far as the RPI is concerned. The home side had lost three straight and five of six in the league and was looking increasingly in danger of missing out on the postseason entirely. Louisville was in a mini-slump of their own, having won just once in four games. A win and a draw for each though revitalized hopes and reopened the possibility of the Big East getting a handful of teams into the NCAA Tournament.

The Scarlet Knights have been overly dependent on Canadian forward Jonelle Filigno for their offense, making it quite the promising sign that they were able to scrape together a 2-2 draw against Notre Dame despite seeing Filigno finish without a shot on goal. It was hardly an airtight display for the Rutgers defense though, with the club being outshot by a 3:1 ratio by the Irish, needing eight saves from Emmy Simpkins to walk away with a share of the points.

That could be a problem with a potent Louisville side coming to town. The Cardinals have been shutout just twice this season and will look to score multiple goals for the first time in a handful of games when they square off against Rutgers. Louisville has had to live with the disappointing form of forward Christine Exeter, but have rode the goals of junior midfielders Angelika Uremovich and Charlyn Corral to success so far. Corral was front and center last weekend, scoring in both games for the Cardinals. The Mexican has talent to burn and will likely be vital for any postseason ambitions the club has this year. Rutgers has conceded in four of their last five and seven of their last nine, so the visitors will surely fancy their chances of putting something past Simpkins in the Scarlet Knight goal on Friday. They’ll just hope it’ll be enough to bring home three more valuable points that will mark another step towards a return to the NCAA Tournament.

(55) Colorado College vs (21) UCF – 6:00 PM

It’s slightly hyperbolic to say that Colorado College’s season may ultimately come down to one game, but that’s not far from the truth for the Tigers. Though CC has draws with Utah and Colorado and a win over Denver in the season opener, they still don’t have that one true defining result that could put them over the top if they find themselves on the bubble come Selection Monday. The Tigers entered October knowing they’d probably have two shots at picking up that big win in league play. The first came and went unsuccessfully last Friday, with the club losing an extra time heartbreaker to Memphis. They’ll get one more bite at the cherry this Friday against UCF.

The Golden Knights saw their C-USA title hopes all but vanish after a surprising 2-1 defeat at home to SMU last Sunday. Amanda Cromwell’s side had kept themselves in the mix with four straight clean sheet wins after a league season opening defeat to Memphis that had curtailed their title hopes. With no margin of error now, UCF basically has to win their remaining games and hope for slip-ups ahead of them if they’re to walk away with a league title.

In reality, the more pressing concern for the Golden Knights may be concerning the NCAA Tournament. Though UCF is all but a lock for the Big Dance at this point, their once strong case for a national seed took a rather sizable hit with the loss to SMU. The Golden Knights can probably bounce back with a strong finish, but they definitely can’t afford too many more slips in the league.

UCF will be leaning on the strike duo of Nicolette Radovcic and Tishia Jewell to provide the offense in Colorado Springs, with the duo having netted a combined seven goals in league play thus far. Also watch out for German Sophie Howard, who missed almost all of non-conference play at the U20 World Cup but who has made a sizable impact upon her return, netting a pair of goals in the league thus far. It’s high stakes at high altitude on Friday, with the home side’s supporters hoping for a win that could put them over the top for the NCAA Tournament on Selection Monday.

(15) Tennessee vs (44) Kentucky – 7:00 PM

Tennessee may have home advantage, but all the pressure will be on visitors Kentucky come Friday night in Knoxville. The Wildcats are on a precipitous slide of one win in six that has left them squarely on the bubble with just three weeks and five regular season games to play. The run-in for Kentucky looks fairly forgivable, with the Wildcats also having a draw against Texas A&M and win against Florida to tout on their resume, but the club also has no end of mystifying losses that has left them in this situation. Unfortunately for them, most of those losses have come in the past few weeks. While Friday’s defeat at Missouri was understandable but frustrating nonetheless thanks to a hotly disputed disallowed UK goal near the end of regulation, there was less rationalizing the subsequent loss to Ole Miss in Oxford. The result in this one looks dependent on which Kentucky side shows up: the one that took points from two of the league’s best, or the one that has dropped points in head scratching fashion to some of the league’s strugglers.

For their part, Tennessee will be trying to keep up in the SEC title race, though it looks like that ship has sailed barring some serious slips by the leaders down the stretch. Instead, the more immediate goal might be accruing wins to secure a national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Three straight 1-0 wins, including victories over Missouri and Auburn have sent the Lady Vols soaring up the RPI, Brian Pensky’s club now definitely in with a chance of said national seed.

It hasn’t been real pretty for UT offensively as of late, but the return of Caroline Brown and Hannah Wilkinson, even in limited minutes off the bench, has to be a promising sign for a Lady Vols club who have most definitely missed the scoring punch of that duo when out of the lineup. A struggling Kentucky side could be just the right ticket to get the two firing again, and the Lady Vols will be looking to do their league rivals no favors as they seek their fourth victory in a row in the SEC.

(28) West Virginia vs (14) Baylor – 7:00 PM

In a night of potential title deciders, Morgantown will be home to a Big XII showdown between title favorites West Virginia and rivals Baylor, who’ll be looking to take control of the league title race themselves. The Mountaineers have recovered from a somewhat erratic start to the season to surge in the league campaign, winning five in a row to take them to the brink of the Big XII crown at the first time of asking. Nikki Izzo-Brown’s side have put potential title rivals Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Kansas to the sword in the past few weeks, leaving Marci Jobson’s Bears as the last likely challenger for the Mountaineers. After a crunch win against Kansas last Friday, WVU struggled a bit against Iowa State on Sunday, going down after just seventy-three seconds. Three unanswered goals were a perfect solution to those problems though, and the Mountaineers held on for a 3-2 win, with Frances Silva netting a brace and Kate Schwindel starring with a hatful of assists.

Though WVU comes in hot, Baylor comes in almost as scorching in form, having won three in a row while also having gone ten games unbeaten, with just a lone loss at Long Beach State blotting their copy. After a shock draw at Oklahoma in the league opener, the Bears have rebounded with wins over contenders Kansas and Texas Tech to give themselves a fighting chance at a league title. This weekend is brutal though, with the Bears traveling to Morgantown for Friday’s game before a near eleven hundred mile journey back out to Stillwater to play Oklahoma State on Sunday. It promises to test the resolve of Jobson’s side, though the Bears have certainly proven up to the task thus far in 2012.

Resolve was certainly something Baylor showed last Friday. Two Lisa Sliwinski goals were cancelled out by Texas Tech, including one with less than thirty seconds left in regulation. Baylor could have folded with that gutshot, but the Bears found a winner in the second half of extra time to set up this huge showdown. Victory here would put the title within their reach headed into the last stretch of the league season. Defeat will all but seal debut glory for the former Big East side looking for more silverware in their new home.

(45) Iowa vs (29) Ohio State – 8:00 PM

A mid-table clash in the Big Ten on Friday night will also be the site of two teams jockeying for position in the league standings, as each tries to take a step towards Big Ten Tournament qualification in a very tight conference table at the moment, with just three points separating fourth from ninth. Fourth is where Ohio State currently resides, their title hopes having faded long ago thanks to a stretch of one win in four that stunted some of the momentum the club had built up during the latter part of its non-conference slate. A 1-0 win over Purdue got them back on the right track at least, with the club hoping to finish strong and perhaps make a late run at a national seed.

The Buckeyes can entertain such visions, as they’re quite safe at the moment, with a solid RPI and wins over Maryland and Missouri to their name. Outside of a 3-0 shellacking at Penn State’s hands, OSU’s defense has been in fine form as of late, with three clean sheets in their last four. The Buckeyes also put together a stretch of five straight shutouts earlier in the year, including in those wins against Maryland and Missouri. Most of OSU’s defensive strength has been shown at home though, and the club won’t have it easy on the road against the Hawkeyes.

Iowa’s been a defensive marvel themselves as of late, with three straight shutouts and four clean sheets in five games…which would be something to talk about had the Hawkeyes not also failed to score in the past three games. Yes, Iowa’s played out three straight scoreless draws, one of the odder sequences in recent memory. With a player like Cloe Lacasse in their ranks, Iowa should theoretically have one of the league’s most dangerous attacks. It hasn’t quite worked out that way though, as the Hawkeyes’ talisman has struggled with injury as of late and hasn’t scored in league play yet. With her side firmly on the bubble right now, Iowa could use a breakout game from the sophomore, though nothing is bound to come easy against a determined OSU team on Friday night.

(42) Minnesota vs (30) Illinois – 8:00 PM

Time may be running short on Minnesota’s at-large bid hopes as the end of the regular season approaches. The Golden Gophers have certainly looked the part of a team that can hang with just about anyone, hanging two on Florida State and three on Penn State, numbers that look utterly ridiculous in retrospect, especially the former. But Minnesota’s season has also been defined by near misses and the inability to get the big win that would all but stamp their spot in the NCAA Tournament. This club has had plenty of opportunities, with games against Florida State, San Diego State, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State all ending in one goal losses for Stefanie Golan’s side.

It’s been a frustrating venture for the first year coach but one that could still end up with a happy ending should she be able to rally her troops down the stretch. A 0-0 draw with Iowa wasn’t exactly ideal, but it was better than another loss in a crunch situation against a tough team. Theoretically, the schedule lightens up after Friday’s match with Illinois. But Minnesota’s also far from secure in their postseason positioning, meaning they should take nothing for granted at this point. In any event, they likely won’t be taking Illinois lightly.

The Illini likely saw their title hopes go up in smoke in a 1-1 draw with Purdue a few weeks ago, but Janet Rayfield’s side can still finish in the upper echelon of the league with a strong closing run to the season. The Vanessa DiBernardo Show was in full effect last week against Michigan State, with the junior netting her second career hat trick, bringing her side back from two deficits before curving a free kick in for the winner late in the second half. The Illini are simply a different type of animal with their superstar in the lineup, and she’s proven her worth to her club with her displays after returning from the U20 World Cup.

Illinois are probably safe in the NCAA Tournament field, but another win or two would make it academic, which is probably the most Rayfield’s club can hope for until the Big Ten Tournament provides a better chance at silverware. For their opponents, that’s not a luxury they have, with the Gophers needing every single point if they’re to be breathing easily before the conference tournament starts in a few weeks.

(20) Washington vs (3) UCLA – 10:00 PM

Stanford and UCLA have been throwing haymakers in their quest for a coveted Pac-12 title all season long in the league, and the Bruins will have a chance to answer the defending national champions’ impressive Thursday win with a statement of their own in Seattle on Friday night. Already playing catchup in the league thanks to an early draw against Washington State, UCLA knows they can’t afford a slip but will have a tricky task awaiting them on Friday.

Washington began the season as one of the nation’s hottest teams, winning seven in a row, including a beating of Notre Dame in Seattle, but their form has lurched back and forth since, with the club winning just one of their first four games in the league. The Huskies’ RPI hadn’t really suffered all that much, but UW was seeing themselves in disappointing territory in the Pac-12 table, with their hopes for a national seed also beginning to fade. A draw with Arizona at home in the club’s first home game in nearly a month was hardly the result UW wanted, but they did manage to respond a few days later with a 2-0 win against Arizona State. As twenty-five fouls on the day show, it wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty at times, but the Huskies got the job done and walked away with three points, which was most important when all was said and done.

It’s likely that UCLA can expect much of the same blood and thunder when they come in for their Friday match. The Burins are one of two unbeatens left in DI, and have won four straight in the league after drawing their league opener against Washington State back at home. UCLA has since been on a punishing road swing and are at least given a slight break with a one match week, getting a week off after Friday’s match before heading back home for four matches. After a laboring display against Oregon last Friday, the Bruins cut through Oregon State like a knife through butter, scoring twice in the first six minutes and then two more times after the half and before the hour mark to smash the Beavers. A brace from Zakiya Bywaters helped UCLA ease to victory, and the Bruins speedster will be looking to push on again on Friday night against a stern and physical challenge from the host Huskies.

Though UCLA’s been in form in a big way as of late, nothing comes easy on the road in this league, especially not in Seattle, where a talented Washington team will be waiting. The Huskies know a win over UCLA could be their ticket to a national seed in the NCAA Tournament, meaning the Bruins could have their hands full if they aren’t at their best.

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