The early part of the men’s season has produced a few things we didn’t see coming. We start with a couple of them. 

Upset special: Don’t get us wrong, Saint Louis isn’t exactly Nancy’s School of Cosmetology here; they’re a good program, but knocking off Notre Dame? Bet you didn’t have that in your college soccer pool. The unranked Billikens got an overtime goal from hero Alex Johnston to surprise the No. 11 Fighting Irish with a 2-1 victory on Sunday. Ryan Finley recorded his third goal of the season for Notre Dame, but Saint Louis overcame an early 1-0 deficit to pull off a head-turning ‘W.’

It can’t be called an upset since it ended in a draw, but also notable was Cal State Fullerton battling Akron to a 0-0 tie on Thursday. The defending champion Zips are leaning heavily on a freshmen group this year, so there may be a bit of learning curve there, but props still have to be given to the Matadors who got nine saves from goalkeeper Trevor Whiddon. 

 

Brian Holt

Bird watching: Speaking of goalkeeping and defense, the No. 9 Creighton Blue Jays have played three matches and have yet to allow a goal. The defense has helped keeper Brian Holt keep a clean sheet in three consecutive games as he has extended his school record mark of 29 career shutouts. Believe it or not, this is the second straight season the Blue Jays have opened the season with a trio of shutouts. They’ve outscored opponents by a combined 9-0 … which actually isn’t that big of a deal, considering …

Beat downs of the week: George Mason went touchdown-safety on Howard in a 9-0 rout on Thursday. Seven different players scored for the Patriots while no one scored for Howard (just in case you missed that from the score).  

The second beat down came from Coastal Carolina who put it on Richmond by a score of 10-1 – which are about the odds that Richmond ever agrees to play the Chanticleers again (or knows what a Chanticleer is to begin with). By the way, Richmond has early pole position on the ‘beat down team of the year’ distinction. The Spiders are 0-3 and have lost by a combined score of 19-3. Hard to believe an intimidating team like the ‘Spiders’ is getting squashed like this.  

Man on fire: Just put him down for three. It’s been two matches and two hat-tricks for CSU Bakersfield striker Gyasi Zardes who is balling out of his mind at the moment. The MPSF Conference Newcomer of the Year last season, Zardes is leading the Roadrunners to wins and putting himself on the map. Keep an eye on this guy. 

Milestones: Penn State’s Bob Warming earned his 400th career win as the Nittany Lions beat Florida International 1-0 on Sunday. It’s an incredible testament of his 34 years in the game as he becomes just the 31st coach in NCAA men’s soccer history to reach the mark. 

And don’t forget about Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski who joined the 300-win club on Sunday as well. A two-time national champion, Cirovksi reached the milestone with the Terrapins’ 2-1 win over Radford.