Louisville retains #1 spot, Cal’s Soares POTW

Big East power Louisville continues for a 2nd week as #1 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Men’s Tournament 48 National Ranking, with a 2-1 victory over Rutgers keeping the Cardinals undefeated.

The Cardinals edge fellow unbeaten Akron, who picked up a narrow MAC victory on the weekend. Connecticut drops after losing to Maryland, while North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and undefeated Butler all move up in the top 10 after a pair of victories each.

The Men’s Tournament 48 National Ranking is a running effort to project the 48-team NCAA Tournament field, including all automatic conference and at-large bids to the field. It is updated every Monday through the season. You can see the entire ranking here.

Meanwhile, California senior defender A.J. Soares (#21 Upperclassmen Top 100) has been named TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Week. Soares helped the Golden Bears to a pair of Pac-10 victories with his typical stellar work in the back line and 3 goals scored on the week. With the award, Soares headlines this week’s TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week.

The full TopDrawerSoccer.com Men's Team of the Week for Monday Oct. 4 through Sunday Oct. 10 is as follows.

GK: Andrew McAdams, William & Mary(m)
D: A.J. Soares, California
D: Sean Flatley, College of Charleston
M: Zach Barnes, SMU
M: Shawn Sloan, High Point
F: Amani Walker, UC Irvine
F: Ryan Kinne, Monmouth
F: Matt Eliason, Northwestern
F: Donnie Smith, Charlotte
F: Deion Jones, Florida Gulf Coast
F: David Ponce, Loyola Marymount

Player of the Week: A.J. Soares, California

The TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week is chosen after consulting match reports from all DI matches played in the preceding week.