Duke striker, UConn GK set school records

While the women dive head first into the NCAA Tournament this week, the men still have a week of conference tournament play to look forward to.

Here’s a look back at a very implicative week as well as a glance forward as the men’s postseason gets underway. At last.

Who will play Cinderella?: Conference tournaments are the last gasp for midlevel teams trying to punch their winning ticket into the NCAA tourney. So who will go from outside to inside the tourney in 2010? Here’s one interesting candidate:

Cleveland State. As in the Cleveland State that managed to upset No. 3 Akron back on Oct. 30. But the Vikings didn’t rest on that historic win, they then went out and fought undefeated No. 9 Butler to a 0-0 draw. That’s enough evidence to suggest Cleveland State, seeded just fourth in the Horizon League, could pull off another “who would’ve thought” moment in their conference tourney and book a trip to the dance. Don’t bet against it.

UC Irvine's Spencer Thompson

Meaningful wins: So many to choose from as multiple programs put the finishing touches on conference regular season titles. We’ll start with North Carolina clinching its first ever ACC regular season title with a 2-0 victory over Clemson on Friday. The No. 4 Tar Heels did it in style, and with the entire conference breathing down their neck.

Out in the Big West, No. 10 UC Irvine wrapped up the regular season conference title and held off No. 18 UC Santa Barbara after a 3-1 triumph over Cal State Fullerton.

No. 13 Princeton joined in the festivities by winning its first Ivy League title since 2001, knocking off previously undefeated (in conference) Penn 2-1.

Upset of the week: Penn State slipped up against the last-place Wisconsin Badgers in a 1-0 defeat Saturday. It was not the kind of the signal the No. 19 Nittany Lions wanted to send to the NCAA tournament committee a week before selection Monday.

Huskies on hold: With heavy rains washing over the region, Connecticut has had two matches postponed in the last week. Their matchup with Georgetown was pushed back a day on Oct. 27 before another showdown against DePaul was rescheduled on Nov. 4. Nothing to panic over, but the No. 6 Huskies need all the momentum they can get for the Big East Tournament, and all the … stops … and … starts, certainly aren’t helping any.

Record breakers: Duke striker Ryan Finley has just capped one of the greatest seasons in school history. Not only did he tie the Duke single-season record with 17 goals, but he tallied 37 points on the year – the most by a Blue Devil since Ali Curtis had 39 in 2000.

High Point senior Scott Rojo set an all-time HPU single-season record by recording 16 assists, including three, to go with one goal, in his team’s season finale against Longwood on Saturday.

We can’t leave out the defensive game-changers. Connecticut goalkeeper Josh Ford (profiled here) broke the Huskies’ all-time record for career wins when he earned his 54th in a 2-0 win over DePaul on Friday in the first round of the Big East tourney.

Adding to the history, coach Ray Reid earned his 200th victory at Connecticut and the 346th of his coaching career.

Men’s Top 20 Action (SEE FULL SCOREBOARD)

1. Louisville def. West Virginia 2-0 (Big East tourney)
2. Maryland def. Coastal Carolina 5-0
3. Akron def. Michigan State 1-0; def. Hartwick 2-1
4. North Carolina def. Clemson 2-0
5. SMU def. Florida International 2-1
6. Connecticut def. DePaul 2-0
7. California was idle
8. UCLA def. Washington 1-0; def. Oregon State 3-0
9. Butler tied Cleveland State 0-0
10. UC Irvine lost to Cal State Northridge 2-1; def. Cal State Fullerton 3-1
11. Virginia def. Campbell 4-1; lost to NC State 2-0
12. Boston College def. Virginia Tech 3-1
13. Princeton def. Colgate 3-1; def. Penn 2-1
14. Notre Dame lost to Marquette 2-1 (Big East tourney)
15. Monmouth tied Mount St. Mary’s(m) 2-2; tied Quinnipiac 1-1
16. UCF def. North Florida 3-0; tied Tulsa 1-1
17. William & Mary(m) lost to Maryland 3-0; def. Northeastern 2-1 (OT)
18. UC Santa Barbara def. UC Riverside 2-0
19. Penn State def. Lafayette 1-0; lost to Wisconsin 1-0
20. Brown def. Yale 4-1