(Read on for the way it went down for six hours on Friday evening)

7 p.m. EST - Hello everybody and welcome to the inaugural edition of TopDrawerSoccer.com Friday Night Live. We are getting the program started ... NOW!

I'm Top Drawer Soccer managing editor Robert Ziegler. We are emanating from our palatial studios in suburban Indianapolis, with an assist from our assistant in Georgia and the technical staff at the home office in Long Beach, California. The topic of the night, for the next six hours is college soccer. This is the place you can come every Friday night during the men's and women's college soccer season to follow all the goings on in the world of college soccer, the big games, the conference races, the match reports, our commentary and your feedback. We want everyone to feel completely free to email us at LIVE @topdrawersoccer.com and let us know what you're thinking about all things college soccer. You can tell us about your team, ask us about what's going on and otherwise just interact with the college soccer nation right here.

So sit back and enjoy the commentary and match updates, and let us know what is on your mind.


OK, it's been a busy day for me already. I was down the road in Bloomington to watch the #6 Florida Gators women's team play against Indiana University, and it was the undefeated  Hoosiers pulling the upset in overtime as Devon Beach and Leigh Anne Cummings combined for the winner. You can read my match report HERE.

Some other results already complete from Friday afternoon. Tony Da Luz's #9 Wake Forest Demon Deacons beat Kentucky on the road by a 1-0 score. Former Charlotte SC player Allie Sadow scored a 24th minute winner, with Kate Winslow, a former CASL standout, providing the assist. I saw Coach Da Luz last May at the PDA Memorial Day Showcase and I couldn't remember his first name, just that he had a son who played for the Wake Forest men. But this could be a season that fans of the Deacs don't forget for a long time. You can read the Wake Forest match report HERE.

 

7:07 p.m. EST - The #7 Wake Forest men meanwhile are playing a thriller against #13 Notre Dame as part of the IU Credit Union Classic. The teams are going to overtime after a 1-1 score through 90 minutes. Wake's dynamic winger and former Vardar player Luke Norman scored in the 1st half to put Jay Vidovich's team on top, but Notre Dame's Michael Thomas hit a penalty in the 77th minute to tie the match. Thanks to TDS reader CK for that update.

#41 men's program Loyola (MD), who had such a good regular season run last year, continue in their winning ways with a victory over Mount St. Marys by the score of 3-2. You can read about it HERE. 

 

7:18 p.m. EST - Some other final scores being texted to us - the High Point men have beaten Richmond 2-1 at the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA (in the beautiful Shenandoah Mountains).

College Soccer Review host Adam Zundell tells us the Buffalo men have beaten Pitt 1-0 at Morgantown, West Virginia. Adam will be sending updates from the big match between #10 UC Santa Barbara and #31 West Virginia.

#21 Boston College has won 2-0 over Bryant College. One of the goalscorers was Kevin Mejia, a Southern California kid whose dad I got to know a bit down in Argentina on an ODP Interregional event trip a few years ago. Hi Mauricio and congrats on Kevin's goal!

 

7:21 p.m. EST - CK texts to tell us Notre Dame and Wake Forest completed the first 10 minutes of overtime with no goals scored, so it's 1-1 in Bloomington with 10 minutes (at the most) remaining.

 

7:30 p.m. EST - So many big games tonight, glad to see the top programs in men's and women's college soccer not shying away from playing one another in the non-conference portion of their respective schedules. Among contests we are tracking, along with the ongoing Wake-Notre Dame men's tilt: UC Santa Barbara at West Virginia men, #2 St. Johns at #6 Indiana men, #1 Akron at #18 SMU men, #20 UCLA at #5 Maryland men.

 

For women, it's #4 Notre Dame hosting #2 North Carolina, #1 Portland hosting #40 Colorado College, #11 Texas A&M at #25 Cal, #13 Penn State at #5 Florida State.

 

7:39 p.m. - Wake Forest and Notre Dame finish at 1-1 through two overtimes. Jay Vidovich and Bobby
Clark will have their teams in the mix of the national championship discussion all year. Wake will play IU on Sunday, while Notre Dame meets fellow Big East member St. Johns. Next up tonight in Bloomington is St. Johns at Indiana.

 

And North Carolina has scored in the opening minute against Notre Dame in a rematch of last year's women's championship game. The Tar Heels crushed UCLA two weeks ago and are off to a flyer at Notre Dame's beautiful new stadium. Think Anson Dorrance and company might want to make a statement?

 

7:43 p.m. - Now the Tar Heels have scored on their 2nd shot. Courtney Jones and Jessica McDonald with the goals. Thanks to BJ for the live text update.

 

7:51 p.m. - #1 Akron men lead SMU 1-0 in the lategoing in Tulsa. Blair Gavin is the Zips' goalscorer. Thanks to PC for the live text update.

 

7:55 p.m. - Reader comment from SOCAL Watcher: "Loss of Ashlee Elliott, Senior, due to ACL is felt with her talent and leadership on/off the field. Huge loss for Gators."

I agree SOCAL, coach Becky Burleigh mentioned this afterward. She was on crutches today with an apparent ACL injury. Very much a part of that team still but of course her presence on the field is missed.

 

7:57 p.m. - Harvard has beaten Stony Brook, and former U20 Men's National Team forward Andre Akpan passed the 100 point mark for career points with his performance today. Read about it HERE.

 

8:00 p.m. EST - FEAR THE TAR HEELS - Meghan Klingenberg converts a beautiful pass from Nikki Washington and UNC are up 3-0 over Notre Dame IN SOUTH BEND. Thanks to BJ for a live text update from the home of the Fighting Irish.

 

8:02 p.m. EST - #1 men's team Akron open the season with a 1-0 victory over #18 SMU in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Blair Gavin scores the winner for Caleb Porter's squad. They will play the Golden Hurricane Sunday.

 

8:06 p.m. EST - Thanks to BL from Tallahassee who texts to report that #5 Florida State and #13 Penn State women are scoreless at the half. "Both teams are working really hard on defense. A lot of close calls but only 6 shots between the teams. 4 by FSU, 2 by Penn State."

 

8:09 p.m. EST - JB from Portland texts to tell us the #1 women's team in the country, the Pilots are leading 1-0 after 35 minutes over #40 Colorado College. Elli Reed is the goalscorer for Garrett Smith. Carolina fans will be clamoring for the top spot if this result in South Bend holds up.

 

8:15 p.m. EST - Did I question whether it would hold up? Tar Heels are now up 4-0 on a goal from Brittani Bartok from an Alyssa Rich assist. Did you know that when she was a club player with World Class Arsenal, Brittani once covered a U15 Girls National Team camp for TopDrawerSoccer.com. She is a very talented young lady, in soccer and other things.

 

8:20 p.m. EST - The #4 Cal Golden Bears men's team have won their season opener 2-0 on the road over #33 Georgetown. Former Arsenal FC 3-time national champion Davis Paul and Andrew Wiedeman scored for Cal. You can read the full match report HERE.

 

8:25 p.m. EST - Florida State has gone up 1-0 in its heavyweight bout with Penn State. Tori Huster scores for Mark Krikorian's Seminoles on assists from Becky Edwards and Jessica Price. Thanks to BL with the text update.

 

8:28 p.m. EST - #1 Portland doubles their lead to 2-0 at halftime over Colorado College. Elli Reed has scored both goals.... and UCLA goes up 1-0 over Illinois in Champaign with Sydney Leroux notching the Bruins' goal. Thanks to EK for that text update.

 

You can email us about your game at LIVE@topdrawersoccer.com

 

8:35 p.m. - MV from New Jersey texts to tell us Rutgers and #36 Stanford are scoreless midway through the first half in men's action. Meanwhile in Minnesota, GopherFan tells us the #36 Gophers are deadlocked with Tennessee 30 minutes into the contest.

8:40 p.m. - We told you  from our live updates that Wake Forest and Notre Dame drew 1-1 in men's action. You can read the Wake match report HERE.

8:42 p.m. - The hits keep coming for Carolina. 2008 TDS Player of the Year Casey Nogueira has made it 5-0 in South Bend, UNC is having its way with Notre Dame. This one is going to leave a mark.  In men's action, Michigan State has beaten Duquesne 3-1.

8:49 p.m. - A wild swing of events in Tallahassee. BL texts to tell us Penn State speedster Danielle Toney tied the match at 1-1 with 10:42 remaining, but just a minute later Florida State's Rachel Lim put her team back up 2-1. Mark Krikorian is looking to get the win against his former asssistant and now Penn State head coach Erica Walsh.

Meanwhile in South Bend, yes, Carolina has scored again. Jess McDonald gets her 2nd and it's 6-0 for UNC over the Fighting Irish.

 

8:53 p.m. - HERE is the match report for #27 Michigan State's 3-1 win over Duquesne.

EK in Champaign tells us Illinois stalwart Chichi Nweke has scored to draw the Janet Rayfield's Big 10 side even with UCLA at 1-1.

8:57 p.m. - GopherFan in Minneapolis reports that the Lady Vols and Gophers have gone to the break scoreless.

#1 Portland now leads 2-0 at the 67 minute mark at home vs. Colorado College.

 

9 p.m. EST - Reader Comment from SOCAL watcher- "What is going on with Notre Dame?"

 

I really think it's much more about what's going on with Carolina. I'm sure it's not the best night for Randy Waldrum and the Irish, but the Tar Heels are apparently already in high gear this September.

 

9:02 p.m. - Dan Donigan's St. Louis Billikens lead 2-0 over Washington in the first match of the Portland Invitational. Former Scott Gallagher standout Michael Roach and Beau Bellamy are the goalscorers.

 

9:04 p.m. - #5 Maryland has outshot #20 UCLA 13-3 in their men's match at College Park, but the score remains 0-0 at halftime. Meanwhile #10 UC Santa Barbara is leading 1-0 on the road at halftime against #31 West Virginia.

9:09 p.m. - FINAL SCORE from Tallahassee, Florida State hangs on to beat Penn State 2-1. Thanks to BL for the text updates.

 

9:21 p.m. - Sorry folks, had to go wet my whistle and catch my breath for a minute. This is harder than it looks, and there is more than three hours more to go!

MT texts to tell us Steve Swanson's Virginia women lead Arizona 1-0 at halftime on a goal by Lindsey Miller. The Cavaliers are #8 in the latest TopDrawerSoccer.com Tournament 64 National Ranking.

PK from Phoenix writes to ask about sleeper teams in the NCAA women's tournament reckoning.  I don't know about the term "sleeper" for any of these, but some teams who I don't currently have in the field of 64 but who are very much in the hunt, include DePaul, Pepperdine, Arizona State, Kansas, Duke, Maryland, Indiana and Washington State. With Utah having just gone in last weekend but losing to Weber State Thursday night, there may be at least one spot opening up.

9:28 p.m. - Portland has defeated Colorado College 2-0. Match report coming shortly.  Midway through the 2nd half, UCLA and Illinois remain level at 1-1.

9:32 p.m. - Nice story from out west as David emails to tell us: "The New Mexico State University Aggies women’s soccer team win the first game in the young history of their program. They beat Colorado State University Pueblo 2-1 scoring the winning goal with less then a minute to play."

Congrats to the Aggies from Top Drawer Soccer.

We'll be posting a lot of evening match reports from the eastern time zone, with mountain and pacific time games getting ready to start. Remember we are doing this tonight until 1 a.m EST. Tell us about your team.

9:34 p.m. -  A couple of men's updates. St. Louis defeats Washington 2-1 for the Billikens 1st win of the young season. This game was played in Portland as part of the Pilot Invitational. Portland will now play Virginia. UC Santa Barbara  has gone up 2-0 at West Virginia. David Walker scores on an assist from Martin Hedevag. Hedevag, who hails from Gothenburg Sweden, scored the Gauchos' first goal.

9:37 p.m. - Stanford leads Rutgers on a goal from Garrett Gunther. I'm not rooting for either team but this makes me smile. Gunther is a quick little winger who spent a year in Belgium as a teen to be in a professional (but youth) environment. His mother Rachel moved hell and high water to find the right situation for him, and she used to organize these great overseas soccer trips for SoCal players. Rachel is a consistently winsome and upbeat person, even when Garrett broke his leg at a club match in Chicago his senior year. It has been a long road back for the  young man but I'm glad to see him doing well with Bret Simon's Cardinal.

9:42 p.m  - Charles from Oregon writes to tell us Oregon State leads San Jose State 2-0 at the half. Matt Drake and John Swenson are the goalscorers for the Beavers. MS from Virginia texts to report James Madison has shutout Rider 3-0 in a men's game. I've been to a game at the Harrisonburg campus. It's a beautiful setting and while the stadium was open, it was a great atmosphere for college soccer.

9:48 p.m. - I mentioned Kansas as one team knocking on the door of the Tournament 64. The Jayhawks have beaten #46 Long Beach State 3-1 behind goals from Monica Dolinsky, Whitney Berry and Emily Cressy. The match report is HERE.

9:52 p.m. - Looks like a big win for Jorge Salcedo's UCLA Bruins. The #20 men's team are up 2-0 over Sasho Cirovski's #5 Maryland Terrapins with just a few minutes remaining in front of the crazies at College Park. UCLA has recruited well in recent years but had trouble putting together a good string of results. This game could end up being pretty significant for the team from Westwood.

Match report from Penn State on the PSU-FSU game is HERE.

 

10:00 p.m. - HALFWAY HOME - Let's hear it for the Indianapolis girls! I mentioned Monica Dolinsky scoring for Kansas earlier, well Lauren Cheney, also of the Women's National Team, has scored the winner in regulation time for UCLA as Jillian Ellis' Bruins defeat Illnois 2-1. Cheney played at nearby Ben Davis High School, not too far from the TopDrawerSoccer.com Friday Night LIVE studios (OK, it's a closet, but it works as a studio!)

10:08 p.m. - We are putting the finishing touches on some new additions to our college section. Soon every DI conference will have its own page complete with articles, schedules, results and match reports. Of course every school already has a news page that includes team roster and other information about every DI program in the country. Along with this new program on Friday nights, we're redoubling our efforts to make this web site THE go-to place for college soccer information across the country.

Remember to email us your comments on the goings on at LIVE@topdrawersoccer.com - tell us about the game you went to tonight.

10:15 p.m. - #36 Stanford has beaten Rutgers 2-0 in New Jersey. Thanks to M.V. for texting us updates.

Apparently the 2nd game in Bloomington was a bit of a yawner, with Indiana and St. Johns playing to a scoreless draw. Sunday IU plays Wake Forest and Notre Dame will meet St. Johns. I'll be there for both games and have a full report by Sunday evening on Top Drawer.

10:27 p.m. - Steve Swanson's #8 Virginia Cavaliers have gone to the Valley of the Sun and beaten Arizona 4-1. Their standout goalkeeper Chantel Jones had her 353-minute scoreless streak broken by a late Wildcat penalty. I first saw Chantel playing for Region I at the ODP Interregional at Coral Springs (or was it Boca Raton). Very nice young lady and a terrific goalkeeper - a big part of why Virginia is a bona fide national title contender this year.

10:36 p.m. - Here is the graphic description of the carnage in South Bend tonight. Cover your children's eyes before reading THIS.

 

10:44 p.m. - Both of our #1 teams have won tonight. Here is the full REPORT on the Portland 2-0 win over Colorado College. Elli Reed scored both goals for the Pilots.And for Caleb Porter's Akron Zips, HERE is a report on their win over SMU in Tulsa.

10:53 p.m. Karen Hoppa's #21 Auburn Tigers have picked up a nice 3-1 win at home over Kennesaw State. Read about it HERE.

11:04 p.m. Charles texts to tell us that Nick Cukar scored for San Jose State, but Swenson scored a 2nd and Oregon State beat the Spartans 3-1.

In South Carolina, Old Dominion has beaten #40 Furman. You can read about it HERE.

#9 North Carolina were surprised at home by the men from Northrern Illinois, 1-1. HERE is the report.

 

11:11 p.m. - A Mid-South grudge match sees the Ole Miss women beat #31 Memphis 1-0. The full report is HERE.

 

11:17 EST - #44 TCU has lost in overtime to in-state rivals Texas Tech. Read about it HERE. 

#25 Cal defeated the #11 women's team, Texas A&M. HERE is the report.

Big win for the UAB Blazers' men's program tonight. They went into Chicago and beat John Trask's #11 UIC Flames 3-1 beneath the Windy City skyline (one of the best backdrops in American soccer). Read about the match HERE.

11:29 p.m. - Here is West Virginia's REPORT on the UC Santa Barbara 2-0 win over the  Mountaineers.

Speaking of American soccer, don't forget the USA Men's National Team hosts El Salvador Saturday night in a vital World Cup Qualifier at Salt Lake City. The U.S. would be in pretty good position for qualifying for South Africa next year with a win, but a home loss would make things pretty dicey.

11:46 p.m. HERE is the report on UCLA's win over Maryland. Making it even more impressive is that Maryland drew a record crowd of 6,718 at Ludwig Field. The Bruins' win snaps a 16-match winning streak for the defending national champion Terrapins.

Midnight EST - OK - I'm going to work on posting some more match reports for everybody. Keep checking the college articles page for the latest reports from all over. It's been a big night for a lot of teams, with UCLA men, North Carolina women and #1s Akron men and Portland women among the biggest winners. I'll have some  more comments in the next hour after a brief hiatus.

1 a.m. EST - OK, we've posted a lot more match reports and there will be still more in the morning, but it's been a great first night. Thanks to everyone who texted us updates or weighed in with questions. As we go on this will become more and more THE gathering place for college soccer fans across the country on Friday nights. Remember to check Sunday night for all the latest match reports and first thing Monday morning for our updated rankings and Team of the Week.

 

TopDrawerSoccer.com has the best and most comprehensive college soccer coverage in the country, with match reports, standings, results and feature articles from all across DI college soccer for men and women. We also have our Tournament National Rankings and Team of the Week features to recognize who’s hot in the college game.

Want to give us an email or text update from your team’s match? You can do it on Friday Night LIVE. Want to comment on some other result from around the soccer nation? You can do it on Friday Night LIVE. Want to just sit back and keep track of what’s going on all across the college spectrum? That’s all right too. TopDrawerSoccer.com will continue to be your one-stop shop for all the news from the college game, as it happens. Email us all night long at LIVE@topdrawersoccer.com.

If you’d like to give us live text updates during Friday night contests, just email us at LIVE@topdrawersoccer.com. Otherwise you can email us at the same address TONIGHT with your comments, questions and your own feedback about OUR comments. It is definitely meant to be a two-way street so we hope you’ll check out the web site before, during and after the games TONIGHT and every Friday through the college season.