Let’s start with the bad news this week.

Pilots grounded: I don’t know what’s going on with Portland, but things are getting so bad that they recently lost to Seattle and it barely registered on the upset meter. That’s because the losses are starting to look like more of a trend than an anomaly. For those keeping score at home it’s now three straight defeats for the Pilots – and they’ve been bad ones, too -  who have now fallen down to No. 32 in our ranking.  They’ve been shut out in three consecutive games to unranked San Diego State, unranked Seattle and then Boston University. Cue that annoying Skylar Grey chorus (“I need a doctor, doctor …”)

SoCal classic: On the bright and sunshine side, a couple of California programs delivered a great match on Friday night. Pepperdine appeared on the verge of handing the Bruins an upset but Ally Courtnall scored in the 87th minute and things ultimately finished in a 1-1 draw. Pepperdine goalkeeper Roxanne Barker made 10 saves to fend off UCLA through two overtimes and help the Waves come away with the tie.

Beat downs of the week: Yes, you read that right: we’re going plural with the beat downs.  We start with Detroit, which knocked around Marygrove by a final score of 10-0.

Our other smack down saw East Tennessee State take out their frustration on Alabama A&M in another 10-0 rout on Monday. Molly Vaughn scored the hat-trick for East Tennessee State while their goalkeeper Caitlin Gaughan didn’t face a shot all day.

How bout them Cowgirls: It was a nice milestone week for Oklahoma State. First, coach Colin Carmichael reached career win No. 100 as the Cowgirls beat Creighton 1-0 in a weather-shortened match on Friday. Carmichael, who has been with the program since its inception, has compiled a record of 100-27-17. Striker Krista Lopez then stole the spotlight on Sunday when she netted an OSU record four goals in a 7-0 win over Arkansas-Little Rock.

Finally home: South Carolina played its home opener against Northeastern on Friday, ending a string of four road matches to start the season – a rarity. In fact, heading into the week, the Gamecocks were one of only three programs to start the season with four true road matches. The other two were Nevada and Jacksonville. Trivial stat I know, but I’m just sayin …

Women’s Top 20 Action

1. North Carolina def. Ohio State 3-0
2. Stanford def. Georgetown 4-1; def. Northwestern 6-0
3. Virginia def. St. John’s 2-1; def. Arizona State 3-0; def. Drexel 4-0
4. Notre Dame def. Tulsa 7-1; def. Indiana 4-1
5. UCLA tied Pepperdine 1-1; def. Rutgers 1-0
6. Florida State def. Marquette 3-1; def. UAB 4-0
7. Maryland def. Navy 3-0; def. Saint Louis 2-0; def. Cornell 4-0
8. Boston College tied Syracuse 0-0; def. Vermont 5-0
9. Florida def. Texas Tech 3-0
10. Oklahoma State def. Oral Roberts 1-0; def. Creighton 1-0; def. Arkansas Little Rock 7-0
11. Duke lost to Auburn 1-0; def. Mississippi 1-0
12. Wake Forest lost to Connecticut 2-1; def. Campbell 3-0
13. UC Irvine def. Hawaii 2-1
14. Virginia Tech def. Campbell 3-2; def. Connecticut 1-0
15. Marquette lost to Florida State 3-1; def. North Dakota 9-0
16. Georgetown lost to Stanford 4-1; lost to William & Mary 3-1; def. VCU 1-0
17. Santa Clara tied Oregon State 1-1; tied Oregon 0-0
18. California def. Kent State 5-1; def. Denver 4-2
19. Penn State def. NC State 3-1; def. Pittsburgh 3-0
20. BYU def. Idaho State 2-1; def. Fullerton 2-1; (also defeated Arizona on Monday, 2-0)