The Penn State women needed a shakeup, so they put it to a vote.

Struggling to a 2-6-1 start and heading into their Big Ten opener against No. 37 Michigan State on Sunday, Penn State coach Erica Walsh decided to empower her team. So rather than making an executive decision about the changes needed, she allowed her players to vote on the starting lineup.

That’s right. The coaching staff had ultimate veto power but didn’t need it as the Nittany Lions displayed strong judgment and sacrifice in putting a new lineup on the pitch.

The changes included senior co-captain Megan Monroig coming off the bench, and previously injured sophomore attacker Jackie Molinda getting the first start of her career – at defender no less.

The result spoke for itself; Penn State took a 1-0 lead over the Spartans while shutting down Michigan State’s dangerous scorer Laura Heyboer.   

“If it means we’re going to add (wins) on the board that’s what’s important,” Monroig told the team’s athletic website. “Whatever it takes.”

Marquee Match: Not only in star power, but ranking implications, the match that most dramatically altered the college landscape was No. 1 Akron against previously second-ranked Tulsa. With an emphatic 4-0 victory, The Zips sent Tulsa spiraling all the way down to No. 10 in our Men's National Rankings. Akron got goals from Kofi Sarkodie, Perry Kitchen, Darren Mattocks and Anthony Ampaipitakwong to move to 6-0-0.

Beatdown of the Week/Record-breaking performance: Stanford 9, Hawaii 0 … there really isn’t much more to say. Christen Press scored twice in the game and also added a goal in a 2-1 win against Portland on Saturday to break Stanford’s career scoring mark. She now has 153 points, one more than Sarah Rafanelli produced from 1990-1993.

Crowd noise: Last week we acknowledged the Cal Poly Men’s crowd of 8,717 in a match against UCLA, but that paled in comparison to the No. 26 UC Santa Barbara men’s soccer party against the No. 14 Bruins on Friday. How about 15,896 fans? It was the largest ever at UCSB’s Harder Stadium by more than 4,000 and the second largest in NCAA regular season history. West Coast soccer is alive! … Oh yeah, the Gauchos won 2-0 and the crowd tossed tortillas all over the field meaning a good time and a nutritious snack were had by all.

Still perfect: Kudos to No. 33 Siena College which improved to 7-0-0 and is the only Division I women’s college program without a loss or tie this season. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is alive!

Get well wishes: Villanova men’s defender Chris Christian is still out indefinitely with an injured right knee he suffered earlier this month; Saint Louis men’s attacker Mike Roach has yet to appear in a game this season due to injury, while Penn State women’s defender Lexi Marton has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after partially tearing her MCL on Sept 12.  

LIVE! Recap: In our season’s second installment of College LIVE!, Saint Louis earned a 1-0 triumph against Drake during an exciting Homecoming match. A hefty audience tuned in for our LIVE! broadcast, and we’ll have the game replay up shortly for those of you late to the party.  

Women’s Top 20 Action

1. Boston College def. North Carolina 3-2; def. NC State 1-0
2. Stanford def. Hawaii 9-0; def. Portland 2-1
3. North Carolina lost to Boston College 3-2; def. Virginia Tech 2-1
4. Portland def. California 3-1; lost to Stanford 2-1
5. Notre Dame def. Cincinnati 4-0; def. Louisville 5-0
6. Florida def. Kentucky 2-0; def. Vanderbilt 2-0
7. Florida State def. Miami (FL) 2-0
8. Virginia def. Virginia Tech 3-0
9. Santa Clara def. Oregon; lost to UCLA 1-0
10. Oklahoma State def. Baylor 2-1; def. Texas Tech 2-1
11. USC def. Gonzaga 2-1; lost to Eastern Washington 5-1
12. UCLA def. San Diego 2-0; def. Santa Clara 1-0
13. Texas A&M(w) lost to Colorado 2-1; def. Nebraska 2-1
14. Oregon State lost to UC Irvine 1-0; def. UC Riverside 3-0
15. UCF def. East Carolina 5-3; def. Marshall 2-1
16. South Carolina tied Vanderbilt 0-0; def. Kentucky 5-1
17. Duke lost to Wake Forest 2-1; tied Maryland 1-1
18. California lost to Portland 3-1
19. Washington def. St. Mary’s (CA)(w) 3-1; def. San Francisco 2-0

Men’s Top 20 Action

1. Akron def. Tulsa 4-0
2. North Carolina def. Wofford 2-1; def. Maryland 2-1
3. Virginia def. American 2-0; def. Clemson 1-0
4. Connecticut def. South Florida 4-0
5. Louisville tied Ohio State 0-0; def. Providence 2-1
6. Duke def. UNC Wilmington 1-0; def. Boston College 1-0
7. Boston College def. Rhode Island 2-0; lost to Duke 1-0
8. Maryland def. George Mason 2-0; lost to North Carolina 2-1
9. Michigan State def. Duquesne 2-1; def. Northwestern 2-0
10. Tulsa def. Missouri State 2-1; lost to Akron 4-0
11. UC Irvine def. Cal State Bakersfield(m) 4-0; def. UNLV 4-0
12. Butler def. Wisconsin-Green Bay 2-1; def. Wisconsin-Milwaukee 2-0
13. SMU def. UAB 3-2; def. Jacksonville 2-1
14. UCLA lost to UC Santa Barbara 2-0; def. Cal State Fullerton 3-2
15. Ohio State tied Louisville 0-0; def. Michigan 1-0
16. Creighton def. Wisconsin 1-0
17. Brown def. Vermont 3-0
18. St. John’s lost to Notre Dame 1-0
19. UNC Wilmington lost to Duke 1-0; def. Hofstra 4-0
20. California tied Denver 2-2