Soccer Watch

The UT Longhorns are on the road this week, at TCU and one-loss Baylor, after splitting a pair of 1-0 verdicts last weekend – losing to Texas Tech, then beating Kansas. That leaves the Horns at 7-7-1 for the year, but 4-1 in the very competitive Big 12, and still in the running for the regular-season title. The regular-season finale is next Friday, Oct. 26, 7pm, hosting nationally ranked West Virginia at Myers Stadium.

The St. Edward's women are on the road as well this weekend, and like UT, they'll finish their regular season at home next week, hosting St. Mary's on Thursday, and A&M Interna­tion­al on Saturday, Oct. 25 and 27. The Hilltoppers are up to eighth in the nation after 8-0 and 5-0 wins last week. The St. Ed's men haven't kept up with the women in recent years, but this year's squad (with a little Austin Aztex influence) is having the best success they've experienced in a while – riding a seven-game unbeaten streak and sitting atop the Heartland Conference.

The U.S. Men had some nervous moments this week in World Cup Qualifying – tied after 90 minutes against lowly Antigua Friday, then trailing Guatemala early Tues­day – before roaring back to win both games and ease into the final round of qualifying. That hexagonal group stage – with tough trips to Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Jamaica – will play out next spring and fall... There were WCQ results on every other continent as well, on this last day of international play for 2012. Argentina and Colombia are looking good in South America; Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, not so much. Australia and Iran helped themselves in Asia. It's still early in the long European group stage, but the biggest stories this week were a couple of surprising ties: Sweden stormed back from a 4-0 deficit in the last 30 minutes to tie Germany, and Poland fought England to a waterlogged 1-1 draw, in a game delayed one day because there was "too much rain to close the retractable roof."