Soccer Watch
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., Nov. 15, 2013
Both the UT women and the St. Edward's men got passed over by NCAA tournament selection committees Monday: The Longhorns end their season at 12-6-2, after a first-round Big 12 tournament loss to Oklahoma State, which is going to the dance despite a 9-6-6 record. The Hilltoppers' resume included a 12-3-2 record, a Heartland Conference championship, and a No. 12 national ranking as recently as two weeks ago. Not enough. The St. Edward's women, on the other hand, at 16-0-2 are one of seven unbeaten teams in the DII field; yet they go on the road to Colorado this weekend, playing Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday, with the winner facing host Fort Lewis on Sunday for a spot in the final 16.
Looks like Mexico will be in next summer's World Cup in Brazil after all, after thumping New Zealand, 5-1, in the first leg of their playoff Wednesday (return leg is Tuesday night at midnight, live on ESPN). Uruguay likely punched their ticket as well, with a 5-0 first-leg win at Jordan. The final nine playoff series in Europe and Africa are being decided Friday through Tuesday; interestingly, all five African games will be shown live on BeIN Sport, now available on most cable systems; the European games are online only (ESPN3).
League play pretty much all over the world is taking a two-week break to make way for the international games, even in the U.S., where it creates a two-week gap between the two legs of the MLS Conference Finals. The opening legs: Houston 0, Kansas City 0 in the East, and Salt Lake City 4, Portland 2 in the West.
