Soccer Watch

The UT Longhorns opened Big 12 play with a pair of shutout road wins last weekend, 4-0 over Iowa State, and 1-0 at Oklahoma. Sounds like the young team has really stabilized over the last four games (3-0-1, coming off a four-game losing streak); they've had the same starting lineup for all four games, and new goalkeeper Abby Smith seems to have steadied the back line. They're off this week, before hosting Oklahoma State next Friday, Oct. 5.

St. Edward's women continue to roll; they're ranked third in the nation after demolishing UT-Permian Basin and McMurry last weekend, 8-0 and 6-0 (total shots in the two games: an eye-popping 69-4). The Hilltoppers now go on the road for their next five games.

It's that hectic season in world football: CONCACAF Champs League group stages are being decided midweek; looks like it could easily be a sweep, with the four U.S. and four Mexican teams winning all eight groups... Euro Champions League action this coming Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 2-3; lots of games on Fox Soccer Channel, live at 1:30pm, and delayed... World Cup qualifying comes soon after that, with the U.S. still needing at least a win and a draw Oct. 12 and 16 to qualify for the final group stage... And, oh yeah, league play continues apace everywhere, including a back-and-forth stretch run in MLS, and a great success story down the road in the NASL regular-season champion San Antonio Scorpions.