Soccer Watch

The Texas Longhorns' season ended with a disappointing loss at TCU last Friday; the Horns finished 8-9-1, and last in the nine-team Big 12, failing to qualify for the conference tournament. Texas forward Cyera Hintzen was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year, and second-team All-Conference, after leading the Horns in shots and shots on goal... West Virginia finished the regular season ranked first in the nation... The St. Edward's women (14-1-1) host the Heartland Conference tournament this week, after winning the regular-season title and finishing 14-1-1 on the year. The Hilltoppers, fielding six players with at least five goals each, play St. Mary's in the semifinals at 1:30pm Thursday on Lewis-Chen Family Field, with the conference final at 1pm Saturday, Nov. 5. See live video and stats at www.gohilltoppers.com. The Heartland men's tourney is at the Midwestern State campus in Wichita Falls; St. Edward's (15-2-1) faces West Texas A&M on Friday, with the conference final on Sunday; that video is at www.heartlandsports.org.

The MLS playoffs continue this Sunday, Nov. 6, with a quadruple-header of conference semifinal second-leg games, hosted by the top two seeds in each conference. The lower-seeded teams all held serve last week, with shutout home wins, so the top seeds all have work to do. Here's the schedule, with the first-game result in parentheses: LA Galaxy at Colorado Rapids, 1pm, ESPN (1-0 first leg); Montreal Impact at NY Red Bulls, 3pm, FS1 (1-0); Toronto FC at New York City FC, 5:30pm, ESPN (2-0); Seattle Sounders at FC Dallas, 8pm, FS1 (3-0)

The next weekend is the international break, with World Cup qualifying around the world. Closest to home, the USA opens the CONCACAF final hexagonal round with a juicy opening game at home against Mexico, Fri., Nov. 11, in Columbus, Ohio. Elsewhere that same day, it'll be Honduras-Panama, and Trinidad-Costa Rica.