NCAA Women are down to the quarterfinals this weekend; in the game of the week, Santa Clara avenged their loss in last year’s title game (played here in Austin), ousting Portland in penalty kicks. Next up for the Broncos: prohibitive favorite North Carolina, who’ve dispatched their first three opponents, 8-0, 5-0, and 7-0. Here are this weekend’s matchups (host team listed first): North Carolina vs. Santa Clara, UCLA vs. Penn State, Florida vs. Florida State, Connecticut vs. BYU. Next weekend’s Final Four, by the way, will be shown live on ESPN2, with a Semifinal Doubleheader Friday, Dec. 5, 11am-4pm, followed by the final on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 1pm
NCAA Men began their tournament last weekend; the top 16 seeds — led by top-ranked defending champion UCLA — swing into action today, Wednesday, Nov. 26, followed by the round of 16 this weekend. The Final Four is Dec. 12-14 in Columbus.
UT Club teams had a rough weekend at their national tournament; the Men’s “A” team was the only one of three UT entries to make it out of group qualifying, and then lost in the first round.
Landon Donovan scored twice on Sunday to lead the San Jose Earthquakes to the MLS Championship, 4-2 over the Chicago Fire.
The European Champions League is in action as I write this, with seven games Tuesday evening, eight more Wednesday, and one, Juventus at Galatasaray, postponed by the recent bombing in Istanbul. Londoners Arsenal roared back from the brink of elimination in Italy with a brilliant 5-1 dismantling of Inter Milan, but both teams remain alive. In fact, with only one more set of games left in group play after this (Dec. 9-10), only two teams, surprising Monaco and Real Sociedad (Spain) clinched advancement this week.
This article appears in November 28 • 2003.