Last chance to see the UT Longhorns at home this season, as they host Texas Tech and Colorado this weekend needing something very much like a sweep to lay any claim to an NCAA at-large bid. The Horns defense has really tightened up in the second half of the season; they haven’t given up more than one goal in any of the last nine games. Unfortunately, the offense has been up and down – so UT’s record over that span is just 4-3-2, with four 2-1 wins but also three 1-0 losses… Friday, Oct. 23, is Texas Soccer Movie Night; following the 7pm Tech game, Disney’s Earth will be played on the stadium’s video board; bring blankets and watch from the field (weather permitting). Buy a bundle pack (ticket and popcorn for $3) in advance only by calling 232-3865. For the finale against second-place Colorado, 1pm, Sunday, there’s a $3 Web coupon.
Last chance to see the St. Edward’s women, too, when the nationally seventh-ranked Hilltoppers host Newman, 4pm, Friday, Oct. 23, before finishing with three on the road. At 12-1-1, the Hilltoppers are riding a nine-game win streak and have out-scored opponents 40-4 on the season.
The Austin Aztex wound up their tour of England with a perfect 3-0 record, beating the Stoke City Reserves, 1-0, and lower-division Sheffield Wednesday and Accrington Stanley, each 2-1. And so the 2009 team bows out on a four-game winning streak and also with a good look at some new players who may be featured on the 2010 squad. The England traveling squad included seven players who weren’t on the regular-season roster – three of them already committed for next season, by various reports.
Some notable road wins in European Champions League play this week: Liverpool’s 1-2 loss to Lyon was their fourth in a row overall; Rangers lost in Glasgow, 1-4, to something called Unirea Urziceni; and Barcelona lost 1-2 to unlikely Russian champs Rubin from Kazan, capital of Tatarstan.
CONCACAF Champions League group play is concluding as we go to press: All four Mexican teams will advance to the final eight as group winners, Columbus is in as one second-place finisher, and Houston and D.C. United need outside help to squeak through… The Montreal Impact are USL First Division champs, having swept the Vancouver Whitecaps (3-2, 3-1) in the final… Ghana won the Under-20 World Cup last Friday, outlasting Brazil on PKs… Major League Soccer heads into the final weekend of the regular season with three playoff spots up for grabs, and all but three teams still in the hunt for one.
This article appears in October 23 • 2009.