WSU women prepare for top rivals

For some college soccer teams in the area, conference play is just beginning and it’s time to gauge if the national rankings mean anything.

The Washington State women, ranked eighth in the West Region in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas poll, opened their Pacific-10 Conference season last week with a win at Arizona and a 1-0 loss at Arizona State, which snapped a four-game Cougars unbeaten streak.

The Cougars are 8-2-2 overall and 1-1 in a conference that boasts several ranked teams.

Stanford is ranked No. 1 this week, followed by UCLA at No. 2. Southern California is No. 3 and California is ranked seventh in the regional rankings.

In the NSCAA/adidas national rankings, UCLA and Stanford are ranked first and second, respectively. USC is ranked 10th and Cal is ranked 19th.

“The No. 1 thing is remember who we are,” WSU coach Matt Potter said. “We are going to play the best of the best now and we’ve prepared by playing some great teams in our non-conference (schedule), so it’s about putting the best pieces together and then putting that out as a product now.”

The Cougars hit the road again this week to take on conference rival Washington in Seattle on Friday night.

“We’re now playing teams that are all capable of any given day beating each other,” said Potter. “You’ve got eight Pac-10 teams with seven wins or more, so that tells you the quality of it.”

Whitworth returns home

Whitworth’s climb to the top of the Northwest Conference men’s standings has been because of its success on the road.

The Pirates (10-2-1, 8-1 NWC) have played six of their last seven away, with one hiccup – a 2-1 overtime loss at nationally ranked Puget Sound.

In this week’s NSCAA/adidas Division III West rankings, Whitworth is ranked fourth.

The Pirates are returning home for a four-game stretch beginning with George Fox on Saturday and concluding with Pacific Lutheran on Oct. 28.

Puget Sound and Whitworth meet for the final time of the regular season on Oct. 27 in a battle between the conference’s top teams.

Zags continue in WCC

The Gonzaga men and women opened West Coast Conference play recently.

The women (8-4-1, 0-1-0) dropped their opener on the road to eighth-ranked Portland last week.

The men (8-3-1, 3-1-1), ranked sixth in the NSCAA/adidas Division I Far West rankings this week, began WCC play on Sept. 29 with a 1-1 tie at Portland, won their next three, and fell 1-0 in overtime to visiting San Diego last Sunday.

Notes

At the halfway point in the NWC schedule, the Whitworth women (12-1, 9-1), ranked 15th in the NSCAA/adidas national poll, trail Puget Sound (14-0, 10-0) by a game (three points) in the conference standings. The Pirates’ leading scorer, Emily Rohde, returned to action last week after being sidelined since Sept. 14 with an ankle injury. … The Community Colleges of Spokane men remain atop the East Region standings in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges with a 14-2-1 overall record, 12-1-0 in conference. Their 36 points are the most in the NWAACC.