ESPN College Sports Blog

Posted by Graham Hays

The top 10 remains top heavy with teams from the Pac-10 and ACC, but the perennial beast of the Big East made its case to leapfrog all challengers in the race for No. 1.

Here's a recap of weekend results for the entire top 10.

No. 1 USC (4-1-0)
It's not going to save their No. 1 ranking after last Monday's overtime loss at Portland, but the Women of Troy bounced back with a 2-1 win against No. 16 Santa Clara and a 7-1 dismantling of Alabama. Amy Rodriguez came off the bench in both games for her first action since returning from a standout Olympic run, but she wasn't among the seven USC players to score goals in the wins. Coming back from a torn ACL that kept her out of last year's postseason run, senior Nini Loucks found the back of the net twice against Alabama. Sophomore Alyssa Davila scored in both games, including the winner against Santa Clara.

No. 2 UCLA (4-0-0)
Coming off last week's trip up the coast to Portland and with a trip east to Connecticut looming this weekend, UCLA kept its schedule light with a 3-0 win against UC Irvine on Sunday. Lauren Cheney kept up a torrid post-Olympics pace with a pair of goals on six shots, a week after she scored two goals and was credited with 10 shots in wins against Portland and Portland State. Cheney also got an assist on freshman Summer Williams' first career goal. She was a puzzling omission from last year's Hermann Trophy finalists, but she's already in a nice duel with Kerri Hanks for early front runner status this year.

No. 3 North Carolina (4-1-0)
After two big wins against Texas A&M and Tennessee in College Station last weekend, North Carolina stumbled at home in a 1-0 loss against No. 5 Notre Dame. Like last year's NCAA tournament third-round game at Fetzer Field won by the Fighting Irish, the visitors scored first courtesy of Brittany Bock. Unlike that 3-2 result, one goal proved to be enough this time around. The Tar Heels did salvage a result on the weekend with a 4-0 win against Kentucky on Sunday. Freshman forward Merritt Mathias earned her first career start against the Wildcats and scored a goal, and Casey Nogueira scored twice.

No. 4 Florida State (4-1-0)
After piling up 17 goals in their first four games, including a 5-0 rout of Florida International on Friday, the Seminoles' offense fell silent in a 1-0 loss against No. 23 Florida on Sunday. Well, sort of. Mark Krikorian's team was credited with 16 shots to five for the Gators in defeat (and held a 15-0 edge in corners), but freshman Tahnai Annis' goal off a rebound in the 20th minute stood up for the 3-1-1 Gators.

No. 5 Notre Dame (5-0-0)
As far as things that have gone wrong for the Fighting Irish this season, there was a seven-minute stretch in the second half against Duke when the score was 1-1. Beyond that, you're on your own. The win against North Carolina was the weekend highlight, but Sunday's 3-1 win against No. 12 Duke wasn't exactly cupcake scheduling. The Blue Devils did get a goal on a corner kick, but the Fighting Irish have now outscored their five opponents, including three ranked teams, by a 17-1 margin.

No. 6 Virginia (4-0-1)
The Cavaliers stepped up in competition after opening the season with three wins against Loyola, Liberty and Virginia Commonwealth by a combined 14-0 margin. Although credited with a 24-4 advantage in shots, and a 14-4 advantage in shots on goal, it took Kelly Quinn's third goal of the season to pull out a 1-0 win against No. 22 Georgia in Athens to open the weekend. The finishing touch was again missing against Auburn on Sunday (also in Athens), and this time it cost the Cavaliers in a 1-1 tie. Auburn keeper Allison Whitworth was credited with 10 saves, including five in the two overtime periods, as Virginia held a 24-7 overall edge in shots.

No. 7 Stanford (5-0-0)
Look ahead to 2012. Another Olympic cycle will have come to an end, along with another presidential election. It's also when Stanford's opponents may finally be able to breathe easy again. Coming off a week in which freshman Teresa Noyola won Pac-10 player-of-the-week honors on the strength of three goals in games against Navy and Boston college, fellow freshman Lindsay Taylor made her case for this week's award with three goals of her own in wins against Auburn (3-0) and Georgia (2-0). Grizzled-by-comparison veteran Christen Press, the reigning Pac-10 freshman of the year, added a goal against Auburn and has 11 points in five games.

No. 8 Texas (5-0-0)
Safely back in Austin after a dramatic 1-0 double-overtime win in Louisville last weekend, the Longhorns gave coach Chris Petrucelli more of an opportunity to enjoy a milestone weekend with an easy 3-0 win against UT-San Antonio on Friday. The win was No. 300 for Petrucelli, who guided Notre Dame to a national championship before signing on at Texas. Win No. 301 took longer to secure, but a 2-1 overtime win against Arizona on Sunday prolonged the best start in program history for the Longhorns, who will be heavy favorites to remain unbeaten leading up to showdowns against Cal and Texas A&M later this month. Freshman Courtney Goodson scored both goals against Arizona.

No. 9 Portland (4-1-0)
Few teams play a tougher schedule than Portland, but every marathon has its water breaks. After playing host to UCLA and USC last weekend, the Pilots traveled north to Seattle and came away with an 8-0 win against Kennesaw State and a 6-0 win against Colgate in the Husky/Nike Invitational hosted by the University of Washington. Playing without Rachael Rapinoe following her career-ending knee injury, the Pilots got a huge weekend from Danielle Foxhoven. The freshman scored twice against Kennesaw State and bettered that with a hat trick against Colgate on Sunday.

No. 10 Penn State (4-1-0)
Erica Walsh's team survived its second tough road game against an unranked opponent, out lasting Rutgers 1-0 in New Jersey on Friday. The official stats have Rutgers with a 22-12 edge in shots, but considering Penn State keeper Alyssa Naeher was only credited with four saves, it's not clear exactly how much of a disadvantage, if any, the Nittany Lions were at in the run of play. In her first year in the United States after coming to Penn State from her native England, Nikki Watts scored the winner late in the second overtime. Watts added her fourth goal of the season in a 4-2 win against Bucknell on Sunday, a game that marked both the third time in five games Penn State has scored at least three goals and the fourth time Walsh's team hasn't kept a clean sheet.