College Soccer Week 2 Preview

A Pennsylvania derby that hasn’t been staged since 1979 highlights local games on the second weekend of the college soccer season while Bloomington, Indiana will be the center of the national conversation with three other ranked teams coming to town for a weekend tournament.

Temple will renew its cross-state rivalry with Pitt for the first time since many of the players parents were still in school at the Temple Sports Complex at 3 p.m. today. The new venue has been kind to the Owls, which won twice last weekend while managing to already outdraw all of last season in attendance.

The Panthers are coached by long-time Wake Forest boss Jay Vidovich, who Pitt hired in the offseason after one year coaching Portland Timbers 2 in the USL. Vidovich won a national championship with Wake Forest when former Philadelphia Union midfielder Michael Lahoud was there in 2007 and also coached current Union midfielder Brian Carroll.

Other local games of note include La Salle hosting Rider and Penn opening their season at home to American tonight. The Explorers are 2-0 after two matches, both 1-0 shutouts while Rider beat Villanova in overtime last Friday.

Villanova has a busy week with games in Boston against Harvard and No. 11 Boston College before hosting Navy back at home on Thursday. Thursday’s game will be the first of three visits to the area this month for Navy, which will visit Saint Joseph’s on September 17 and take on Army at Talen Energy Stadium on September 23.

Guillermo Delgado and Delaware will look to stay hot with games against Lehigh on the road Friday and a date back at home with Iona on Wednesday night.

Several of the most intriguing national games in the coming week will be played in Bloomington, Indiana, as the Hoosiers host the annual adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. The Hoosiers, ranked fifth in the country, will play No. 22 California and No. 15 Stanford while fourth-ranked Notre Dame will do battle with the same opponents.

Monday night will see the game of the week as No. 1 Akron visits Los Angeles to play ninth-ranked UCLA in a game being televised on the Pac-12 Network. Akron won a pair of opening week matches in dramatic fashion. After looking extremely dangerous in their first two matches, No. 3 North Carolina will face in-state rival NC State tonight and VCU Monday while two of last year’s best teams – No. 8 Creighton and No. 2 Clemson – will square off tonight.

A derby match worth tuning into will be the Bluegrass Derby between Louisville and Kentucky being broadcast on ESPN3 on Tuesday night.

Local Games/Teams

Friday, September 2
Temple vs Pitt, 3 p.m. (Live Video)
Villanova at Harvard, 4:30 p.m. (Live Video)
Penn vs American, 7 p.m. (Live Video)
Lehigh vs Delaware, 7 p.m. (Live Video)
La Salle vs Rider, 7:30 p.m. (Live Stats)

Saturday, September 3
Drexel at Iona, 3 p.m.

Sunday, September 4
Temple vs Northeastern, Noon (Live Video)
Villanova at No. 11 Boston College, 5 p.m.

Monday, September 5
Penn at Seton Hall, 7 p.m. (Live Video)

Tuesday, September 6
Drexel vs Rhode Island, 7 p.m. (Live Video)

Wednesday, September 7
La Salle at Saint Peter’s, 4 p.m.
Delaware vs Iona, 7 p.m. (Live Stats)

Thursday, September 8
Villanova vs Navy, 4 p.m.

National Games

Friday, September 2
No. 4 Notre Dame vs No. 15 Stanford, 5:30 p.m. (BTN Plus)
No. 8 Creighton vs No. 2 Clemson, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
NC State vs No. 3 North Carolina, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
No. 7 Maryland vs No. 24 Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. (BTN Plus)
No. 5 Indiana vs No. 22 California, 8:30 p.m. (BTN Plus)

Sunday, September 4
No. 22 California vs No. 4 Notre Dame, 12:30 p.m. (Live Stats)
No. 5 Indiana vs No. 15 Stanford, 7:30 p.m. (BTN)

Monday, September 5
No. 7 Maryland vs South Florida, 7 p.m. (BTN Plus)
VCU vs No. 3 North Carolina, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
No. 1 Akron at No. 9 UCLA, 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Tuesday, September 6
Louisville vs Kentucky, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)