Freshmen are still finding their way around their new campuses, but the NCAA soccer season is well underway. By the time Labor Day arrives next week, many teams will already be nearly a third of the way through their regular-season schedules.So there is no time to waste. What were the headlines from the seasons second week?Were glad you asked.Sunshine State meets Golden StateThere were notable results elsewhere in college soccer -- Arkansas upset Duke, and North Carolina and Florida Atlantic traded goals in the final 70 seconds of regulation before the Tar Heels finally escaped with a double-overtime win. But no team invested more capital -- perhaps even literally, if you add up miles and minutes involved -- to end up almost exactly where it began than Florida after a 1-0 overtime loss at Stanford and a 4-3 overtime win at UCLA.One win that could have been two wins. One loss that could have been two losses.Two games that could have been stalemates.For a team locked for years now in a cycle of being among the top national challengers without quite being the challenged, it has to be a familiar feeling.At the same time, for all the heavy lifting senior Savannah Jordan did in scoring twice and putting in the cross that deflected off UCLA for an overtime own-goal winner Sunday, the response from a starting lineup that featured five sophomores and a freshman might prove worth revisiting come the postseason.Now all that awaits in Gainesville is No. 1 Florida State on Friday night (while UCLA, which won at Texas A&M this past Friday, hosts Penn State and North Carolina this week).Quick turnaround for Canadian Olympic medalistsThe math proved simple enough when West Virginia and Clemson met Friday night: Two Canadian Olympians are greater than one Canadian Olympian.A week removed from beating host Brazil for Olympic bronze in Sao Paulo, West Virginias Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence were both in the starting lineup for the Mountaineers. Standing in their way was Clemson goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, an alternate on the Canadian team who traveled to the Olympic tournament. Sheridan ultimately had the most work to do, forced to make seven saves for the Tigers, but she couldnt do anything about the shot West Virginias Amandine Pierre-Louis slotted home early in the second half.Pierre-Louis, naturally, is Canadian (there are currently seven Canadians on the West Virginia roster, not all that surprising for a program that has long had a talent pipeline running north).The ACC season, not to mention this weeks rivalry game at South Carolina, affords Clemson plenty more opportunities to burnish its résumé. With two stars back, West Virginia needed this.BYUs road show impressesWin on the road now for the chance to play at home later. Stated or not, thats the objective this time of year for a lot of teams that play in good conferences but nevertheless arent quite good enough, or at least deep enough, to put the polish on an NCAA tournament résumé.And so a week that began poorly for BYU, a loser at home to Nebraska 1-0 on Monday, took a pleasant turn in the form of a 3-2 win at defending national champion Penn State on Friday on the strength of an Ashley Hatch hat trick.BYU won at Tennessee early in the 2014 season and at LSU and Baylor a year before that. The Cougars have also made a recent habit of winning at Portland, still no easy feat for WCC teams. So these werent wholly uncharted waters. Still, the bulk of BYUs best recent work came at home, where in past year the Cougars surpassed Portland as national attendance leaders.And winning games at places like Penn State, especially after first taking and then giving away a two-goal lead, is a good way to earn games in Provo in November.Georgetowns goal machineWhat kind of week did Georgetown senior Grace Damaska have? She scored more goals than every other Big East team. Not just any other player in the league, mind you, but more than any of the other nine teams scored.She started quickly in Thursdays win against Delaware, probably a good thing on a day when the weather report listed the heat index in the nations capital within a few degrees of triple digits. Another two goals early in the second half have her a natural hat trick. She was back at it under similar conditions Sunday (the official scoring registered the conditions as gross) against Colorado College. Her two goals put an end to any potential for a comeback from the visitors in a 4-1 win.Damaskas scoring binge will be tested when Georgetown travels to Rutgers on Friday (the Hoyas managed just five shots in a loss against Stanford a week ago), but a five-goal week is heady stuff.Alabamas rising TideAlabama scored its 14th goal of the 2015 season in an October loss to Missouri. The Crimson Tides season came to a close a week later.It is not yet September, let alone Labor Day, and the Tide have 14 goals in their first four games. The current run included a 4-0 win against Campbell on Friday and a 1-0 win at Chattanooga on Sunday. Junior Lacey Clarida scored the lone goal at Chattanooga and has scored at least once in each game. Sophomore Abbie Boswell, the MAC freshman of the year at Ball State a season ago, has at least one assist in each game.As its schedule suggests, Alabama isnt exactly competing for NCAA tournament seeding at the moment (its opening-weekend wins came against Sam Houston State and Murray State). With games at South Florida and Florida Gulf Coast this week, there will soon be more useful evidence by which to judge SEC potential. But for second-year coach Wes Hart, wins and goals are the best way to turn heads in Tuscaloosa. http://www.officialraidersgear.com/Raiders-Marcus-Allen-Draft-Jersey/ . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. http://www.officialraidersgear.com/Raiders-Otis-Sistrunk-Draft-Jersey/ . LOUIS -- Alexander Steen scored a power-play goal with 59. http://www.officialraidersgear.com/ . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. http://www.officialraidersgear.com/Raiders-Tim-Brown-Draft-Jersey/ . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. http://www.officialraidersgear.com/Raiders-Connor-Cook-Draft-Jersey/ . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. After an intense finish to the regular season, which saw both American League wild-card spots clinched on the seasons final day, the playoffs are finally here, with the Orioles visiting the Blue Jays to open the festivities.?Will Toronto rule at home, or will it be Baltimore marching on to the AL Division Series?Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Tuesday nights game, and then vote for which team will win at the bottom of the page.Inside the pitching matchupWhen Tillman is on the mound:?Buck Showalter goes with the steadier hand of Tillman over the hot hand of the unpredictable Ubaldo Jimenez (who pitched 6? one-hit innings against the Blue Jays on Sept. 29). Its not clear Tillman is completely healthy after missing three weeks in late August and early September with shoulder bursitis. His average fastball velocity in his last start was 90.1 mph, well below his season average of 91.7 -- although he limited the Blue Jays to two runs (one earned) in 5? innings in that outing. Perhaps as a result of the decline in velocity, he has been throwing fewer fastballs down the stretch -- his season rate was 56 percent, but he has been below 50 percent his past three starts. He pitches up in the zone with the fastball, which leads to a high fly ball rate, and utilizes a conventional four-pitch repertoire. He didnt show any platoon split this year (.323 wOBA versus lefties, .326 versus righties).Of course, if any team is going to turn a wild-card game into a bullpen game, it should be the Orioles. Showalter may not ask Tillman to go much more than one time through the order, perhaps going to Jimenez or Dylan Bundy for a couple innings, and then hoping to get to his late-game relievers. Brad Brach has pitched two innings five times this year and Zach Britton has gone more than three outs seven times, including two innings against the Blue Jays in a July extra-inning game. At the minimum, Showalter should be asking three innings out of those two. -- David SchoenfieldWhen Stroman is on the mound: Some believed John Gibbons would go with Francisco Liriano?because the Orioles, despite all their right-handed power, have the lowest OPS in the AL against southpaws. Instead, Gibbons goes with the guy who delivered a clutch effort in Game 5 of the Division Series against the Rangers last year. Stroman is fun to watch -- a short righty with a six-pitch repertoire. He has gone to his sinker and cutter more this year, throwing those pitches more than 50 percent of the time, while mixing in his fastball, curve, slider and changeup. His game is all about keeping the ball down and getting grounders; he had the highest ground ball rate of any qualified starter in the majors. He has been very good his final 13 starts, posting a 3.24 ERA and allowing just seven home runs in 83? innings. Facing the team that led the majors in home runs, Stromans ability to limit the big fly will be the key.As for late-game relief, the Jays pen struggled down the stretch, including three late-game meltdowns the final week. Closer Roberto Osuna pitched six times in the seasons final nine days and twice allowed two runs. Setup man Jason Grilli allowed six runs in his final three outings. Thats why you may see Liriano in relieef and possibly even Marco Estrada on three days rest.dddddddddddd -- SchoenfieldPlayer in the spotlightManny Machado: The All-Star third baseman was injured when the Orioles made the playoffs in 2014, so his lone postseason trip came when he was a 20-year-old rookie in 2012. He hit .158 in six postseason games that year, so you know hes chomping to do something big. Machado didnt match his monster first half, sliding from a .944 OPS to .798, in part because he started chasing more pitches out of the zone. Machado feasts on fastballs, hitting .345/.398/.659, and has a much higher slugging percentage on pitches in the upper third of the zone, so look for Stroman to throw him a lot of offspeed stuff and sinkers at the bottom of the zone. -- SchoenfieldWhat will decide tonights gameHow they handle the heat: No two teams hit fastballs for home runs more often than the Orioles and Blue Jays. Baltimore led the majors with a 5.0 HR percentage against fastballs, while Toronto was second at 4.1 percent. Tillman has allowed a 1.9 percent home run rate against his fastball this season, compared to 3.5 percent against his other pitches. --?Ken Woolums, ESPN Stats & InfoChoosing sides: Who will win??The Orioles are a terrific story, but they earned a wild-card berth largely on the strength of a 50-31 record at Camden Yards. They went 39-42 on the road and 4-6 at Rogers Centre this season. If its a tight game, Britton and Showalters bullpen management give Baltimore the edge. But that Toronto lineup is a chore to navigate in the dome, and the Jays have just a little too much for the Os. -- Jerry Crasnick?With their 253 home runs and just 19 stolen bases, a friend compared the Orioles to a slow-pitch softball team. Yet with 89 wins, make that a very, very good slow-pitch softball team, like the one I was on that won my colleges intramural championship more years ago than I want to mention. While Jerry notes that the Orioles have struggled away from Baltimore, they did win four of six on the road last week, including two of three in Toronto. They also have Tillman going against Stroman, who was 9-10 with a 4.37 ERA and an even higher 7.04 ERA against Baltimore in three starts. And the Jays offense has not been that great lately. I look for a close and high-scoring game. I would not be willing to bet against either team, but I wouldnt be shocked to see the Orioles celebrating a victory on their bench with hot dogs and six-packs of beer.?-- Jim Caple?Home-field advantage hasnt meant much in these one-game affairs, with the visiting team winning six of the eight games played so far. Weve seen managers wait too long to go the bullpen in these games -- but I dont think Showalter will make the same mistake. So unless Tillman absolutely blows up in the first inning, I give a slight edge to the Os because of their bullpen depth and the reliability of Britton at the end of the game. -- SchoenfieldWhere the series standsIts all or nothing for these two teams as the winner moves on the face the Rangers on Thursday in Texas, and the loser can start making offseason tee times. --?ESPN.com Cheap Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys China Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Wholesale China NFL Gear Stitched Jerseys Discount Jerseys Cheap NFL T-shirts Cheap Jerseys 2019 Black China NFL Jerseys Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2020 ' ' '