It’s called the “Conference of Champions.”
The Pacific-10 Conference is represented by three states along the West Coast, along with Arizona.
But when it comes to women’s soccer, the Golden State is the only one to represent.
Stanford leads the way with an undefeated conference mark and a 16-1-0 overall record, losing by one goal to one of the nation’s best, North Carolina.
Stanford is led by senior forward Marcia Wallis with her two goals in the 2-1 victory over Cal and was responsible for eight of the 12 shot attempts.
UCLA and USC round out the top three teams in the Pac-10 with one and two conference losses apiece, respectively. The Bruins’ only loss came to the Cardinal and the Trojans two losses are to UCLA and Stanford.
In the race for the Pac-10 championship, Stanford will at least clinch a share of the title as long as it wins one of its final two games. If the Cardinal can win out or UCLA drops one of its remaining games, they will be the sole champion.
The Trojans could grab a share of the title with Stanford and/or UCLA if they can win out and some other serious
upsets occur.
For the Oregon schools, they represent the opposite end of the Pac-10 spectrum. Oregon and Oregon State sit in the bottom three of the conference with just two wins combined in conference play and six losses each.
The Beavers enter their final weekend after a rough stint in L.A. with consecutive losses to UCLA and USC. Oregon State has found glory only once in the Pac-10, but has won seven times in non-conference play.
The Beavers and the Ducks will each look for one last win in the rival matchup at Papé Field Friday night.
Washington State is running strong at 4-1-2 in Pac-10 with two recent wins over the desert schools. Junior forward Shelby Brownfield helped WSU move from sixth to fourth in Pac-10 standings with the game winner against ASU and another goal
at Arizona.
The Washington Huskies sit at .500 after losses at Arizona and Arizona State. Both losses were upsets as Washington has never lost to the Wildcats in seven previous match-ups, and it was their first loss to the Sun Devils in six meetings.
Arizona is highlighted by freshman forward Kelly Nelson as she has been named the Pac-10 Player of the Week. Nelson scored the game-winner against Washington and snapped a six-game losing streak for the Wildcats.
But for Arizona, postseason play is not an option as they are 1-6 in Pac-10 play and sit in a tie for ninth in the standings.
Arizona State could be looking at playing in the NCAA Tournament as they are 4-3 in conference and with the win over the Huskies, snapped a three-game losing streak at Sun Devil soccer field.
Cal rounds out the Pac-10 squad and took a tough loss to Stanford last week in dropping to seventh in conference at 2-5. Senior forward Laura Schott scored just the fourth goal against Stanford this season and the first in Pac-10 play. Schott’s goal brought an end to Stanford’s string of seven consecutive shutouts.
For postseason play, if Stanford can win one more, it will receive the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth. Other teams can look forward to tournament play as well, but it depends on Monday’s selections.
Last year UCLA, Stanford, Washington, USC and Cal participated in the tournament.