College soccer Week 3 preview

Temple and Delaware will look to stay unbeaten in key local action in Week 3 of the college soccer season while two of the nation’s toughest conferences, the ACC and Big 10, begin play.

After four straight games at home, Temple travels to Rider on Saturday for the biggest test yet. The reigning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions have picked up right where they left off last year, defeating Villanova in overtime before handing La Salle their first loss and edging NJIT last week.

The Owls then return to the city to face Drexel in a Tuesday night match in West Philly.

The Blue Hens, meanwhile, look to move up in the rankings with games against Villanova on Sunday afternoon and Seton Hall on Tuesday night.

The ACC and Big 10 both begin conference play with games this week, none bigger than Friday night matches between No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 North Carolina in the ACC and No. 4 Indiana and No. 5 Maryland in the Big 10.

No. 10 Akron will have a chance to recover from two difficult road losses at San Diego State and UCLA, the latter a game where they conceded three goals in 32 seconds, when they return home to Ohio to host a weekend tournament. The Zips play a tough Oregon State team led by last week’s hat trick hero Timothy Mueller and 7th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, which have a top MLS SuperDraft prospect in senior forward Nick DePuy.

Below is a look at the Division 1 games of interest coming up with local and national implications.

Local Teams/Games

Friday, September 9
Penn at No. 14 Creighton, 8:30 p.m. (Live Stream)
St. Joseph’s at Howard, 7 p.m.

Saturday, September 10
Lehigh at Seton Hall, 1 p.m. (Live Stream)
Temple at Rider, 7 p.m. (Live Stream)
La Salle vs Manhattan, 1 p.m. (Live Stream)

Sunday, September 11
No. 22 Delaware vs Villanova, 3 p.m.
Penn at Nebraska-Omaha, 3 p.m. (Live Stream)

Tuesday, September 13
Princeton vs Rider, 7 p.m. (Live Stream)
La Salle at James Madison, 7 p.m. (Live Stream)
Drexel vs Temple, 7 p.m. (Live Stream)
Lehigh at Fairleigh Dickinson, 7 p.m. (Live Stream)
St. Joseph’s at Hartford, 7 p.m. (Live Stream)

Wednesday, September 14
No. 22 Delaware vs Seton Hall, 7 p.m. (Live Stats)

Friday, September 9
No. 2 Clemson vs No. 3 North Carolina, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
No. 4 Indiana vs No. 5 Maryland, 7:30 p.m. (BTN)
No. 1 Notre Dame vs No. 15 Virginia Tech, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
No. 10 Akron vs Oregon State, 7:30 p.m. (Live Stream)
No. 7 UC Santa Barbara vs No. 19 Butler

Saturday, September 10
No. 17 Virginia vs No. 21 Wake Forest, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)

Monday, September 12
No. 10 Akron vs No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, 7:30 p.m. (Live Stream)

Tuesday, September 13
No. 1 Notre Dame vs UConn, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
No. 5 Maryland at Rutgers, 7 p.m. (BTN)

Wednesday, September 14
No. 17 Virginia vs VCU, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)