Soccer Watch

The local college soccer season ended last Thursday, as the St. Edward's women were knocked out of the NCAA Div. II tournament by a 1-0 Sweet 16 loss to Dallas Baptist – their fourth loss of the season to their Heartland Conference rivals. The NCAAs – men and women, across three divisions – continue this weekend and next.

It was first blood to the underdogs in the first leg of the Major League Soccer Conference finals on Sunday. The Columbus Crew got a goal just 10 seconds in, and went on to beat regular season champion New York Red Bulls, 2-0, while the Portland Timbers beat Western top seed FC Dallas, 3-1. Return legs are this Sunday, Nov. 29 – in Dallas at 4pm on ESPN, New York at 6:30pm on FS1.

As we go to press a day early for Thanksgiving, only half of this week's European Champions League games have been played. Little was decided on Tuesday, but it was a good day for Londoners, as Arsenal kept alive their hopes of surviving the group stage, and Chelsea improved theirs with a win in Tel Aviv. The group stage will conclude Dec. 8-9, with the distinct possibility that teams from England and Spain will make up eight of the final 16.