Cincinnati can clinch a share of its first Conference USA regular season title since 1995 with wins at Charlotte and East Carolina this weekend. Read about this and other news in this week's notebook.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSIVE: Kara Bullinger, Houston
Sr., MF, Kingwood, Texas

Houston's KARA BULLINGER is the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 21. Bullinger had two goals as the Cougars knocked off Memphis, 2-1. She is the second UH player to be honored by Conference USA this season. Goalkeeper Robin Cate was the Sept. 4 Defensive Player of the Week.

DEFENSIVE: Sara Simpson, Tulane
Fr., GK, San Bernardino, Calif.

Tulane's SARA SIMPSON is the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 21. Simpson recorded her fifth and sixth shutouts of the season against
South Florida and UAB. The UAB contest snapped the Blazers' five match winning streak. She faced 17 shots in the two matches, recording nine saves overall. She is the Green Wave's new single-season shutouts record holder and needs 11 more saves to break the mark in that category.





NATIONAL POLLS
Here's a look at the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and Soccer Buzz polls:

NSCAA Coaches Poll (Oct. 22)
1. North Carolina
2. Santa Clara
3. UCLA
4. Penn State
4. Nebraska
6. Stanford
7. St. Mary's (Calif)
8. Notre Dame
9. Connecticut
10. Portland
10. Texas
12. Clemson
13. Virginia
14. Texas A&M
15. Florida
16. Washington
17. Tennessee
18. Harvard
19. Princeton
20. Pepperdine
21. Wake Forest
22. California-Berkeley
23. Michigan
24. West Virginia
25. Hartford
RV: Marquette

Soccer Buzz Regional Rankings
(Oct. 22)
Great Lakes
2. Marquette
6. Cincinnati

Southeast
7. Charlotte

Soccer Buzz Top 25 (Oct. 15)
1. North Carolina
2. UCLA
3. Santa Clara
4. Stanford
5. Portland
6. Notre Dame
7. Penn State
8. St. Mary's
9. Florida
10. Virginia
11. Nebraska
12. California
13. Harvard
14. Clemson
15. Texas
16. Washington
17. Florida State
18. Connecticut
19. Texas A&M
20. Marquette
21. Tennessee
22. West Virginia
23. BYU
25.tie Georgia
25.tie Hartford

THE WEEK AHEAD
Cincinnati held off Marquette and DePaul to take over sole possession of first place in Conference USA this past weekend. Charlotte hopes to hand the Bearcats its first league loss when the two teams meet Friday at Transamerica Field. The 49ers hold a 4-3-1 advantage in the all-time series, including three of the last four matches.

Things don't get any easier for the Bearcats, who host East Carolina on Sunday. The Pirates are tied for fourth in C-USA (5-2) with Tulane. This is the first-ever meeting between UC and ECU.

C-USA NOTEBOOK
CHARLOTTE
Charlotte overcame a two-goal deficit to tie Saint Louis, 2-2 on Oct. 19. This was the 49ers' third overtime match of the season. Freshman MEGAN TERLIP's first career goal tied the game at two at the 54:57 mark. Charlotte visits Wake Forest on Tuesday before returning home to host first place Cincinnati (Friday) and Louisville (Sunday).

CINCINNATI
Cincinnati took over sole possession of first place with a 2-1 double overtime victory over No. 18 Marquette on Oct. 19 and recorded a 1-0 victory over DePaul on Oct. 21. This marks Cincinnati's first win over a ranked opponent since it beat No. 17 Saint Louis, 1-0 at the 2000 C-USA Tournament. RACHEL LIEBERMAN scored the game-winner against Marquette, which snapped a five-match series losing streak to the Golden Eagles. Junior defender HEATHER HERWEH played every minute of every match last week, including the double-overtime wins over Evansville and Marquette. She scored the game-tying goal against Evansville and anchored the defense that allowed just two goals in three matches. Cincinnati can clinch its first C-USA regular season title since 1995 with victories at Charlotte and East Carolina this weekend.

DE PAUL
DePaul suffered a 2-1 loss at Louisville on Oct. 19 and a 1-0 loss at Cincinnati on Oct. 21. Five of the Blue Demons' 10 losses have been by one goal. LINDSEY DEASON is among the league's top 10 in saves (67) and saves per game (4.79). The Blue Demons visit Drury and Saint Louis this weekend.

EAST CAROLINA
East Carolina followed a 2-0 win over High Point on Oct. 19 with a 3-2, double-overtime win over Saint Louis on Oct. 21. AMANDA DUFFY leads Conference USA in shots (55) and points (26). The Pirates have won five of their nine one-goal matches this season. Currently tied for fourth in the league with Tulane, East Carolina hosts Louisville and Cincinnati this weekend.

HOUSTON
Houston won its second straight match with a 2-1 victory over Memphis on Oct. 19. KARA BULLINGER earned Conference USA's Offensive Player of the Week after scoring both goals against the Tigers. UH continues its homestand this week against Southwest Texas State (Wednesday), Southern Miss (Friday) and Tulane (Sunday).

LOUISVILLE
Louisville posted its second straight home win with a 2-1 triumph over DePaul on Oct. 19. However, Marquette snapped that streak with a 3-0 win on Oct. 21. Seven of the Cards' 14 matches have been decided by one goal this season. Louisville visits East Carolina on Friday and Charlotte on Sunday.

MARQUETTE
Cincinnati snapped Marquette's 17 Conference
USA match winning streak with a 2-1 double overtime win on Oct. 19. The last time that Marquette had lost a C-USA match was on Oct. 15, 1999 when it lost to Charlotte, 1-0. The Golden Eagles bounced back with a 3-0 win at Louisville on Oct. 21. Saint Louis visits Marquette on Friday, and MU travels to Wisconsin on Sunday.

MEMPHIS
Memphis rebounded from a 2-1 loss at Houston with a 1-0 triumph over TCU. Freshman MARY SHELTON had the game-winner against the Horned Frogs. Despite 11 TCU shots on goal , KATARINA WICKSELL had five saves to preserve the shutout. Memphis visits UAB on Friday and returns home to face South Florida on Sunday.

SAINT LOUIS
Saint Louis was pushed to the limits with a pair of double-overtime matches last week. The Billikens lost to East Carolina, 3-2 and tied Charlotte, 2-2. The Billikens could not hold to a 2-0 advantage they had at Charlotte. SLU and Marquette have met five times, and the last two matches have been ties as well. Saint Louis' match at Kansas, originally scheduled for Sept. 14, has been moved to Oct. 30 at 3 p.m.

SOUTH FLORIDA
South Florida dropped a pair of matches to Tulane (5-0) and Southern Miss (2-1) last week. STINE HAGH (five) is among the top 10 goal scorers in the league. RACHEL THJMOE is tied for fifth in the league with five assists. South Florida visits Central Florida on Wednesday and Memphis on Sunday.

SOUTHERN MISS
After a 3-1 loss to UAB on Oct. 19, Southern Miss had a 2-1 win over South Florida on Oct. 21. Junior KATIE ADAMS had six goals on the year after netting one in each match last week. USM has had to overcome deficits in each of its C-USA wins this season. Sophomore goalkeeper LESLIE SCHOEPLEIN had eight saves on the weekend and has 49 for the year.

TCU
TCU suffered a 1-0 loss to Memphis on Sunday. The Horned Frogs has 11 shots on goal in the final 45 minutes but were unable to reach the net. TCU is now 5-3 in one goal matches this season. The Horned Frogs return to action on Friday against visiting Tulane before heading to Southern Miss on Sunday.

TULANE
After shutouts of UAB (3-0) and South Florida (5-0), Tulane has now won three matches in a row. BROOK PARKER had three goals and an assist on the week, assisting on the game-winner against UAB. After being picked ninth in the C-USA coaches preseason poll, Tulane is currently tied for fourth with East Carolina. SARA SIMPSON's six shutouts are a new Green Wave single-season record, and she needs 11 saves to break the school single-season mark in that category. Tulane visits TCU and Houston this week.

UAB
UAB defeated Southern Miss, 3-1, but Tulane snapped the Blazers' five-match winning streak with a 3-0 win on Oct. 21. UAB's ADRIENNE SUFFRIDGE is among the league leaders in shots per game (2.21) and points per game (0.93). The Blazers are 7-7 on the season, and five of those seven losses are by one goal. UAB hosts Memphis on Friday.