BOCA RATON, Florida — With three matches left in the regular season, the North Texas soccer team controls its own destiny.
Sitting atop the Conference USA regular season standings, the Mean Green (11-4, 6-1) can claim their eighth league title with three wins over the next week.
But it won't be easy.
North Texas, the preseason favorite to win C-USA, ends the season playing at Florida Atlantic on Friday who was picked to finish second and on Nov. 1 at Rice who was picked to finish third. In between those two matches they'll play at FIU (2-12, 0-7) on Sunday.
The Mean Green and FAU (11-3-1, 7-1-0) will kickoff at 6 p.m. CT on Friday. The game will be broadcasted on CUSA.tv. The Owls and North Texas tied for first-place last season, however, the Mean Green won the head-to-head match 2-1 in Denton.
As if defending off FAU and Rice wasn't stressful enough.
North Texas is also battling with Charlotte for a first place standing.
Entering this weekend, Charlotte was tied with the Mean Green for first but UNT does not play the 49ers this season in the 10-match conference schedule. So if North Texas and Charlotte were to tie in first it'd be a co-championship.
After losing 1-0 in Houston to Rice to start conference play, Charlotte (12-3, 7-1) has rallied off seven straight wins. Entering this weekend, the 49ers also had three conference matches remaining but all three are at home and all three are against opponents without above .500 winning percentages in league play.
On Thursday night, Charlotte took care of UTEP with a narrow 1-0 win. The 49ers' goal came in the 79th minute.
Of Charlotte's final three opponents, the Miners were the only ones entering this weekend who were in position to make the conference tournament. Its final two opponents, UTSA and Old Dominion are on the outside looking in but are just one win away from being in the tournament picture.
North Texas, Charlotte and Rice are the only teams so far who have clinched a spot in the eight-team C-USA Championship, which the Mean Green are hosting starting Nov. 6.
The Mean Green have claimed either a regular and/or a tournament league title in five straight seasons.