It was no fun to be No. 1 last weekend as the men's soccer season opened.

Indiana, the two-time defending NCAA champion and preseason No. 1 in both the SoccerTimes.com and NSCAA/adidas polls, opened the season 0-2. After getting shut out 3-0 by Portland on Friday, the Hoosiers suffered a 2-1 loss to UCLA on Saturday.

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For Duke, Soccer America's preseason No. 1, things weren't any better. The Blue Devils lost 1-0 to St. John's on Friday, and followed it up with a 4-1 loss to Connecticut on Saturday.

Indiana dropped to 16th in SoccerTimes.com's latest poll, which was released Tuesday. Duke went from No. 4 to 18th. In Soccer America's latest poll, which also came out Tuesday, the previously No. 9-ranked Hoosiers fell completely out of the top 20. Duke fell to 12th.

Virginia and UCLA, meanwhile, combined to hold the top spots in both polls. UCLA topped both the SoccerTimes.com and NSCAA/adidas rankings. Soccer America tabbed the Cavs as No. 1, followed by UCLA and No. 3 St. John's.

While fifth-year Virginia coach George Gelnovatch doesn't mind his team -- a program that won four consecutive NCAA titles beginning in 1991 and also finished as the 1997 national runner-up -- being back on top, he remains a bit wary.

"Duke lost to two very good teams, and although we played two tough games, they weren't as competitive," said Gelnovatch, whose Cavs beat South Florida 3-2 and Jacksonville 2-0. "To be perfectly frank, the polls don't mean much in the first couple weeks of the season. We'll have a better picture in next week's poll and the week after that once things settle down."

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Still, Gelnovatch does think Virginia's on the right track.

"The past three years we lost six guys -- mostly attacking players -- early to Major League Soccer, and it's taken some time to regroup," he said. "In terms of our depth and talent in the attack, we haven't been this deep in seven or eight years."

Even before the season started, UCLA coach Todd Saldaña expected good things from Virginia.

"When you're talking about the top teams in the country, Virginia always comes up," he said. "The program has felt the most heat from Project 40 as several key players have left early, and it had a few ups and downs last year. But sometime throughout the year, they'll be back where they normally are."

Make it sooner rather than later.

Youth movement
When 1999 NCAA semifinalists Indiana and UCLA played each other Sept. 2, eight freshmen were included in the starting lineups.

UCLA led the way, starting six freshmen. Not too shabby for one of the country's top teams.

After eight players graduated from last season's team, and two more left early for professional careers in the MLS, knew the Bruins would need big contributions from his 12-member freshman class. But while many of them brought top-notch résumés to UCLA, Saldaña wasn't sure how rocky the transition period might be.

"Sure they've played for the youth national team or in the Youth World Cup, but both those are age-group specific events," Saldaña said in August. "Now in college, they're 18-year-olds playing against 21-year-olds who are experienced in the college game."

So far so good. The five freshmen field players who started against Indiana have combined for a goal and an assist this season, and freshman goalkeeper D.J. Countess has made nine saves and allowed just one goal in 165 minutes.

Good, better, best
Gelnovatch said last weekend's upsets and closely played matches indicate one thing: the level of play is up around the country.

"In the mid- to late-1980s and early '90s, there were teams that were getting beat 10-0, 6-0 and 5-0, but those teams are few and far between now as we've seen more better players out there," said Virginia's coach. "The special or very gifted players are still hard to find, but there's more better players. And the result is that the competition is pretty good.

"In women's soccer, there's still a big disparity between the top five programs in the country and the rest of them. But in men's soccer, that's clearly not the case, and that's because there are more better players out there."

Melanie Jackson is the college sports editor at ESPN.com.