After winning their first National Championship in program history last season in an epic 1-0 victory against Florida State in overtime, the UCLA women’s soccer team looks poised to make a run at a repeat. The Bruins have two midfielders, Sarah Killion and Sam Mewis playing for the U.S Women’s National Team in the 2014 Algarve Cup in Portugal. They are two of only three collegiate players on the roster. The Bruins’ top five goal scorers will also return, as well as goalie Katelyn Rowland, who led a stout defense that conceded an NCAA best .296 goals a game last season. UCLA opened the spring season with a 3-0 victory on March 9th against USC.
Florida State has more work to do as they prepare for the 2014 slate. The Seminoles lost their two best players on defense. All American defender Kassey Kallman and All American keeper Kelsey Wyswere anchored a strong defense that will now look towards red shirt freshmen as their replacements. On the other side of the ball, the offense does return their top seven scorers from the 2013 campaign. FSU opened their spring season with a victory as well over USF, 2-0.
Virginia went into the College Cup with the best record of the field, but in 2014 the Cavaliers are looking to rebuild. Virginia lost nine players, including six starters. The team will look to Morgan Stearns who had a phenomenal freshman year posting nine shutouts and a .66 goals against average.
Virginia Tech enjoyed their first ever visit to the Women’s College Cup last season before falling in the semifinals to Florida State. The Hokies lost seven seniors, three of which were starters. But with three of their top five goal scorers returning and highly recruited Alani Johnson joining the program, the Hokies should be just fine in 2014. Johnson netted 40 goals on her way to bring Cape Henry Collegiate School their first ever-state title. However, in a repeat of last year’s tournament, VT started their spring season March 23rd with another loss (2-3) to Florida State who finished 10th in the nation last year.
Perennial powerhouse North Carolina lost 6 of their starters for next season. Two of which, forward Kealia Ohai and midfielder Crystal Dunn were drafted first and second in the 2014 National Womens Soccer league. But the Tar Heels are known for reloading easily. They started their spring season March 1st and earned a 0-0 tie with top 15 ranked Duke.
