When it comes mid-major programs that know how to write a Cinderella story, there’s not many better than the Marshall Thundering Herd.
More recently, the men's basketball team advanced to the Second Round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament as a 13-seed, while the 2020 football team reached No. 16 in the national rankings after starting the season 7-0.
Now it’s the men’s soccer team’s turn.
After four quarterfinal matches on Sunday, we’re down to the final four of the NCAA Women’s College Cup. The semifinal games will be played on Thursday, May 13, with the championship game falling on Monday, May 17, at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
Here’s a quick recap of how Sunday’s quarterfinal matches played out.
NCAA D1 Women’s Soccer Tournament: Quarterfinal Results And Highlights
No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 9 Duke
The NCAA women’s soccer tournament kicks off on Tuesday in North Carolina. Personally, every time the College Cup rolls around, I think about one of my biggest regrets from my college days: deciding it was too expensive to buy a ticket to attend the 2005 College Cup, which was walking distance from my dorm room at Texas A&M.
Need a break from all of the European Super League nonsense going on in the soccer world? Then you might be interested in the 2020 NCAA soccer tournament. These inclusive, merit-based men’s and women’s competitions where the athletes don’t receive a dime of monetary compensation are the furthest thing from the Super League you can get in global soccer without going to a local park.
Watching the Final Four on Friday night I was once again struck by how poor the referees have been during the women’s NCAA basketball tournament. From the first round when Texas A&M escaped an unprecedented defeat to a No. 15 seed over a missed back-court violation to UConn’s leading scorer fouling out in the semis on a call where she didn’t even make contact, the officiating in the tournament has not been good enough.
Racing Louisville FC finally got to play a full 90 minutes of action against the University of Louisville, and Racing is definitely ready to compete in the NWSL.
The 2021 NWSL expansion team defeated the college side 4-0 as former Houston Dash forward Cece Kizer led Racing with a hat-trick to help solidify the win. As Racing has only been competing in practice, it was about time they got to play in a real scrimmage to get used to one another and improve their team chemistry.
The University of Oregon started Pac-12 play on Friday against Stanford University. Stanford currently holds the NCAA College Cup and has faced Oregon annually since 1997, but until this past meeting, Oregon had never defeated Stanford, making Friday's 2-1 win over the Cardinal the first in program history.
The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is currently the only professional women’s league in the United States, but not for long.
The United Women’s Soccer organization (UWS) is a pro-amateur women’s league that allows former and current college players to stay in top shape and continue to play competitively against the best of the best in the off-season. This past week, the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) announced its partnership with the UWS to advance the opportunities for top-level players.
Another member of the Rodman family could be headed for the athletic spotlight.
The Washington Spirit selected forward Trinity Rodman with the No. 2 overall pick in the National Women's Soccer League draft on Wednesday. Rodman, 18, is the daughter of Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman.
The younger Rodman was due to play for Washington State before the last college soccer season was wiped out due to the coronavirus pandemic. She has played on the U.S. national under-20 women's team, and she helped lead that squad to the CONCACAF championship in March 2020.
The NWSL lost a chance to draft a generational talent when Stanford’s Catarina Macario skipped the NWSL draft to sign with Lyon on Tuesday. But Wednesday’s 2021 NWSL Draft will not be without its share of talent based on the list of eligible players the league released on Tuesday.