Conference championship week is behind us as we head into the final act of the 2014 Women’s college soccer season. Earlier this week, the 64-team field was set which will culminate in Boca Raton, Florida on December 7th. You can take a look at the bracket here.
The UCLA Region:
1-UCLA
2-Virginia
3-Kentucky
4-Pepperdine
Danielle Colaprico won ACC midfielder of the year behind her school-record 15 assist. (Photo: Virginiasports.com)
It is no surprise that UCLA received the number one overall seed heading into the tournament. The Bruins have been dominant since the first day of the season and haven’t faltered along the way. Their undefeated 18-0-2 record is the nation's best and the team is hitting its stride at the right time, ending the season with wins against tournament teams UW and USC by a whopping combined score of 8-0. They’ll be just fine, as we expect them to make it through to the finals. Virginia is probably the only team that can hang with UCLA. The Cavaliers return with an experienced squad that could rival that of UCLA’s. UVA only lost two games this season and are probably the best two seed in the tournament by our account (beating fellow two seed UNC in ACC tournament 2-0 last Friday). Unfortunately, they were placed in the same region as UCLA, but that doesn’t mean you should write them off right away. That said, the pesky Kentucky Wildcats could have a shot at ruining the Cavs plans as they hung strong with #1 seeded Texas A&M in the SEC tournament. Pepperdine will have a big opening match against USC who are no slouch. A team that could surprise people is Arizona State. Hailing from the difficult PAC 12, they have plenty of big game experience including a 1-1 draw with UCLA and a 2-1 win over A&M.
The Florida State Region:
1-Florida State
2-North Carolina
3-South Carolina
4-Wisconsin
Dagny Brynjarsdottir leads the team with 31 points and will be the Seminoles main scoring weapon in the College Cup. (Photo:@US_CollegeSport | Twitter)
Another region that we believe shouldn’t be too hard to predict is the Florida State region. The Seminoles are just too good and there aren’t any teams that should challenge them on their way to the Final Four. Everyone knows about Florida State's potent attack led by Dagny Brynjarsdottir, but their defense is what could catapult the 'Noles to win their first ever championship. FSU has given up 2 goals in their last 5 games and will look to continue that dominance in the College Cup. North Carolina has prestige and showed they can hang with the Noles’ after a 1-1 draw late in the year. Their 2-0 loss to UVA in the ACC tournament isn’t terrible, we just don’t know if they are good enough to beat FSU. South Carolina and Wisconsin are great teams, but aren’t in the same class as the first two seeds. A team to watch is Clemson. The Tigers have NCAA experience and are matched up against South Carolina in the first round, a team they have already beaten this year.
The Texas A&M Region:
1-Texas A&M
2-Penn State
3-West Virginia
4-Notre Dame
Bianca Brinson is one of eight seniors that Texas A&M will be banking on during their run in the College Cup. (Photo:@NCAA | Twitter)
Talk about blazing across the finish line. Texas A&M finished the season with 10 straight victories, including their 1-0 victory over Kentucky in the SEC Championship. We spoke earlier about UVA’s experience, and the one team aside from UCLA that outmatches them is A&M. However, the squad will only go as far as their eight seniors will take them. They will likely run into a ND team that has been awfully inconsistent, especially against top tier teams. Another team that hasn’t lost since August is West Virginia. The Big 12 representatives opened the season with a 1-3 loss to Penn State and a 0-2 loss to Duke, but haven’t turned back since. We like them to face A&M in the elite eight. Penn State will have a tough battle against UCONN in the second round who are riding Rachel Hill’s 15-goal and 33-point campaign.
The Stanford Region:
1-Stanford
2-Florida
3-Texas Tech
4-Washington
Stanford is the best team in this region. Where we struggle is figuring out Florida and Texas Tech. The two both lost in penalties against terrible teams in the first round of their respected conference tournaments. The Gators faltered towards the end of the year, but their 2-1 victory against FSU shows the potential. We don’t think they are better than Stanford, but they’ll likely be the counterpart to the Cardinal in the elite eight. Texas Tech has struggled to find consistent form finishing 4-2-2 in their last 8 games of the season. Washington will get their chance to take on Stanford later in the tournament, and no one knows the PAC 12 powers better than they do. But first they’ll have to navigate through either a good Missouri or Kansas team. It’s tough to pick a team to surprise in this region. Cal and Kansas have shown bright spots. The Jayhawks limped across the finish line, closing the season losing four out of their five games which culminated with back to back losses to Oklahoma. Cal lost 2-3 to Stanford to end the season.
