Women's Soccer 2014 NCAA Tournament #1 UCLA / #4 Pepperdine Regional Breakdown
The team that has been the most consistent in all of women’s college soccer during the 2014 season, the UCLA Bruins, enter the NCAA Tournament as the number one overall seed and are riding a 41-match unbeaten streak. This half of the bracket for the Bruins looks advantageous but it does have teams like Pepperdine, USC, and Illinois State that could be very dangerous in ensuing rounds.
This is a rematch between the Bruins and Toreros that took place on August 31 when UCLA beat San Diego. The Bruins were justly rewarded with the number one overall seed as the Pac-12 Champion. They also have not conceded a goal in over a month and that is why they should have little trouble in advancing on to the second round in a 1-0 or 2-0 type of match.
Harvard vs. Central Connecticut State
The regionalization of the opening round pairings comes into full effect with this matchup between the Blue Devils and the Crimson. Senior forward Tori Sousa is the top offensive player for Central Connecticut State, as she has seven goals and six assists on the season. The Blue Devils play a lot of tightly contested matches which is a good thing in the NCAA Tournament since matches are usually much closer. Harvard once again is the Ivy League representative. They earned the automatic bid as the conference champion. The Crimson are led by the forward duo of sophomore Margaret Purce and senior Emily Mosbacher, who have combined for 12 of Harvard’s 27 goals this season. This matchup could go either way and potentially to a penalty kick shootout.
South Florida vs. Illinois State
The Bulls qualified as an at-large team out of the American Athletic Conference after falling in penalty kicks to UConn in the American Athletic Conference Tournament final. They are playing their best soccer of the season and are unbeaten in seven straight matches. Junior midfielder Olivia Chance paces the South Florida attack with nine goals and five assists. The Redbirds are out of the Missouri Valley Conference and are very explosive. they have scored 55 goals this season. The combination of senior forward Rachel Tejada and sophomore Hannah Leinart have scored 29 goals this season for Illinois State. This is a potential upset in the making if the Redbirds can get rolling with their attack.
#4 Pepperdine vs. USC
This is another rematch from earlier this season when the Waves knocked off the Trojans 2-1 on the road in Los Angeles. Pepperdine is led by senior forward Lynn Williams, who has 12 goals on the season, and the Waves as a whole have the defensive ability to be very dangerous in this NCAA Tournament. USC, under the direction of first-year head coach Keidane McAlpine, has gotten back on track in a big way this season by getting signature wins on the road at Notre Dame, Arizona, Washington and Washington State. Senior midfielder Alex Quincey leads the way for the Trojans with ten goals on the season. This should be a tight one-goal type of match that goes down to the wire.
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