Women's Soccer 2013 NCAA Tournament #2 Florida / #3 UCF Regional Breakdown

#2 Florida / #3 UCF Region

This is the Gators’ 17th appearance in the NCAA Championship field. Florida will be looking to make it as far as it did last year when they made the Sweet 16. The team claimed a share of its 13th SEC title with a 9-2 regular season record and advanced to the SEC Tournament championship match, where it lost 2-1 to Texas A&M. Savannah Jordan is the nation's leading goal scorer with 22 goals, while also having 46 points in her freshman debut. The team's 2.42 goals per game is 18th nationally, 0.56 goals against is 17th and shutout percentage of 0.579 is 18th.

 

#2 Florida vs. Jacksonville

Jacksonville earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament with a 5-3 penalty kick victory over Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday. The Dolphins will be making their third NCAA appearance and first since the 2006 season. Kaitlyn Bassett is the team's star with 13 goals. Two sophomores, Marie Weckhurst and Sarah Moghadas, are second on the team with five goals each. Moghadas also has five assists.

 

Duke vs. Colorado College

Colorado College is coming off of a Conference USA tournament championship and has lost only twice since the beginning of September. CC is making its 11th appearance overall in the national playoffs and its first at home since 1991. Ironically, it was on the exact same date as Saturday's scheduled game – Nov. 16 – 22 years ago that the Tigers prevailed over visiting Stanford with a 1-0 sudden-death overtime victory in near blizzard conditions. The Tigers' strength is in their midfield. Jessie Ayers has 13 goals, Kaeli Vandersluis eight goals and nine assists and Sarah Schweiss seven goals and six assists.  For the 20th time in school history and the 11th straight year, the Duke women's soccer team received an at-large invitation. The Blue Devils (8-8-4) have been led on the offensive side of the pitch by junior Kelly Cobb (6 goals), Weinberg (5 goals), Kerr (5 goals) and DeCesare (4 goals).

 

Arkansas vs. Oklahoma State

For the first time in the 28-year history of the program, the University of Arkansas soccer team will be playing in the NCAA Tournament. Arkansas will carry a 13-8 overall mark into its first NCAA postseason that includes nine one-goal victories and a 5-2 record in overtime contests. Ashleigh Ellenwood leads the squad with 13 goals and six assists. Evan Palmer has five goals. OSU will be making the eighth NCAA tourney appearance in program history. The Cowgirls' first berth came in 2003, and they made six-straight trips from 2006-11. OSU is 9-4-4 all time in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship, with the .647 winning percentage ranking as the ninth best in NCAA tourney history among teams that have played at least 15 games. The Cowgirls have advanced to at least the second round in each of their last six NCAA trips and Friday's match will mark the eighth NCAA Soccer Championship contest OSU has hosted at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex. OSU previously hosted NCAA games in 2010 and 2011 and was 6-1-0. Courtney Dike has had a heck of a freshman season, scoring 13 goals and assisting on four others.

 

#3 UCF vs. St. John's

The Knights haven't lost since a 1-0 overtime loss to FSU on September 1st. They went through last weekend's AAC tournament, defeating Rutgers 8-7 in penalty kicks to win the title. UCF is making its 18th NCAA Championship appearance and seventh in a row. The Knights became the first team since 1996-97 and just the third team in NCAA history to win back-to-back tournament titles in two different conferences. This year marks the seventh time and third consecutive season that UCF has hosted at least one NCAA Tournament round. Star Tatiana Coleman has gotten help this season, with two other players being big goal scorers. Coleman and freshman Kayla Adamek have nine goals. Fellow freshman Lena Petermann has eight goals. After a three-year hiatus, St. John's women's soccer is back in the NCAA Tournament. In yet another season marked by both individual and team milestones, the 2013 edition of the Red Storm has made history once again, earning the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament bid in the program's 27th year of existence. Sophomore forward Rachel Daly marked a historic season by being named the Big East Offensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. Daly set all-time single season points (47) and goals (22) records.

 

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