#2 UCLA / #3 South Carolina Region
UCLA, despite winning the Pac-12 and being the best team out west all season, was awarded a number two seed in the same region as North Carolina. Even though the Bruins only lost one match to the Tar Heels and had some draws against Utah and Washington during the season, that ended up bumping them down to the number two line in the bracket.
#2 UCLA vs. San Diego State
The Bruins do an excellent job of limiting opponent’s scoring changes and thus bring the nation’s top goals against average into the NCAA tournament. Up top they are led by Darian Jenkins, who has been one of the top freshmen in the nation and paces the UCLA attack with 11 goals. San Diego State comes into this matchup looking for revenge after a 2-0 loss to the Bruins earlier this season. The Aztecs got off to a very slow start but charged their way back to win the Mountain West Conference. Hannah Keane leads the way with 12 goals for the Aztecs. The Drake Stadium home field advantage should be enough for the Bruins to advance.
Ohio State vs. Kentucky
The Buckeyes come in as an at-large team from the Big Ten tournament and are led by another freshman sensation, Nicholls Prince. Prince has 12 goals and five assists to pace the Ohio State attack. Kentucky is led by the scoring trio of Arian Gillian, Stuart Pope and Zoë Swift. Gillian has a team leading 11 goals out of the back while Pope and Swift have combined for 30 goals and 20 assists for the Wildcats. If these three get rolling against the Buckeyes, it should propel them to the second round for another shot at UCLA, which eliminated the Wildcats last year in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Stanford vs. Cal State Fullerton
The Cardinal are looking to get back on track in the NCAA tournament after a tough Pac-12 slate that saw three home losses In a row at one point. The experience of Courtney Verloo is going to be important in Stanford’s ability to generate enough quality scoring opportunities for them to advance. Cal State Fullerton took advantage of being at home and won the Big West Tournament. The Titans are led by a very tough defensive style of play that could make things interesting for Stanford, but I expect the Cardinal to be too much offensively and move on to the second round.
#3 South Carolina vs. Furman
The Gamecocks have been very difficult to beat at home so far this season and have a signature road win at Florida. Raina Johnson leads the way for South Carolina with nine goals as part of a balanced attack for veteran head coach Shelley Smith. Furman comes in as the SoCon Conference champions. The Paladins are very talented in their attack and are led by the duo of Stephanie DeVita and Carlie Couch, who have combined for 27 goals. This could be a higher scoring match but the Gamecocks should end up prevailing and moving on to a likely showdown with Stanford.
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