#1 North Carolina vs. #2 UCLA Quarterfinal Breakdown
#1 North Carolina vs. #2 UCLA
The North Carolina Tar Heels head into this rematch with UCLA in pretty solid form so far in the NCAA tournament. North Carolina took care of business at home against Indiana and Texas A&M with minimal drama needed in order to advance to this quarterfinal matchup with the Bruins. Summer Green’s two goals were the difference in the matchup with the Aggies. Green scored in the third minute and then sealed the match with an early second half penalty kick. The keys for North Carolina in this rematch with the Bruins are going to be to start fast and impose their direct style of play on UCLA and push the Bruins to have to play more forward than normal. This will create chances by getting Green and Kealia Ohai behind the UCLA backline and should create plenty of dangerous scoring chances. The other key is taking advantage of not having to travel and try and wear down the Bruins in the second half and try and secure the result to advance to the College Cup.
UCLA has been very consistent all tournament long at both ends of the pitch. The most encouraging development has been the ability to score multiple goals and not having to win matches 1-0 or run the risk of penalty kick shootouts. The Bruins also got over a huge mental hurdle by knocking off Stanford 2-0 in the Sweet 16 as the Cardinal had been UCLA’s nemesis in recent NCAA tournament appearances. The key for the Bruins is to continue to get balanced offensive production by getting Sam Mewis to continue to set up great quality chances for players like Darian Jenkins and Taylor Smith, among others. Also, UCLA has to possess the ball more and generate more shots in the rematch with North Carolina as they were outshot 23-6 in the first match in September. The ability to make the Tar Heels defend more during this quarterfinal match will go a long way in dictating whether or not UCLA gets back to the College Cup.
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