NCAA Women's Soccer

[bbg95]

Nov 13, 2021 13:18:39 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Soccer is a fun sport.

UC Irvine had 4 shots, and only 1 shot on goal. They scored.
UCLA had 19 shots, and 8 shots on goal. They didn't score.

Season over.

Yeah, hockey is like that too. Sometimes, you just get beat by the goalie or get unlucky with shots hitting the post/crossbar or going just wide.

[bbg95]

Nov 13, 2021 12:24:36 GMT -5 c4ndlelight said:

Nov 13, 2021 12:11:11 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Right. I believe that was my point ("they would probably try to avoid it"). And yes, I'm aware that they don't use RPI anymore, but it's only been like two seasons. Off the top of my head, I don't recall a similar first-round matchup in the men's basketball tournament. Sometimes, the committee appears to try to create matchups of say, a coach of one team playing the team that he used to coach or two in-state teams that never plays each other in the regular season. But I don't recall an instance of two ranked recent national champions playing each other in the first round almost certainly to save money on travel costs. That may have happened back in the 1960s or 1970s or something because at that time, I'm pretty sure the men's basketball tournament was regionalized.

There would have been massive outcry if two Top 20 ranked teams met in the first round. It would not have been within MBB bracketing "principles"

Sure. I don't disagree with you. As I've said multiple times, I'm pretty certain the committee would avoid such a matchup in men's basketball.

[trojansc]

Another *monster* upset.

South Carolina knocks off 2-seed North Carolina.

North Carolina had NEVER lost in the 1st round before.

[sclawman]

Carolina for the win!

[trojansc]

Pepperdine beat South Dakota State 7-1.
USC is up on Grand Canyon 4-0 in the 1st half.

UCLA was the unfortunate SoCal host who drew the drive-in UC Irvine. And they were the top ranked host of the 3 SoCal teams.

[bbg95]

Nov 13, 2021 16:38:40 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Pepperdine beat South Dakota State 7-1.
USC is up on Grand Canyon 4-0 in the 1st half.

UCLA was the unfortunate SoCal host who drew the drive-in UC Irvine. And they were the top ranked host of the 3 SoCal teams.

RPI-wise, there isn't much difference between UC Irvine (110) and South Dakota State (115). Grand Canyon was 37th. UC Irvine had losses to Oregon State, San Diego, UC San Diego and UC Davis. They had also lost to UCLA 3-1 earlier in the season. This just seems like a genuine upset.

[bbg95]

Santa Clara wins the battle of the Bay Area recent national champs 1-0 on this goal. Stanford is out.

It appears that the initial shot deflected off a teammate's midsection and went into the net. 

[bbg95]

The WCC is 3-0 after BYU took care of New Mexico 6-0. Pepperdine gets the winner of South Florida and NC State and then possibly Florida State in the Sweet 16. BYU will play Alabama next, and if they win that, they're probably looking at Virginia in the Sweet 16. Santa Clara has a tougher next match, but their path to the Elite 8 looks easier. UCLA is out, so if they can beat 3-seed Georgetown next, they'll get either Wisconsin or UC Irvine in the Sweet 16. 

[bbg95]

North Carolina aside, the ACC is looking pretty strong. They went 7-2 in the first round. 

[bbg95]

The second round is underway, as the WCC improves to 4-0 with BYU's 4-1 win over Alabama. Virginia just started against Milwaukee.

Edit: BYU All-American Mikayla Colohan had a hat trick.

[trojansc]

USC scores with 4 minutes left against Penn State at home to tie the match at 2-2.

2 minutes left before OT

[trojansc]

Penn State wins in PK's. It was a pretty epic match where USC had several chances to score in the closing minutes of regular-time and extra-time. Congrats to PSU.

[bbg95]

There weren't many upsets today apart from Penn State over USC. There are five Sweet 16 matchups on tap that will feature a 1 vs a 4 or a 2 vs a 3. The WCC has all three of its teams in the Sweet 16, and it's certainly conceivable that at least one could make it to the Final Four. Pepperdine easily beat NC State, but they have Florida State next, which will be a very difficult matchup. BYU cruised by Alabama 4-1 and is playing Virginia next. That will be tough, but if they can win that, then they should have a good look at their first Final Four in school history, as they would get the winner of South Carolina and Penn State rather than USC or North Carolina. And defending national champion Santa Clara knocked off 3-seed Georgetown 2-1 and will face unseeded Wisconsin, which dispatched UC Irvine 3-0. That seems very winnable for Santa Clara, and if they can get past the Badgers, they're probably looking at Duke in the Elite 8. The Blue Devils haven't exactly been lighting the world on fire so far in this tournament, as they beat Old Dominion and Memphis 1-0 in their first two matches.

[bbg95]

Virginia ended BYU's season early in the spring, and the Cougars just returned the favor.

This might be BYU's best look ever at the Final Four. Since North Carolina and USC are out, the Elite 8 match will be played in Provo.

Edit: I looked up BYU's previous Elite 8 appearances in 2003, 2012 and 2019:

2003: Unseeded BYU lost 3-1 at unseeded Connecticut, the eventual national runner-up
2012: No. 1 seed BYU lost 2-1 to No. 2 seed and eventual national champion North Carolina
2019: No. 2 seed BYU lost 5-1 at No. 1 seed and eventual national champion Stanford

So yeah, I think this is probably BYU's best chance to date when factoring in the location (at home) and the opponent (an unseeded team).

[bbg95]

The Elite 8 is set. The WCC finally lost a match, as Pepperdine fell to No. 1 overall seed Florida State in a 1-0 match. Santa Clara defeated Wisconsin 2-1 to set up a match with No. 1 seed Duke. South Carolina took down Penn State and will have a trip to Provo with a Final Four bid on the line against BYU. On the other side of the bracket, the top four seeds all advanced to the Elite 8, as Florida State will play Michigan and Rutgers will play Arkansas.