Preview: Virginia Women’s Soccer Takes on UCLA in NCAA Quarterfinals

The Cavaliers needed to overcome a number of second-half deficits in addition to freezing climate circumstances final weekend at Penn State with a view to hold their season alive. With a visit to the Faculty Cup on the road, their subsequent match ought to at the least have some higher climate. 

On Saturday at 9pm (ET), No. 3 seed Virginia (16-3-3) will tackle No. 1 UCLA (19-2-1) at Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles, California within the quarterfinals of the NCAA Girls’s Soccer Championship. The winner will advance to the Faculty Cup in Cary, North Carolina.

Virginia is making its Twenty ninth-consecutive look within the NCAA Match and thirty fifth all-time, second-most in NCAA ladies’s soccer historical past. That is UVA’s ninth journey to the NCAA quarterfinals and the Cavaliers are in search of their fifth look within the Faculty Cup. Virginia most lately went to the Faculty Cup within the spring of 2021. The Cavaliers have reached the nationwide title sport solely as soon as and they’re arguably the perfect program to have by no means gained a nationwide championship. Briefly, the Hoos are lengthy overdue for a nationwide title run. 

To make a return journey to the Faculty Cup, UVA must take down the UCLA Bruins on their house turf, a feat that has not been achieved this season because the Bruins are 11-0-1 at house. UCLA is making its twenty sixth look within the NCAA Match and is in the hunt for a twelfth journey to the Faculty Cup. The Bruins are four-time nationwide runners up they usually gained the 2013 NCAA Nationwide Championship. 

UCLA and Virginia have met 11 instances and 7 of these matches have taken place within the NCAA Match. UCLA leads the all-time sequence 6-3-2, together with a 5-1-1 edge in opposition to UVA in NCAAs. Within the final assembly in 2017, UCLA beat Virginia 2-1 within the Spherical of 16. 

Each groups needed to endure a dramatic match on their respective journeys to the Elite Eight. UCLA beat Northern Arizona 4-1 within the first spherical, however then wanted penalty kicks to flee UCF within the second spherical, earlier than downing Northwestern 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Virginia beat Fairleigh Dickinson 4-0 and Xavier 3-1 within the first and second rounds. Within the third spherical on a freezing Sunday night time at Penn State, the Cavaliers trailed 1-0 and 2-1 within the second half, however got here again each instances to attain the equalizers to ship the match into time beyond regulation. Haley Hopkins notched the game-winner within the first time beyond regulation to ship UVA into the quarterfinals. 

Virginia has been battle-tested enjoying within the ACC, which has confirmed to as soon as once more be the perfect convention in ladies’s soccer. Of the eight remaining groups within the NCAA Girls’s Soccer Championship, 5 are members of the ACC, together with the three groups which might be liable for UVA’s three losses this season – Notre Dame, Florida State, and Duke. UCLA additionally has some expertise going through the ACC this season, because the Bruins picked up back-to-back wins at Duke and North Carolina in a single weekend in early September. Virginia additionally took down the Blue Devils and Tar Heels on the street this season. 

Each groups are very proficient and well-coached. UCLA positioned 9 on the Pac-12 all-conference groups, together with Pac-12 Defensive Participant of the 12 months Lilly Reale, who was joined on the Pac-12 First Workforce by Reilyn Turner and Quincy McMahon. Virginia had 5 gamers earn All-ACC alternatives, led by Lia Godfrey, who earned First-Workforce All-ACC honors for the second-consecutive season. 

The winner of Virginia and UCLA will face the winner of No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Duke within the semifinals of the NCAA Girls’s Soccer Championship. 

Girls’s Soccer Championship Quarterfinals Schedule

11/25 at 7pm: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 2 Duke
11/26 at 5pm: No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 3 Arkansas
11/26 at 5pm: No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 North Carolina
11/26 at 9pm: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 3 Virginia

Virginia will tackle UCLA on Saturday at 9pm ET and the match can be broadcast on ESPN+.

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