2016 NCAA Soccer Tournament First Round Recap
The 2016 NCAA Soccer Tournament began on Friday with the field of 64 teams setting out to accomplish one goal, win the 2016 College Cup. Throughout the weekend we were given some incredible soccer to start the opening round to the tournament. From explosive offensive performances to upsets of top teams this first round had it all. Here are the top three stories from the weekend. #1 DON'T MESS WITH THE BEST
The top four seeds in the tournament all won this weekend with each team earning a shutout of their opponents, for a combined 17-0 score for the top ranked teams. #1 seeds Florida and West Virginia both notched 3-0 wins to advance into the second round while Stanford earned a 4-0 victory over Houston Baptist to move on. The offensive explosion South Carolina had was one for the record books. The team scored four goals in 26 minutes and jumped out to a 6-0 halftime lead over Alabama State. The Gamecocks won the game 7-0 but throughout the contest continued to show why they have been so successful this season. Sophie Groff netted two goals and assisted on another to give her three points only behind Chelsea Drennan and Savannah Mccaskill who both scored a goal and assisted on three others during the first half. South Carolina looks like the real deal this season and along with any of these other #1 seeds can make a run for the 2016 title.
#2 SIUE WHO?
The first round saw a few upsets take place but none bigger than Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville's upset of #2 seed Notre Dame in sudden death penalty kicks. The Fighting Irish outshot the Cougars 21-3 in the contest forcing Juli Rossi, SIUE goalkeeper to make nine saves throughout regulation, two overtimes and penalty kicks. Rossi was spectacular in net making two huge saves in overtime to keep the Irish from earning the Golden Goal. The Cougars converted on five of six penalty kicks with Mariah Vollmer scoring the clincher to send SIUE to the second round. The Cougars will face a tough Northwestern team in the round of 32.
#3 SEED TO LOOK OUT FOR... Last year Duke University made it all the way to the College Cup finals before falling to Penn State in the national championship. Duke was the only #3 seed to make it out of the first two rounds of action in the tourney last season but made the run worth it. This year all four #3 seeds advanced into the round of 32. So who will be the Duke of this year? Can Duke do it again? YES! YES THEY CAN! It will be difficult seeing how great West Virginia has played all season long but if Duke can rally together as they did last year this team can be very dangerous. The deep playoff experience from last season is a plus and with the ND upset on their side of the bracket, coaches will be preaching not to take any opponent lightly. Watch out for those Blue Devils!!
ROUND OF 32 Games:
Left Bracket
#1 Stanford vs. Santa Clara Pepperdine vs. NC State #3 Virginia vs. Penn State Rutgers vs. #2 Georgetown #2 USC vs. Texas A&M
Utah vs. #3 Florida State
#4 Auburn vs. Connecticut
Wisconsin vs. #1 Florida
Right Bracket
#1 South Carolina vs. Colorado Oklahoma vs. #4 BYU #3 Clemson vs. Arkansas Kansas vs. #2 North Carolina SIUE vs. Northwestern Illinois State vs. #3 Duke #4 UCLA vs. Nebraska Ohio State vs. #1 West Virginia
