CARY, N.C. – Storylines? You want storylines? Friday's late College Cup semi-final matchup pitting Virginia against UCLA has plenty.
There’s UCLA head coach Amanda Cromwell going up against Virginia, her alma mater. The last time the Cavaliers made it to the national semifinals back in 1991, Cromwell scored the team’s only goal in a 5-1 loss to North Carolina.
Virginia boasts the nation’s best offense, and it’ll be matched up with the top-ranked defense of UCLA. Virginia is the NCAA tournament’s top seed, UCLA its second. Each team has one loss this season – Virginia to Virginia Tech 4-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals on Nov. 8, and UCLA to North Carolina 1-0 on Sept. 6. UCLA also has two ties.
The way Swanson seems to put it, his Cavaliers and Cromwell’s Bruins are just about as evenly matched as it is possible to be.
Cromwell has maintained a good relationship with her former school, and so for her, it’s a marquee contest in more ways than just offense and defense, goals and blocked shots.
In the end, Cromwell feels that the game will come down to opposites.
“I think it comes down to our attack against their defense, and how they’re going to adjust to some of our dynamic players and different threats we can bring from different areas of the field,” she said.
Leading the way for the Virginia offense are junior midfielder Morgan Brian and sophomore forward Makenzy Doniak. Not since 2009 has a Division I team had two players with 40 points to their credit. Both young women have been named as semifinalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy, the top individual honor in the sport.
“This year, we’ve been playing a lot of good soccer,” said Brian, who also made three appearances for the United States Women’s National Team this summer and fall. “We have 25 players, whether they’re starting or on the bench, that can come in and play soccer.
Stopping that kind of scoring threat will be key for the Bruins, and midfielders Jenna Richmond, Sarah Killion and Sam Mewis will be a crucial part of trying to keep Brian in check.
“If we just focus on our game and focus on the midfield, me, Sarah and Sam together working, I think that it’ll be a really tough battle,” Richmond added.
Virginia has been ranked first in the nation for most of the year, and is the sixth consecutive top seed in the NCAA tournament to make it to the College Cup. Important to note, though, is the fact that Stanford’s 2011 squad was the only one of those top seeds to break through and win it all.
The Cavaliers’ only loss in 2013, to Virginia Tech, came right here in Cary in the ACC semifinals.
For UCLA, it took overcoming the past two national champions in the NCAA tournament to make it here this week. As tough as it was to get past Stanford in the third round, the quarterfinal game against North Carolina was a 1-0, double-overtime doozy.
That’s the way it works in big-time college women’s soccer. Sometimes, there are easy wins and sometimes, teams have to just slug it out. Friday’s game between Virginia and UCLA should not be one of those easy ones.