#1 Florida State / # 4 Denver Region
After winning the ACC tournament title, Florida State earned one of the nation's #1 seeds. The #1 seed is the third in a row for the Seminoles and fourth overall. Florida State will host the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in school history and fifth year in a row. The Seminoles are 27-1-0 all-time when playing inside the friendly confines of the Seminole Soccer Complex during the NCAA Tournament. Dagny Brynjarsdottir leads the team with 10 goals and freshman Berglind Thorvaldsdottir has seven. Stud goalie Kelsey Wys has 12 shutouts on the year.
#1 Florida State vs. South Alabama
South Alabama makes its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance after knocking off Western Kentucky for its first conference title in program history. The Seminoles will have to keep star freshman Lauren Allison off the board. The freshman has made quite the debut this season, knocking in 16 goals and assisting on 11 others. The second best scorer the team has is Clarissa Hernandez, who has seven goals and five assists. Their 2.63 goals per game is seventh best in the country.
The NCAA berth is the fifth for the Rebels and the first time in program history the school will be hosting a postseason soccer match. The 15 wins are also a school record. Ole Miss is led by two incredible scorers, Rafaelle Souza, who has 19 goals and Mandy McCalla, who has 14. Jackson State, on the other hand, is coming in having won nine of its last 11, including a three-game sweep in the SWAC tournament. The Tigers offense is more equally distributed as Jalana Ellis, a freshman, leads the team with seven goals. Two others, Elexis Rice and Eronica Berry, have five goals apiece.
Weber State vs. BYU
BYU tied for the West Coast Conference title with Portland and Santa Clara this season. The Cougars are looking to better last year's finish, which saw them make the quarterfinals. Two players, Ashley Hatch and Cloee Colohan, both have six goals on the year. Two other players have four goals. While BYU is scoring only 1.47 goals per contest, 138th nationally, the goaltending has been stellar, giving up only 0.639, 22nd in the country. After winning the Big Sky tournament, the Wildcats qualified for the NCAA tournament for the third time in school history. Their last appearance, in 2005, also had them facing BYU in the first round. In that game, Weber State upset BYU in penalty kicks. Mackenzie Harrison has nine goals for the Wildcats.
This game is a rematch of a September 15th match that had the Pioneers winning 3-0. Denver hasn't lost since late September and rolled through the Summit League tournament, defeating opponents by a total of 8-1. The Pioneers have two big scorers, Kristen Hamilton, who has scored 14 times and helped on 12 others. Nicholette DiGiacomo has 13 tallies and eight assists. They are averaging 2.56 goals a game, ninth nationally, while giving up only 0.43, sixth in the country. The Buffs are making their first postseason appearance since 2008, when they lost in the first round to South Dakota State. Brie Hooks and Anne Stuller each have eight goals.
See all Women’s Soccer Breakdowns
