USU women’s soccer to take on BYU in first round of NCAA Tournament
The Utah State women’s soccer team earned its second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The official brackets were released on Tuesday afternoon, and the Aggies travel to Happy Valley on Friday to take on rival BYU in the first round. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at BYU’s South Field.
“We are really excited to go down to Provo on Friday,” USU head coach Heather Cairns said. “Obviously it’s an opponent that we are very familiar with. We’ve played them this year. The travel is not going to be too strenuous, and lastly we are really excited that our friends and family can come and support us.”
The Cougars are ranked 2nd in the nation and thus earned one of the tournament’s four No. 1 seeds.
USU earned an automatic invitation to the big dance by defeating Denver in the Western Athletic Conference championship game this past Sunday. The Aggies beat the Pioneers 1-0 to earn their second consecutive WAC Tournament title.
The first meeting between USU and BYU came on Sept. 20 when the Aggies hosted the then 12th-ranked Cougars. BYU won the game as Dana Oldroyd scored in the 10th minute.
“I’m excited to meet them again because we are playing better soccer now than we were at that point in the season,” Cairns said.
USU will look for its first win over BYU, who leads the overall series 10-0-0.
The Aggies have gone on an 11-game unbeaten run since falling to the Cougars. USU finished the season at 13-2-6 en route to a share of the WAC regular season title and eventually the WAC Tournament championship.
BYU finished the season with a stellar 18-1-1 record and is riding a 17-game unbeaten streak into the NCAA tournament. BYU won the West Coast Conference and earned a No. 1 seed along with Florida State, Stanford and Penn State.
“BYU is having a fantastic season,” Cairns said. “They are one of four number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament. They are playing great soccer. They won the West Coast Conference, which is an incredibly challenging conference. They have a couple teams participating in the NCAA Tournament, so it’s going to be a big challenge for us but we’re up for it.”
Despite the challenge, USU players and coaches are excited to get the chance to stay in the state of Utah for the first round.
“We have a lot of alumni in Salt Lake and Utah County, so we expect to have a strong showing of Aggie supporters,” Cairns said. “For those supporters to see us play in the biggest stage in the country is pretty exciting.”
If the Utah State pulls off the upset Friday, the Aggies advance to face the winner of Washington and Auburn, both of whom USU has played within the last year.
The Aggies played Auburn in the first round of the tournament last year. USU battled hard but lost the game 1-0. More recently on Sept. 13, the Aggies took on Washington at home and fought the Huskies to a 0-0 tie in double overtime. Washington was ranked No. 23 at the time.
USU is not the only WAC team to make the field of 64. Denver made the cut as an at-large team, earning a date with the only team besides the Aggies to beat the Pioneers this season – Colorado College.
“They had a fantastic season and put together a great resume,” Cairns said. “It’s really an honor for a mid-major conference like the WAC to have two NCAA tournament bids. We have been in the conference for awhile and we have never had that second team make the tournament, so I think it shows the strength of the soccer competition this year in the WAC.”
– jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @Jborba15