Soccer Preview and Gamethread: TCU (NCAAT QF)

Then there were 8. Actually with yesterday’s results, there are only 5 teams still alive for the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship. On the opposite side of the bracket, (1) Stanford and (2) Duke will face off. (3) Florida State awaits the winner of today’s match between (1) Vanderbilt and (2) TCU.

Monday’s match between Vanderbilt and LSU was during work hours, so there is not much that I can recap. Melania Fullerton scored the only goal in the match when she lashed a loose ball in the box into the back of the net in the 65th minute. LSU managed to fire off 11 shots but Sara Wojdelko made all 4 saves necessary to preserve a clean sheet.

Today, Vanderbilt actually hosts the final on-campus match of the season. My apologies for incorrectly stating the quarterfinals were in Kansas City when it is only the semifinals and final. Vanderbilt will host TCU who was the 2-seed in the quadrant.

The Horned Frogs had a strong opening 2 rounds of the NCAA Tournament where they routed Grambling 7-0 and gave Memphis their first loss at 4-0. The third round was much tighter. They advanced by North Carolina on PKs. TCU is 17-2-3 (9-1-1 in the Big XII) on the season including the NCAA Tournament and a single match in the Big XII quarterfinals, where they failed to advance on PKs.

The offense is high powered. TCU scores 2.36 goals per game while allowing 0.91. Seven Chastain leads the charge with 17 goals and 4 assists. Emma Yolinsky is next in goals with 8 and also assisting on 5 more tallies. The setup most often comes from Sydney Becerra and Cameron Patton who each have 8 assists. Becerra has scored 5 times while Patton has chipped in 4.

In goal, Olivia Geller is option 1. She has allowed 14 goals in 16 appearances (all starts). She has made 49 saves for a 0.778 SV%.

The match will be streamed on ESPN+. Tickets are also still available for the 6:30 PM Central kickoff.