Women's Soccer 2014 NCAA Tournament #2 North Carolina Region 2nd and 3rd Round Game Breakdowns
#3 South Carolina vs. Seattle
Both of these teams needed extra time to pull out victories in the first round. South Carolina went to penalty kicks against Clemson, edging the Tigers 4-3, while Seattle scored in the second overtime session to defeat Washington State 2-1. This will be a contest of offense versus defense. South Carolina has conceded just 13 goals all season, and Seattle is the second-highest scoring team in the field, averaging over three goals per game. However, many of Seattle’s blowouts have come at the expense of weak teams, so a battle-tested Gamecocks side might prove to be too much, especially in Columbia.
#2 North Carolina vs. Colorado
The Tarheels and Buffaloes both came away with 2-0 wins in their opening round matches and Colorado will now travel to Chapel Hill in hopes of beating a team they’re 0-3 against. Colorado junior goalie Kate Scheele has been in net for all 21 games this season, and she recorded her 11th shutout against BYU, putting her one shy of the school record (12) set back in 2004. This is an intriguing match-up, as these two teams come from strong conferences and have faced many quality (ranked) opponents throughout the season. There’s a reason North Carolina chose to have a tough out-of-conference schedule, though, and that was to prepare the team for games like this. While Colorado certainly has a chance, North Carolina has never exited the NCAA Tournament prior to the third round, so the Tarheels have even more incentive to win.
The third round could very well be a match-up between the two seeded teams in this part of the bracket, but neither second round game is a given, especially North Carolina’s battle with Colorado. Seattle might be the most interesting team, though. Weak schedule or not, the Redhawks proved they could score against a solid Washington State defense. South Carolina will be a much tougher test defensively, so if Seattle can somehow get by the Gamecocks, anything is possible in the third round.
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