Who’s going to the NCAA women’s College Cup? Your guess is as good as ours

Who will be dancing in the 2017 College Cup?

Since 2010, a different Division I women’s soccer team has won the College Cup each year. Before that, the North Carolina Tar Heels’ back-to-back titles made it seem like multi-year dominance was a feature of the NCAA tournament, but what’s made the College Cup so entertaining the past five years is how unpredictable it’s been.

On Friday, eight teams will look to punch their ticket to the 2017 College Cup in Orlando, FL at Orlando City Stadium. The matchups are as follows: No. 3 Penn State at No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 Florida at No. 1 South Carolina, Baylor at No. 1 Duke and No. 4 Princeton at No. 2 UCLA. Of the eight teams remaining, the Penn State Nittany Lions won the College Cup the most recently, in 2015, when they beat Duke 1-0 to win the program’s first NCAA championship. This year Penn State will look to slide past the top-ranked Cardinal, who hold an impressive 21-1 record on the season with their only loss dating back to August, against Florida.

It’s easy to forget that a handful of the players taking the field this upcoming weekend will be the next faces of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and national teams. Some players — I’m looking at you Andi Sullivan (redshirt senior on Stanford) — have already made a name for themselves on the national team stage and will likely go in the first round in the NWSL College Draft. But, really this is what makes this time of year so exciting to soccer nerds everywhere because you get to see these players like Sullivan shine at the college level before seamlessly transitioning to the next phase of the game.

What the history of the College Cup and NCAA women’s soccer has shown, since 2009 really, is that more teams are finding ways to win. It isn’t just a North Carolina show, but rather universities all over are finding ways to get top talent to their schools. It’s a testament to coaches and recruiting, but also players being open to help build programs.

I’ll start with Duke, who have had a record-book year, earning 22 wins in 2017 and going 10-0-0 in ACC play. The Blue Devils went on to claim the ACC regular-season championship for the third time in program history. Duke has never won a College Cup title, but is no strangers to a deep tournament run. The Blue Devils have been NCAA championship runners-up on three occasions: 2015, 2011 and 1992. My prediction would be that Duke takes care of business against Baylor on Friday, and will find themselves in a College Cup trophy game. This might be a bold take, but so was Schuyler DeBree’s goal against Boston College from midfield.

The Blue Devils have a stacked roster of talent: ACC Offensive Player of the Year Imani Dorsey, Midfielder of the Year Rebecca Quinn and Defender of the Year, DeBree. People that hate Duke sports (guilty) have found a way to appreciate the women’s soccer team because their senior class in particular has leadership and talent worth cheering for. If Duke finds a way to score early, I fancy their chances, however Baylor has found a way to knock off the 2016 national champions, University of Southern California in the tournament run, so if the game is still close late on, it could be a completely different ball game.

An upset from Baylor would be pretty epic, especially since the Bears are in the Elite Eight for the first time in program history. Precious Akanyirige is a name to know. This senior defender has been consistent starter in the backline since her freshman season. On Sunday it was Akanyirige’s golden goal over Notre Dame (3-2) which sent her team to the Elite Eight. The mindset for Baylor to stay in the game, even after going ahead by two goals to then give up two back-to-back, shows the type of mentality which is so crucial in the next phase of the tournament. For a defender like Akanyirige to stay locked in and step up offensively is the kind of performance that will be crucial in the next game against Duke.

Princeton vs. UCLA is kind of a similar matchup to Duke and Baylor. Princeton has never won a NCAA championship. The Tigers have, however, been to the NCAA tournament 12 times yet are the only Ivy team to make it to the quarterfinals since the tournament went to 64 teams back in 2011. In 2004, the Tigers made it to the semifinals before falling to UCLA 2-0. This matchup heavily favors the Bruins, who have yet to fall to the Tigers, yet over the weekend the Tigers pulled off what was arguably one of the biggest upsets of the year, knocking off the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels. What’s so exciting about Princeton is how young they are. Abby Givens, a sophomore on the team, has 11 goals on the season. Another sophomore forward, Courtney O’Brien, has nine on the year, and in total nine different Tigers have scored this season (43 goals).

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In 2013, the UCLA Bruins defeated Florida State 1-0 in OT to win the national championship. This year, the Bruins could very well find themselves in a similar position, especially with the offensive duo of Ashley Sanchez and

Anika Rodriguez

. Sanchez, a freshman, and Rodriguez, a redshirt sophomore, have combined for three of the team’s last four game-winning goals. Rodriguez has seven goals and seven assists while rookie-Sanchez has six goals and 10 assists in her rookie season. Also adding to the offensive star power is Jessie Flemming who returned just in time from her international duty with Canada to ring chase. Flemming, a sophomore, has 15 career goals for the Bruins and 13 assists. This year she has chipped in four goals and eight assists.

Lastly, but most definitely not least(ly) is the Florida vs. South Carolina matchup. Friday will be an All-SEC affair when the Gamecocks host the Gators for the second meeting of the year. South Carolina earned the first victory on the year on Oct. 26 defeating Florida 1-0 to clinch the SEC regular-season title. Neither side has made a deep splash into the College Cup for years. This will be the first time since 2001 that the SEC sees a team move onto the College Cup, but which team it will be is a toss up.

The Gamecocks have senior forward Savannah McCaskill, who has 40 career goals and eight on the season. McCaskill was the difference maker on Sunday, scoring the lone goal to push her side past Santa Clara. For Florida, the Gators moved past Washington State on Sunday to advance to their sixth NCAA quarterfinal appearance. Florida defeated Washington State in 2-OT off a golden goal from freshman forward Deanne Rose. Rose has a team-high nine goals and has also made herself known for her top service for the Canadian women’s national team.

1200 words later and the storyline goes as follows … Friday will be a whirlwind. Anyone could pull out a W and find their way to the College Cup, but the main takeaway is that the women’s college game is continuing to evolve. With teams like Baylor and Princeton making headlines and young stars finding their stride in the collegiate game to then earn a national team calling or an early draft pick in the NWSL, this is only the beginning for the women’s game in the U.S.