MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama women’s soccer will travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to face top-seeded Florida State in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship, the NCAA announced.
The Jaguars (19-2-1) earned the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic bid by winning the league tournament championship. The Seminoles (18-1-1), who also received an automatic bid, are one of the tournament’s four No. 1 seeds.
Match Details
Florida State will host South Alabama on Friday, Nov. 14, at the Seminole Soccer Complex.
The winner advances to play the winner of the first-round match between Northeastern and Boston University on Nov. 21 at one of the participating schools’ campuses.
A Rematch From 2013
The matchup is a repeat of last season’s NCAA first round. South Alabama’s 2013 season ended with a 5-0 loss to Florida State in Tallahassee.
Tournament Format
The first, second and third rounds, as well as the quarterfinals, are played at campus sites. The College Cup will be held at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Fla., with the national championship match scheduled for Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. Eastern, broadcast live on ESPNU.
South Alabama reached the NCAA field after capturing the Sun Belt Tournament title as the event’s top seed.
Update
South Alabama (19-2-1) and Florida State (18-1-1) are set to kick off at 6 p.m. Central on Friday, Nov. 14, at the Seminole Soccer Complex in Tallahassee, Fla.
The programs have met six times since 1996, with Florida State winning all six. Four of those meetings were played in Tallahassee.
Both teams bring long unbeaten runs into the match. South Alabama has gone 18 matches without a loss since falling to Kennesaw State on Aug. 31. Florida State is unbeaten in 15 straight since a 2-1 loss to No. 5 Florida on Sept. 5. The Seminoles went 9-0-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play and beat No. 10 Notre Dame 3-1 and No. 4 Virginia 1-0 to win the ACC title. Seven Florida State players earned All-ACC honors, including the league’s offensive player of the year.
South Alabama outscored its three Sun Belt Tournament opponents 6-1, with freshmen Charde Hannah and Rio Hardy scoring every goal. Hannah was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, and three other Jaguars joined her on the All-Tournament team.
“We’re absolutely buzzing,” South Alabama head coach Graham Winkworth said. “I’m not sure many people believed when my staff and I arrived that we could go from 217 (in the RPI) in the nation to a team that’s being considered for at-large bids now. It’s a huge accomplishment for the girls and I’m really excited.”
“One of the things that gets me most excited is that we’ve done it with two different squads,” Winkworth said. “We inherited a good bunch of girls that just needed to be shown a few things and they worked extremely hard to get to the NCAA Tournament. In the meantime we had to recruit a new team as well, with a few of the older girls remaining. We managed to repeat and take another step forward. It’s a great feeling and we’re excited to have another crack at one of the best, if not the best, team in the nation.”
Winkworth said experience is the biggest difference from last season’s trip. “Last year we went in there starry-eyed,” he said. “We need to show respect to our opponents, but at the same time, we need to play without fear. We need to understand that we’re here because we’ve earned it. We deserve to be here and I’m really proud of the girls.”
“They’re very similar to last year,” Winkworth said of Florida State. “They’ve returned most of those players from last year. They lost a couple of key ones, but they’ve been replaced with excellent players. … We understand they have a lot of threats, not only in open play, but also from set pieces too. We have to do our very best to prepare for those as well as we can.”
“We’ve gone quite a few games without a defeat now and that’s going to breed confidence through the team,” Winkworth said. “During that period we’ve played some very good opponents, including a much-improved Sun Belt Conference. … For us to beat teams of that caliber before the NCAA Tournament is a big momentum builder for us, as well as a confidence boost. We’ve done it with such a young team as well; the future of this program is very bright.”
