NCAA Women's College Cup 2008 - Which number 1 will be THE number 1?
Thursday, 04 December 08, 11:16 AM · Comments(2)
Notre Dame v. Stanford, North Carolina v. UCLA will play this friday, December 7th in the semifinals of the 2008 NCAA College Cup. The Final Four will happen at the Wakemed Soccer Park in Car, North Carolina and that means that one of the teams already enters the semifinals with the support of the home crowd.
But which one of these number one seeded schools has the best shot at moving to the Final and winning the College Cup?
As I mentioned, all these for schools were seeded number 1 when the playoffs started. So this edition of the final four is a true battle of the best women's soccer college programs in the country.
NOTRE DAME ... X ...
STANFORD 
The Fighting Irish X Cardinals
The only of the four teams with a clean record Notre Dame won all their 25 matches this season with a total of 81 goals scored and only 10 allowed. Being the only unbeaten team of the season is a boost for the girl's confidence but it may also play in favour of the opponent as motivation.
Stanford could be considered the worst of the best four. No, I'm not saying they are a bad team or evenlabeling the Cardinals as underdogs. They got to the semifinals with merit. An ultra strong defense and great team work are the main characteristics of the team.
NORTH CAROLINA ... X ... UCLA
Tar Heels X Bruins
A clash of titans in this semifinal. North Carolina has one of the most entertaining rosters of all the soccer teams in the United States (needless to say that includes the MLS teams too). Tobin Heath was part of the USA Women's National Team that won the Olympic Gold Medal in Beijing and is no longer a promising talent. She has already proved to be able to demolish defenses playing as a winger. And the Tar Heels also cont on Casey nogueira who is the closest to Marta that one can have. Do I need to say more? Oh yeah. They have the most efficient attack of the season with 86 goals but I'm sure you had already figured that out.
On the other side we have the best defense of the season: UCLA. The Bruins only allowed 5 goals and has the largest number of shut-outs this season with 19. And even though UCLA didn't score as many goals as the Tar Heels one can't ignore the power of having Kara Lang, Lauren Cheney and Christina DiMartino orchestrating the team's offensive plays. Another advantage for the Bruins is the fact that noone is considered a superstar on the team. Defense, midfield and offense are very well balanced and efficient enough to take the team to the title.
Now for my predictions:
Stanford will have to bet on Notre Dame's mistakes and not miss the opportunities because on paper the Fighting Irish is a better team. I believe Notre Dame will move to the final with a 2-0 win.
On the other match anything can happen but I will cheer for UCLA. I live in Los Angeles and I really enjoy going to the Bruins matches. They need to mark Casey Nogueira very closely and prevent the Tar Heels from taking all the offensive initiative. If the Bruins play like they did against USC and against Duke they have huge chances of moving to the final. I'd say UCLA win 2-1.
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ManoGil
Los Angeles, US
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2 Comments · Add yours
I agree with your predictions and am rooting for UCLA. They looked great the against USC & Duke. Any word on Lauren Cheney? Will she be able to play after that nasty tackle last week?
Hey Jane, Thanks for the comment. I haven't anything official from Cheney or from UCLA regarding her ankle but I believe that her removal from the match after that tackle was a preventive measure. I know that they iced her articulation right away and I believe she'll be good to go tomorrow. but as I said this is not official