WSU women to host Northwestern in first-round NCAA soccer tournament match
Going into Monday’s selection show, another NCAA Division I tournament berth was a sure thing for the Washington State women’s soccer team. Still …
“I’m always nervous, but I don’t know why,” said senior forward Kourtney Guetlein. “This tradition, the anticipation gets me every time.”
And so it was again on Monday afternoon at the Bohler Athletic Complex, as the Cougars waited anxiously before learning they will host Northwestern in a first-round match on Saturday. Kickoff is at 5 p.m.
The invite is the fifth straight and seventh in the last eight years for the Cougars, who stamped their ticket with an emphatic 3-1 win at Washington last week.
That capped a comeback of sorts from a winless three-game homestand last month that left WSU 11-5 and in need of momentum.
“I knew deep down that we needed to win the next three to win a spot,” said first-year coach Todd Shulenberger, whose team did that by winning at Oregon and Oregon State before beating the Huskies.
The Cougars (14-5 overall, 7-4 in the Pac-12) were one of six conference teams to make the 64-team field. The others are Stanford, USC, Cal, Arizona and Washington.
“It’s a compliment to the whole group,” said Shulenberger, who said the Cougars’ celebration will end when practices resume on Tuesday.
“It’s critical that we don’t need to overdo it, but we don’t want to underdo it,” said Shulenberger, who admitted having only a sketchy knowledge of Northwestern – but that was only moments after the pairings were announced.
“We’ll get more info pretty quick,” Shulenberger said of the Wildcats.
“They’re a well-coached team on the rise,” Shulenberger said.
Northwestern is back in the NCAAs for the first time since 1998. The Wildcats are 13-5-2 overall and finished 7-3-1 in the Big Ten.
This will be WSU’s third-straight home match in the NCAAs. In 2013, the Cougars fell to Illinois in a penalty-kick shootout. Last year, they lost to Seattle 2-1 in overtime.
Washington travels to Texas A&M
Washington earned its second straight – and 14th overall – trip to the NCAAs after going 12-6-2 overall. The Huskies will travel to College Station, Texas, to take on Texas A&M in a match that kicks off Friday at 5 p.m. PST.
“We get to start over again,” UW head coach Lesle Gallimore said. “We have to take all the lessons we’ve learned into the NCAA tournament and use the 1-0 mantra we’ve preached all season. We’re going to prepare to go down there and have our best day.”
The Huskies made to the Sweet Sixteen in 2014 before falling to Stanford. The Huskies’ best showings in the NCAA tournament came in 2004 and 2008, when UW made it to the Elite Eight.
Whitworth men back in DIII tournament
The Whitworth men will open the Division III tournament on Saturday against the University of Redlands in San Antonio, Texas, the NCAA announced Monday.
The Pirates are making their ninth appearance in the NCAA D-III tournament and second consecutive appearance under third-year head coach Morgan Cathey.
The Pirates reached the round of 16 in 2014, defeating Covenant College and Berry College before falling to Christopher Newport in the Round of 16.
Whitworth (16-1-1) captured its eighth Northwest Conference title over the last 12 seasons with a 12-1-1 record in conference play. The Pirates defeated Whitman Saturday, 3-1, to finish the regular season.
The University of Redlands (16-3-2) earned an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournament. The Bulldogs topped Occidental in the semifinal, 3-1, before defeating La Verne, 2-1, to win the title. Redlands will make its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2011.
Trinity (19-2-0) will host UT-Dallas (15-3-3) in the other first-round matchup in San Antonio.
Game times are yet to be determined.