Big Upset!!

[PhiI C]

In women's ncaa division 1 college soccer today as Santa Clara eliminates North Carolina 2 to 1 in overtime. Since 1982 North Carolina has won the national championship in soccer 17 times and in the five times they didnt' win it they were in the championship game 4 times and in the final four the other time. Now they are not even in the final 8. Besides Santa Clara the final 8 are Illinois, Washington, Notre Dame, UCLA, Portland, the winner between Boston College and Princinton and the winner between Tennessee and Ohio State. The West Coast has 4 teams in the final 8 and two of them have one national championship each (Portland and Santa Clara) and Notre Dame has one too. Getting interesting. Their is going to be a new queen on the block. We will see what happens.

[AP Panther Fan]

Hee hee....Phil C. do you ever get tired of nobody on this board knowing as much about some of these sports as you do?:D

I learn something everytime I read one of your posts!:thumbsup:

[PhiI C]

Originally posted by AP Panther Fan
Hee hee....Phil C. do you ever get tired of nobody on this board knowing as much about some of these sports as you do?:D

I learn something everytime I read one of your posts!:thumbsup:

;)

[PhiI C]

That is the beautiful thing about this game. You never know what can happen and there is a narrow point in winning and losing. Before the NCAA women's soccer tournament they had two experts on women's college soccer and one predicted that Penn State would win it all and the other picked North Carolina (a logical choice). Penn State didn't even make it to the sweet 16 and North Carolina got eliminated in sweet 16. That is the beauty of this game. You have to come and play your best but you never know what will happen even then. Look at the Big 12. The top two teams before the tournament were the Aggies and Kansas and yet Texas and Nebraska (who was considered the worse big 12 representative) advanced farther in the playoffs. You just don't know. Scheduling and off days are big factors in this game.

[3afan]

good - love to see the big dogs fall ...... now ND needs to get beat

[PhiI C]

The games for the final 8 consist of Santa Clara vs Illinois, Portland vs Notre Dame, Princeton vs Washington, and UCLA vs the winner of Tennessee vs Ohio State being played tomorrow. It is possible that the final four will be four west coast teams and they will have to be playing in North Carolina for the championship. :)

[huarache18]

I was for UNC

[eagleatduke]

i find it exceptionally appropriate that my first comment on this board should be GTH carolina...and i would add that santa clara also knocked off the number 3 mens basketball team at unc...I hope that this is a sign of things to come and that the best basketball team in the nation (along with THE best coach) will have no problem sending them back where they belong. Can't wait for March and front row seats at cameron...i have a feeling the cheer of the year is san-ta cla-ra clap clap clap clap clap...

and just to make this post relevant to football (because we all know i won't talk about Duke football), i am extremely proud of the decatur team and excited to be able to watch them beat abilene wylie for the second time this season

[PhiI C]

Originally posted by eagleatduke
i find it exceptionally appropriate that my first comment on this board should be GTH carolina...and i would add that santa clara also knocked off the number 3 mens basketball team at unc...I hope that this is a sign of things to come and that the best basketball team in the nation (along with THE best coach) will have no problem sending them back where they belong. Can't wait for March and front row seats at cameron...i have a feeling the cheer of the year is san-ta cla-ra clap clap clap clap clap...

and just to make this post relevant to football (because we all know i won't talk about Duke football), i am extremely proud of the decatur team and excited to be able to watch them beat abilene wylie for the second time this season

Ironically it was two years ago in soccer that Santa Clara beat UNC in the semis. That was the first time at that time that UNC wasn't at least in the championship game since 1982 - the first year women's soccer had a national champion in college football.

[PhiI C]

Things may have changed now. Women's soccer is growing in popularity. There are enough good players around the country where no one team will be able to dominate year in and year out now (I hope). True UNC will probably get the best players and have good teams every year but there will still be teams capable of beating them on any given day that the time where UNC would automatically go the the final four is now a thing of the past and that is good for women's soccer. Anything can happen. The Lady Aggies are an outstanding young team and could make the final four next year which would be great considering the matches will be at College Station.

[Phil C]

Many soccer experts thought that this UNC team was one of their best ever and they have had great ones. But Santa Clara indicates the rest of the country is catching up with them and also in soccer you never know what will happen. That is the beauty of this sport.

[PhiI C]

An update: Ohio State beat Tennessee today 1 to 0 so they make the final team of the final 8 and will play Washington.

[Phil C]

One of the key things in Soccer that makes it interesting is that any team can beat any other team on a given day. One of the reasons is dependent upon the goalie. If your goalie has a great game it will make a hugh difference. True they don't score but they can keep you close to where anything can happen. It is the most pressure packed position in soccer.