UCLA women’s soccer earns No. 2 seed, begins postseason with matchup against Lamar
Coach Amanda Cromwell has headed UCLA women’s soccer since 2013, when she led the Bruins to a national title in her first season in Westwood. Since then, UCLA has made the NCAA tournament in all but one season, including a championship appearance in 2017. (Niveda Tennety/Assistant Photo editor)
By Jacqueline Dzwonczyk
Nov. 11, 2019 3:02 p.m.
The Bruins are going dancing along with more than three-fourths of the Pac-12.
UCLA women’s soccer (14-4-1, 8-3-0 Pac-12) drew a No. 2 seed for the NCAA tournament, meaning the Bruins will start the postseason Friday with a home match against Lamar University (16-6, 10-1 Southland Athletic Conference). UCLA was one of nine Pac-12 teams to make the bracket and one of four teams in the conference to earn a seed.
“Being a No. 2 seed is great, but I think we were probably on the fringe of being a No. 1 seed – one more win could have done that for us,” said coach Amanda Cromwell.
The No. 1 seeds include Stanford, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida State, with the reigning national champion Florida State taking the top spot in the Bruins’ quarter of the bracket.
Then-No. 4 UCLA upset then-No. 1 Florida State on Aug. 29 at the Banc of California Stadium, and the Bruins have also posted regular-season wins over three other teams in their section of the bracket.
As the No. 2 seed, UCLA will host Lamar – a team which hails from Beaumont, Texas – at Wallis Annenberg Stadium on Friday at 5 p.m.
“I actually applaud the committee for sending in a team from out of state because a lot of times we end up playing (Cal State) Fullerton or Pepperdine again, and those are the hardest first-round games in the country,” Cromwell said.
Both California and USC occupy the same quarter of the bracket and both Pac-12 teams will face other California schools in the first round. The Golden Bears will play Cal State Fullerton while the Trojans will host Santa Clara.
“I don’t envy (USC’s) draw, I don’t envy (California’s) draw at all,” Cromwell said. “We can’t look past anybody, and we have to do our scout of (Lamar) as normal. But there are some really tough first-round games.”
The Bruins are riding a five-game winning streak into the postseason.
