LOS ANGELES — The last time UCLA met Stanford in an NCAA Tournament women’s soccer match was in the 2017 national championship game in Orlando, Fla.
Stanford defeated the Bruins 3-2 and took home the trophy.
Two years later, the Pac-12 powers have found their way through the 64-team bracket to meet again, but this time it’s in a semifinal.
“It still stings from my freshman year, a lot,” junior midfielder Viviana Villacorta said. “This is it, we have to leave everything out on the field because when can we get a chance like this again.”
The second-seeded Bruins (18-4-1 overall, 8-3 Pac-12) and the top-seeded Cardinal (22-1, 11-0) will face each other Friday at 6:30 p.m. in a College Cup semifinal at Avaya Stadium in San Jose. The winner faces either unseeded Washington State or top-seeded North Carolina in Sunday’s 5:30 p.m. title match.
This is the 11th time UCLA has made it to the College Cup, with the Bruins’ only national title coming in 2013 against Florida State.
“That’s big motivation for us,” Villacorta said about facing a familiar foe in Stanford. “It’s definitely something where we know we can do it, but we have to work extremely hard and together, that’s our mentality.”
Since meeting in the 2017 NCAA final, Stanford has defeated UCLA in each of their regular-season meetings the past two seasons, including a 1-0 decision on Oct. 19 at Stanford. UCLA is 0-4 all-time against Stanford in NCAA Tournament matches.
The Cardinal are currently on a 17-game winning streak and lead the nation with 98 goals. In tournament play, Stanford has outscored its opponents 26-1, including a 15-0 blowout of Prairie View A&M in the first round. Junior forward Catarina Malatskey leads the nation with 38 goals and 23 assists.
“As a group, we’re all really excited,” senior midfielder Jessie Fleming said. “We’ve played Stanford before, and we know it’s going to be a good game. Playing against good players has the tendency to bring out the best in us. We’re pumped for the matchup and excited for a (battle).”
The Bruins are confident last week’s 4-0 upset victory over top-seeded defending champion Florida State will carry over into this week. UCLA was just the second team in 10 years to take down the Seminoles in Tallahassee during the postseason. It was the second time this season the Bruins defeated Florida State, after beating the team 2-1 in Westwood in August.
“It’s a hard place to go win in the postseason, so doing that and also having to beat them twice this year, I think we’ve proven ourselves to be the team we are and the team to look out for,” UCLA head coach Amanda Cromwell said.
The Bruins, who finished second in the conference, behind Stanford, have won nine in a row and 12 of their last 13 matches. UCLA has outscored its four postseason opponents 15-1.
“I just feel like the team is really coming into our own, and we’re just peaking right at the good time,” Villacorta said. “We found this confidence because we’re getting comfortable playing with each other. Playing in this formation too, we’re just really confident knowing that it’s going to work.”
The Pac-12 made conference history last week when four teams made it to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time (UCLA, Stanford, Washington State and USC). USC was eliminated by North Carolina 3-2.
“We have two California teams in one of the semifinals and three Pac-12 teams in the Final Four. That’s what really makes it special this year because of how well the whole Pac-12 has done,” Cromwell said. “I’m excited about that. It gives us confidence because we know the level of play that we had all season prepared us for this moment.”
On the other side of the bracket, Washington State (16-6-1, 5-5-1) will be making its first-ever appearance in the College Cup after upsetting No. 1 seed Virginia in the second round and No. 2 seed South Carolina 1-0 in overtime in a quarterfinal last week.
North Carolina (23-1-1), meanwhile, is playing for its 22nd national title. The two meet in the early semifinal on Friday at 4 p.m.
🎶 U-C-L-A 🎶
FINAL. 👏 FOUR. 👏 BOUND. 👏#WCollegeCup | @UCLAWSoccer pic.twitter.com/lVicIJcZjM
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) November 29, 2019
For the 1️⃣1️⃣th time in program history, the @UCLAWSoccer team is headed to the College Cup! 🥅
They beat defending National Champs with 4 Bruin goals. 🐻🐻🐻🐻 #WCollegeCup | #Pac12Soccer pic.twitter.com/wPbsyW2dmL
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) November 29, 2019
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UCLA women’s soccer to meet nemesis Stanford in College Cup semifinal - LA Daily News
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