Women’s soccer to enter NCAA Tournament at No. 3 seed
On Monday, the NCAA tournament field was announced. The Bruins earned the No. 3 seed and will host a first round game against Wisconsin.
By Emma Coghlan
Nov. 5, 2012 11:53 p.m.
When the postseason gets going this weekend, UCLA will face a familiar opponent.
The Bruins recieved a No. 3 seed in their bracket for the 64-team NCAA Tournament that gets going Friday.
With its high seeding, UCLA (15-2-2. 8-2-1 Pac-12) will play at home, and the team will once again face Wisconsin.
Although it is common to face unfamiliar teams in early rounds of the tournament, seeing as the teams come from conferences all across the country, the Bruins played a non-conference game against the Badgers at Drake Stadium on Aug. 31. UCLA beat Wisconsin handily in a 2-0 victory.
However, the team isn’t concerned with its previous performance against Wisconsin.
“You can’t worry about who your opponent is going to be, you have to control what you can control. … Playing Wisconsin, that was months ago and so much has changed, so we have to prepare our girls the best we can prepare them,” coach B.J. Snow said.
Only three other Pac-12 conference teams made it into the tournament ““ Washington, Cal and Stanford.
The Bruins beat both the Huskies and Golden Bears this season, but suffered one of their only losses against the Cardinal on Oct. 28. The loss gave Stanford ownership of the Pac-12 title.
Stanford is the No. 1 seed in the same bracket as UCLA, making it possible for the teams to face one another in the tournament semifinals. UCLA goes into the postseason having lost the last two games of its season, closing out the year with an upset loss to USC.
“You never know what the NCAA is going to decide, there’s so much that goes into it,” Snow said. “We needed to have won that last game probably to get a higher seeding. … All we can do is focus on ourselves. We will prepare all week, and being home is great for us opening weekend.”
