The fourth-ranked UVA women’s soccer team will play in its first NCAA Tournament final Sunday as it meets second-ranked Florida State in the NCAA Women’s College Cup at Florida Atlantic University. Game time at FAU Stadium is 1 p.m. and the game will be televised live on ESPNU.
Sunday’s final marks the fourth time conference foes have met for the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship, as North Carolina defeated NC State in 1988 and Duke in 1992 and Portland downed Santa Clara in 2002. Both the Cavaliers and Seminoles are looking to win their first NCAA Championship.
Virginia advanced to its first NCAA final with a 3-1 victory over fifth-ranked Texas A&M in the semifinals Friday night in Boca Raton. Junior Makenzy Doniak (Chino Hills, Calif.) scored her school-record 20th goal of the season, junior Emily Sonnett (Marietta, Ga.) scored for the second consecutive game and sophomore Alexis Shaffer (Cary, N.C.) notched her seventh goal of the season against the Aggies.
The Seminoles advanced to the NCAA final for the second consecutive season and the third time in school history with a 2-0 victory over third-ranked Stanford in the other semifinal. Cheyna Williams scored both goals for Florida State.
Sunday’s final features the top offense and defense in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Virginia has scored 23 goals in five games in the tournament and features the top two individual scorers in senior Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.), who has 17 points on four goals and nine assists, and Doniak, who has 15 points on six goals and three assists. Florida State has not allowed a goal in the NCAA Tournament and looks to become the first team since North Carolina in 2003 to win the title without conceding a goal.
The teams have met twice earlier this year with the Seminoles posting 1-0 victories in both contests, on Sept. 28 in Tallahassee and Nov. 9 in the ACC Tournament final in Greensboro, N.C. Those two shutout losses mark the only times this season the Virginia offense has not scored multiple goals. Virginia leads the overall series 18-5-4, but the teams have split the last 11 meetings (5-5-1). The Seminoles won the only previous NCAA Tournament meeting, a 3-0 victory in the 2011 quarterfinals in Tallahassee.
Tickets for the College Cup final are available online at NCAA.com. General admission tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for youth.
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Chris Graham
