Notre Dame has been eliminated from the NCAA Division I women’s soccer tournament in the first round for the first time since 1993 following a 1-0 loss to Illinois on Sunday. The loss ends an uncharacteristically inconsistent season from the Fighting Irish (10-8-3) and guarantees there will be a new NCAA Division I champion in 2011.
Niki Read scored the game-winner for No. 16-ranked Illinois in the 50th minute. Illinois will face No. 2 seed Oklahoma State on Friday.
Last season Notre Dame went 21-2-2 en route to winning the national championship by way of a 1-0 victory over Stanford in the College Cup final.
Division I will not be the only one crowning a new champion. 2010 NCAA Division III champion Hardin-Simmons was eliminated by Trinity (Texas) in the second round on Sunday, falling 3-1. Hardin-Simmons upset Messiah in last year’s championship game, preventing Messiah from the three-peat. Trinity advances to play Ithaca on Friday.
2010 Division II champion Grand Valley State is the only remaining NCAA women’s team that can repeat as champion. Grand Valley State hosts Northern Kentucky on Friday.
Division I First Round Scores:
Upset Alerts:
#4 Tennessee 0-3 Ohio State
OSU: Tiffany Cameron 7 (Kendyl Reed; Megan Fuller) 9
OSU: Kristen Niederhaus 1 (Caitlyn Martin; Megan Fuller) 68
OSU: Tiffany Cameron 8 (Danica Wu; Megan Fuller) 74
#3 Pepperdine 0-1 Long Beach State
LBSU: Nadia Link (unassisted) 100
West Virginia 0-1 Virginia Tech
VT: Kelly Conheeney 11 (Anne Lumpkin) 17
Business as Usual:
#1 Duke 5-0 Radford
#2 Florida 3-0 Florida Gulf Coast
#3 North Carolina 4-1 William & Mary
#4 Memphis 7-0 Martin
#3 Texas A&M 4-0 LSU
#2 Oklahoma State 9-1 Arkansas-Pine Bluff
#4 Boston College 6-1 Marist
#1 Stanford 3-0 Montana
The Rest:
South Carolina 1-0 Texas
Santa Clara 1-1 California (Cal advances on penalty kicks, 4-3)
#3 Auburn 2-1 Utah State
Maryland 5-1 La Salle
Illinois 1-0 Notre Dame
#2 Virginia 2-0 Long Island
Kentucky 1-1 Washington State (Washington State advances on penalty kicks, 4-2)
Louisville 2-0 Dayton
Oregon State 1-1 Portland (Portland advances on penalty kicks, 7-6)
#1 Florida State 2-0 Samford
#1 Wake Forest 2-0 Oakland
Boston University 3-0 Harvard
Marquette 1-0 Toledo
#4 Penn State 1-0 Army
Baylor 3-0 Texas State
Central Florida 2-0 Florida International
#2 UCLA 1-0 New Mexico
UC Irvine 2-2 San Diego (San Diego advances on penalty kicks, 5-3)
Miami (Fla.) 3-2 Alabama
Milwaukee 3-0 Illinois State
Kansas 0-2 Georgia
NCAA Division I women’s soccer bracket.
NCAA Division II women’s soccer bracket.
NCAA Division III women’s soccer bracket.
