The road to the College Cup in San Jose took shape this afternoon as the NCAA revealed the full 64 team bracket. There will be more coverage to follow on The Equalizer prior to the kickoff Friday, but here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know.
Stanford, Florida, South Carolina, and West Virginia all earned number one seeds. Historically speaking, number one seeds makes the final weekend the majority of the time. Whether the selection committee correctly identifies the best teams in the nation or the home field advantage is that much of an advantage is hard to parson out. Nonetheless, there’s a good chance that at least 2 if not 3 of these highest seeded teams play on the Earthquakes’ home pitch come December.
Looking at those one number one seeds, two of the teams at the top of their respective brackets hail from the SEC. What is also worth noting, however, is the absence of the ACC from one of those coveted top four spots. It’s rare not to see one of the teams from the traditional powerhouse conference for women’s soccer present at the top of at least one bracket. If fact, it’s the first time that the ACC hasn’t claimed one in the tournament’s present format. The ACC is well represented in the seeded teams overall, however, nabbing five in total. Virgina, Florida State, Clemson, and Duke are all three seeds, while North Carolina nabbed the two seed in West Virginia’s side of the bracket.
Overall the ACC got seven bids, good for second most of any conference. The Big Ten led all conferences with a total of eight, including four seed Minnesota. The other conferences with multiple bids include the PAC-12 (6), the aforementioned SEC (6), Big 12 (6), AAC (3), WCC (3) and the Big East (2).
Take a look at the full bracket and let us know in the comments which team you think has the best chance of hoisting the trophy in a month.
