Lady Vols Soccer ⚽️ Tennessee @ Virginia Tech 11/15 Friday 7PM Blacksburg VA ⚽️ NCAA TOURNAMENT First Round

#5,712
#5,712
I don’t get it, Kentucky didn’t get in either.

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Kentucky and Auburn were both higher up in the SEC standings and both won their first Tournament match while Tennessee and LSU did not.

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Additionally
Auburn beat LSU in the regular season 3-0, which means they beat both Tennessee and LSU.
Kentucky beat LSU and drew with Tennessee.
 
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Tennessee soccer earns NCAA Tournament bid, will face No. 4 seeded Xavier in first round​


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Tennessee soccer earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament in spite of an injury-riddled year that saw several key players lost for the season, including leading scorer Jaida Thomas.

The Lady Vols (8-6-4) will play at No. 4 seed Xavier in the first round this weekend. Pac-12 champion UCLA is the No. 1 seed in Tennessee's quadrant. No. 5 seed Nebraska and No. 8 seed Gonzaga are the other two seeded teams the Lady Vols could face if they upset Xavier.

Coach Joe Kirt has led the Lady Vols to an NCAA Tournament bid in both his seasons at the helm. Last season, Tennessee was a No. 6 seed and hosted Xavier at home. Xavier pulled off a 4-1 upset in double overtime to eliminate the Lady Vols

Tennessee went 3-4-3 in SEC play, its three wins coming against Florida, Missouri and Vanderbilt. UT lost to No. 10 Arkansas, LSU, Georgia and Texas A&M. The Lady Vols' best result in conference play was a 1-1 draw with then-No. 7 South Carolina on the road. Their win over Vanderbilt got them into the SEC Tournament, where they lost in the first round to Auburn.

Tennessee finished tied for eighth in the SEC with Auburn. There are eight SEC teams total in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Vols are led by sophomore forward Kameron Simmonds, who has eight goals, two assists and 18 points this season. Graduate midfielder Sizzy Lawton and junior midfielder Jordan Fusco each have six goals, and Fusco has four assists and 16 points. Fusco was voted First Team All-SEC and Lawton was voted Second Team All-SEC.
 
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We got in because of the weirdness of RPI. I said it earlier in the season when, despite not really playing well or having beaten a strong opponent, we were No. 10 in the RPI. I think that was after we tied South Carolina. Our RPI fell as the season went along, when we lost some matches--and I don't know what our final RPI number was--but it clearly stayed high enough to get us in the tournament despite having a lackluster record--below .500 in the SEC. I think a couple of our non-conference opponents had good seasons--or good enough to help our RPI---and being in a strong conference and playing other high RPI conference opponents (as we do every year) certainly was a big boost. Our staff's biggest achievement this season might have been the non-conference schedule they put together--as even opponents perceived as not very strong can help your RPI if they go on to have a good season in their conference. I view this tourney appearance as a reprieve for Kirt, who for me has not been good (20 wins to 11 wins to 8 wins, two straight first-round exits in the SEC tourney), and we'll see if he and the team can capitalize on this opportunity in the next several days. Let's hope so. It's never too late to put it together and win some big matches!
 
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Lady Vols To Open NCAA Tournament at Fourth-Seeded Xavier​

Game time is set!

We'll take on the Musketeers on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET!

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For the third straight year, UT has made the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship field. The Lady Vols earned an at-large bid and will open the tournament in Cincinnati against fourth-seeded Xavier in a rematch of last year's NCAA First Round contest. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET on Saturday at Corcoran Field.

The NCAA Tournament bracket is broken down into four quadrants, with seeds 1-8 in each quadrant hosting first-round games.

The Lady Vols and the Musketeers have met seven times previously with UT owning a 4-3 advantage in the series. Tennessee suffered a 4-1 loss in double overtime when the teams met last season but won matches in 2020 and 2018 by scores of 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE: All 32 first-round games will be held over three days this weekend, beginning a four-week march to the national title match. The Women's College Cup will be held Dec. 1 and Dec. 4 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.

Here's a look at the weekly postseason schedule:

First Round - Nov. 10, 11 or 12
Second and Third Rounds - Nov. 17 and 19
Quarterfinals - Nov. 24 or 25
Women's College Cup – Dec. 1-4

TENNESSEE'S NCAA HISTORY: Tennessee will be making its 15th overall NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. UT has a 16-12-3 record in the tournament and has reached the Round of 16 seven times (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2018, 2021). Tennessee is 9-4-1 in NCAA First Round matches but is looking for its first win when opening the tournament on a seeded opponent's home turf. Danielle Marcano is Tennessee's all-time points leader in the NCAA championships, tallying 14 points on seven goals during her career (2015-2018).
 
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turbovol said:
We got in because of the weirdness of RPI. I said it earlier in the season when, despite not really playing well or having beaten a strong opponent, we were No. 10 in the RPI. I think that was after we tied South Carolina. Our RPI fell as the season went along, when we lost some matches--and I don't know what our final RPI number was--but it clearly stayed high enough to get us in the tournament despite having a lackluster record--below .500 in the SEC. I think a couple of our non-conference opponents had good seasons--or good enough to help our RPI---and being in a strong conference and playing other high RPI conference opponents (as we do every year) certainly was a big boost. Our staff's biggest achievement this season might have been the non-conference schedule they put together--as even opponents perceived as not very strong can help your RPI if they go on to have a good season in their conference. I view this tourney appearance as a reprieve for Kirt, who for me has not been good (20 wins to 11 wins to 8 wins, two straight first-round exits in the SEC tourney), and we'll see if he and the team can capitalize on this opportunity in the next several days. Let's hope so. It's never too late to put it together and win some big matches!
Click to expand...
I would have rather played Memphis high to see how good they are.
 
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#5,720
#5,720
orange beard said:
I would have rather played Memphis high to see how good they are.
Click to expand...

I didn't see Memphis play this year--but that is a consistently strong, well-coached program. They had an impressive 18-1 record, conference champ, 14 RPI. Some fans think they got hosed only getting a 6 seed, while a couple of others argue that their schedule, overall, was weak.

The RPI/data experts, Henderson and another guy on a site I follow, say South Alabama not getting in as RPI 27 was the only time a team with an under 30 RPI has not made the tournament. IN other words, they think South Alabama got hosed.

ACC fans feeling aggrieved because 4 of their 5 NCAA teams are on the same side of the bracket. An unusual down year for the ACC. I believe Virginia has not only been in the NCAA tourney for....I don't know how many straight years---a lot. I think until last year, maybe, they'd been to the NCAA quarterfinals something like 14 straight years, or 14/15 of the last 15/16. Didn't get in this year--definitely a rebuilding year. Duke didn't make it either. ACC fans are wondering how 9 Big10 teams got in. That IS curious as historically the Big10 has not been strong in soccer. Iowa, a low seed, surprisingly won the Big10 tournament--and thus got it. It wouldn't have gotten in otherwise. Michigan was a bubble team that got in.

If we can beat Xavier--and that's a big if--we'd likely play 5 seed Nebraska in the 2nd round. That's about as good a draw as we could hope for in the 2nd round--and probably better than most of the other SEC teams in the tourney. We'd almost certainly play UCLA in the 3rd round--if we were good enough to get that far...and that, friends, is where our tourney would end.

--If South Carolina wins its first-round game, it has to play Stanford next. Tough. (A lot of fans think the committee was very unfair to put UCLA and Stanford, two top 5 schools this year, in the same bracket. I agree--not a good decision and seems unfair to those two schools.

--If bama wins its first-round game, it would likely play UNC in 2nd round. Tough--but UNC, for all its talent, has struggled to score the last couple of years.

--Arkansas, if it wins its first game, would play Pitt in the second round. Pitt is good this year--lost to FSU in the ACC final.

--LSU, if its wins its first-round game, would next play a strong Notre Dame team.

---If Texas A&M wins its first round match, it would play Pensky's formidable, high-scoring FSU.

---Georgia, if it wins its first game, would play Iowa. That's a good draw for Georgia--the dawgs are certainly capable of winning that one.

---Miss. State, if it wins its first game, would play Brown in the 2nd round. That's about as good a draw as one could hope for---though the Ivy League shouldn't be underestimated in soccer.


In Xavier, the Vols do have one of the toughest first-round matches among SEC teams. Xavier was 14-3-4 this year, lost in the finals of their Big East conference tournament to Georgetown, 0-2. They were 6-0-4 in the Big East, which is impressive. The Big East is not as strong as the SEC but got a respectable 3 teams in the NCAA. We are capable of beating Xavier, for sure, and also quite capable of losing. It's how you play on the day, baby. Last year we scored to go ahead of Xavier fairly early in the game and, as I recall, our play gradually deteriorated as the game progressed. Xavier scored at some point to tie--and then the game went into overtime and Xavier scored two goals. L. We cannot give up dumb goals owing to mistakes by the keeper or our centerbacks being caught flat-footed and lackadaiscal and expect to beat anybody--as we saw this season--much less an NCAA opponent.

I wonder if we practiced on the field at all this week, or just did cardio/weights, etc, rested and waited. I also wonder if we might get Hofmann back for this game, but I have no idea since we never know anything about injuries. I'm happy that our players, and in particular our transfer-in players, get to experience the NCAA tourney. That's a good thing.
 
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