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PROVO — There was no extra fanfare when the No. 4 BYU women’s soccer team learned its NCAA Tournament draw Monday afternoon during the Selection Show.
The Cougars learned their fate, stared at the screen, and clapped from their chairs. Next to their name on the bracket line was a number that some weren’t expecting: 4, as in a No. 4 seed, directly behind regional mates South Carolina, North Carolina and Clemson.
Fourth-seeded BYU will host Mountain West champion UNLV in a first-round NCAA Tournament game at 7 p.m. Friday at South Field, the NCAA announced Monday.
BYU set to play UNLV at HOME this Friday at 7 PM for the first round of the NCAA Tournament!
— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 7, 2016
🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹#BYUwSOC#GoCougspic.twitter.com/oh1pA9p0pV
With the seventh-best RPI in the country, they might have expected more. Or maybe not.
“We haven’t gotten the extra nod over the years, but we can’t control that,” BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “Make the most of it; we’re excited to play at South Field one more time, and we’ve always talked about it not mattering who we play, where we play or the conditions. What we do to prepare for each game doesn’t change now.”
The Cougars (16-2-1) are 15-1-1 all-time against the Rebels, who boast the Mountain West’s offensive and defensive players of the year in 15-goal scorer Lily Sender and center back Chidera Akubuilo.
“We are excited to see UNLV in the first round, and then we’ll take it from there,” said senior Michele Vasconcelos, who has 14 goals and 12 assists on the season. “It’s nice to be seeded, and we are happy about that. But it’s a little disappointing. I felt like we could be a 2-3 seed.”
No. 23 Utah (11-3-5) advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four seasons, and will host Texas Tech (9-8-2) at 1 p.m. MT Saturday at Ute Field.
The Utes have never faced the Red Raiders, and have advanced to the second round of the tournament twice in program history.
“It is like Christmas morning,” Utah senior Katie Rogers said. “We have been waiting a long time and it is finally here. The past couple years have been tough, but they have been erased with this positive feeling. This is the first selection show I have actually enjoyed watching, so again, I’m just very happy.”
The winner of BYU's bout with UNLV (16-3-3) will advance to the second and third round in top-seeded South Carolina’s regional bracket. The Cougars have never played a match in South Carolina, where their regional will be based assuming the seeded teams win in the opening round.
But first comes UNLV, which is led by 15-goal scorer Lily Sender and became the program’s all-time leading scorer this season after leading her team to the Rebels’ first conference championship since 2007.
BYU defender Taylor Campbell Isom is excited to welcome that attack to South Field for one final game of the season.
“Playing at home is a big boost for us,” Isom said. “It’s nothing new to us; we’ve played in NCAA Tournament games, and we’re excited to bring UNLV here. We’re excited to bring them back, they’ll give us their best game, and we’ll do the same.”
The Cougars last faced the Rebels in 2015, when host BYU walked off with a 2-0 win. They also played each other in exhibition games the past two springs, making both squads intimately aware of each other.
Prior to the 2015 season, BYU hadn’t faced UNLV in a regular-season contest since the Cougars were members of the Mountain West Conference in 2010.
BYU won its fifth-straight West Coast Conference championship last Saturday with a 6-0 home win over Gonzaga, tying Pepperdine for the league title. The Waves (12-4-3) earned the conference’s automatic bid by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker and will host California.
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2016 senior class has been good to BYU women's soccer
The 2016 senior class of BYU women’s soccer players has a lot of talent.Fellow WCC side Santa Clara also earned a tournament berth, drawing Long Beach State with the winner advancing to face top-seeded Stanford or Houston Baptist.
The 2016 season marks the third-straight year the WCC has earned three NCAA Tournament berths. Florida and top-ranked West Virginia also earned a No. 1 seed for the tournament.
The quarterfinals are scheduled with Nov. 25-26, with the College Cup semifinals at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California on Dec. 2.
After Monday’s draw, BYU is eager to prove it can get there.
“We always have to prove ourselves,” Vasconcelos said. “We were expecting a four seed, and hoping for something better. But we always have to prove ourselves.”
