UNC – Women's Soccer Express

NCAA: 2024 Division I College Cup — TV and Streaming Schedule

On Friday, December 6th, the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer College Cup gets underway in Cary, North Carolina. In the United States, all three matches of the College Cup will be televised live on ESPNU and streamed live via the ESPN+ streaming service.

In the first semifinal, Stanford, which has three national titles (2011, 2017, 2019), will face off against Wake Forest, which returns to its second College Cup after debuting in 2011.

The second semifinal features overall #1 seed Duke Blue Devils taking on the storied North Carolina Tarheels. For Duke, this is head coach Robbie Church’s final College Cup, as he is retiring after the tournament (The Chronicle). While North Carolina has 21 NCAA national titles, in four previous tries, Duke has yet to a win a College Cup, though they have finished as national runner-up three times (1992, 2011, 2015) and twice under Church (2011 and 2015). North Carolina, for the first time in its history, will play a College Cup without Anson Dorrance on the sideline, after his somewhat surprise retirement back in August.

NCAA: University of Illinois Head Coach Janet Rayfield announces retirement

On Wednesday, Janet Rayfield, one of the pioneers of modern collegiate women’s soccer, announced that she is retiring from coaching soccer at the University of Illinois, where she helmed the soccer team for 23 seasons. Rayfield will remain in her position until a successor is hired.

Rayfield had stints as an assistant coach* of the United States Women’s National Team under Pia Sundhage (2009, 2011). Rayfield has also been involved with U.S. Soccer’s youth national teams, most notably as an assistant coach* to Steve Swanson with the 2012 Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team that won the 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup. The 2012 U-20 USWYNT included then University of Illinois midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo, who is now a member of the Kansas City Current in the National Women’s Soccer League.

*Correction: An earlier version of this article accidentally included an extra modifier.

NCAA: Former USWNT Head Coach Anson Dorrance Announces Retirement from UNC Women’s Soccer

On Sunday, August 11th, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s athletics department announced that Anson Dorrance, long-time head coach of the women’s soccer program at UNC and a former head coach of the United States Women’s National Team, has retired, effective immediately.

Dorrance, as most fans of women’s soccer should be well aware, is the most successful coach in NCAA Division I women’s soccer, winning 21 national titles.

While not the first head coach of the USWNT, in many ways, Dorrance was the team’s founding father. He helped to establish the team’s identity and brought in young players such as Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and Kristine Lilly. As head coach, Dorrance lead the USWNT to its first FIFA Women’s World Cup title, though at the time, the tournament did not use the “World Cup” moniker.

The press release (goheels.com) stated that Dorrance informed UNC’s Director of Athletics on Friday (August 9th) and notified the women’s soccer team on Sunday.

Assistant head coach Damon Nahas, who is the brother of North Carolina Courage head coach, Sean Nahas, will be the interim head coach.

2019 NCAA College Cup: Stanford Wins Third National Title

Just a quick compilation of highlights from the final and semifinals:

Stanford bests North Carolina on spot kicks (5:4, 6 rounds) after first scoreless draw in Women’s College Cup history
USWNT call-up Sophia Smith nets a hat trick versus UCLA in Stanford’s 4:1 semifinal win over the team from Westwood
North Carolina survives Washington State after 2:1 comeback victory

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2019 NCAA D1 Championship: Quarterfinal Highlights

On Black Friday, Stanford, UCLA, North Carolina, and Washington State punched their golden tickets to this year’s College Cup. Stanford and UCLA cruised to victories over BYU and Florida State, respectively, while North Carolina survived a 3:2 back-and-forth match over USC, and Washington State needed a golden goal to vanquish South Carolina.

Thus, Friday’s (December 6th) College Cup semifinal match-ups will be:

North Carolina vs. Washington State – 7:00 p.m. EST
Stanford vs. UCLA – 9:30 p.m. EST

Both matches will be televised live on ESPNU, as will the Championship match, which is scheduled for Sunday, December 8th, at 8:30 p.m. EST.

Read on for brief recaps and video highlights of all the quarterfinal goals…

Continue reading “2019 NCAA D1 Championship: Quarterfinal Highlights”