Women's DI Tournament Sweet Sixteen Recap

by Victor Olorunfemi

November 20, 2023

Read a recap of a highly entertaining sweet sixteen round of the women’s NCAA tournament.

Texas-Sized Beatdown

Florida State sent a message to the college soccer world in its 5-0 victory over a Texas squad on a historic season. The 5-goal margin of defeat is the most the Longhorns have suffered since 2012 and the largest in its NCAA tournament history. The Seminoles had five different scorers and conceded just three shots on target in the most dominant performance of the night.

Olivia wanted in on the action and gets her fourth goal of the season to put the Noles up 5-0‼️#OneTribe pic.twitter.com/dso4Xu5Vvw
— FSU Soccer (@FSUSoccer) November 20, 2023

Clock Strikes Midnight

UC Irvine’s Cinderella run ended Sunday afternoon as Nebraska ran out 4-0 winners. The signs came early as Abbey Schwarz opened the scoring in the 14th minute, one of three first-half goals. Despite the result, the Anteaters should have nothing but pride as they become the first 16 seed to reach the third round.

Dale Wins Race

With Eleanor Dale scoring twice against UC Irvine to get to 28 and Lexi Missimo ending her season with 26, Dale has officially won the goals race between the two. It is not official yet, but the British native has essentially won the College Soccer Golden Boot, with the next highest scorer still in play having 15 goals.

🚨🌽🚨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🌽🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🚨🌽🚨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🌽🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/oLijsjLYhm
— Nebraska Soccer (@HuskerSoccer) November 19, 2023

North Carolina Heat

The Tar Heels are heating up at just the right time as they secured a second straight 1-0 victory, limiting a top-30 ranked Texas Tech offense to no shots on target. The next challenge is traveling to Utah and taking on BYU’s first-ranked offense in a game of two giants.

Yeah, you could say this goal was pretty 𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙀 😏 #GoHeels x @NCAASoccer pic.twitter.com/Oa0uQkVd5L
— UNC Women's Soccer (@uncwomenssoccer) November 20, 2023

Lions Roar Back

No NCAA Tournament game is easy, and Penn State proved that on Sunday afternoon. After going up 2-0 in the first half, the Nittany Lions conceded three unanswered goals to Saint Louis before equalizing in the 87th minute and winning from a Payton Linnehan overtime goal. It was an uncharacteristically poor defensive performance from a team that had not conceded three goals in a game all season. Nonetheless, the mindset is to survive and advance, and Penn State did just that.

VIRTUOSO. PAYTON LINNEHAN. PENN STATE LEADS.

OT1 | 97:44 | PSU 4, SLU 3
WATCH LIVE on ESPN+#WeAre pic.twitter.com/ruFkwoDt5M
— Penn State Women’s Soccer (@PennStateWSOC) November 19, 2023

First Time for Everything

Pittsburgh defeats Memphis 3-0 to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time in team history. It is the latest accomplishment for the impressive Randy Waldrum, who, in his six seasons, has led the Panthers to the NCAA tournament for the first two times in history, doing so in back-to-back years and now a first-ever elite eight.

Dancin’ our way to the Elite 8️⃣#H2P pic.twitter.com/p3OuATvbwU
— Pitt Women's Soccer (@Pitt_WSOC) November 20, 2023

Penalty Drama

After a hard-fought 110 minutes of soccer resulted in a 1-1 draw, penalty kicks decided the winner of Clemson versus Georgia. And it ultimately came down to Halle Mackiewicz saving a penalty kick, setting up the winner from Sami Meredith as Clemson advances to the quarter-finals for the sixth time in school history.

Flipping into the Elite Eight 🤸‍♀️🐅 pic.twitter.com/jfRYSLm3t7
— Clemson Women's Soccer (@clemsonwsoccer) November 20, 2023

Brecken Goal-Zingo

The ball-striking quality on this BYU team has long bailed the Cougars out of difficult situations this season, and that happened again on Saturday as moments after scoring a second-half equalizer, Brecken Mozingo smacked an absolute banger in what served as the game-winner. There is no ceiling for this team, as Mozingo, Olivia Wade-Katoa, and Allie Fryer have demonstrated they can pull something out of nothing on any night.