CANYON, Texas - The No. 6 University of California San Diego women's soccer team sprinted out to a 3-0 lead over the first half of the opening period, and in a tour-de-force performance, demolished host West Texas A&M University, 5-0, in a 2018 NCAA Division II Championship national quarterfinal match at The Pitch on Sunday.
Repeat West Region champion UC San Diego improved to 19-2-2 overall. South Central Region victor West Texas A&M ended its season at 15-4-3. It was the first all-time meeting between the sides.
UC San Diego advances to the national semifinals to take on No. 17 University of Bridgeport (18-4-1) of Bridgeport, Conn. The NCAA Division II reseeds teams after the quarterfinal round these days, and the final version of the bracket was released late Sunday. The second-seeded Tritons will face No. 3 seed Bridgeport at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Thursday, Nov. 29, after the Thanksgiving holiday. They are expected to travel on Monday, Nov. 26. Top-ranked and top-seeded Grand Valley State (MI) will then take on No. 4 seed Lee University (TN) at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET). The winners will square off in the national championship game on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 12 p.m. PT (3 p.m. ET). All three contests can be watched, free of charge, on NCAA.com.
Both UC San Diego and West Texas A&M were coming off marathon regional finals Friday night that went 110 minutes before being settled through penalty-kick tiebreakers. Having survived another tense affair with formidable rival Western Washington, the Tritons came out Sunday focused and poised, with a calm confidence yet palpable excitement. Speed, skill and strength. They had it all.
And it was over early. A true masterclass by coaches Kristin Jones, Greg LaPorte and Trent Painter, and their student-athletes.
UC San Diego jumped all over the Lady Buffs straight out of the gate, and was up 3-0 by the midway point of the first half. The Tritons' three first-half goals came within a span of just 12:14.
Striker Megumi Barber (San Diego/Mt. Carmel HS) got things going at the 10:02 mark. The attack came down the left flank, with sophomore left back Delaney Whittet passing forward to senior left winger Summer Bales. Bales provided the left-footed cross toward the edge of the six-yard box, and her fellow fourth-year Triton, and roommate, Barber, beat her defender to the near post and flicked her shot into the back of the net for her ninth. Bales' assist was her league- and career-best 10th. Whittet was also credited with her third helper.
At 17:41, it was 2-0. Sophomore Michelle Baddour (San Diego/University City HS) took a great right-footed shot from 25 yards on the right side, which senior Lady Buff goalie Courtney Dippel barely was able to tip over the crossbar with her right hand. Barber took the ensuing corner kick, with Dippel appearing to be the one who punched the ball out. It fell to Bales, who fired left-footed off the bar and in from around the penalty spot for the second goal of her final campaign, which went down as unassisted. The Tritons were fortunate that the linesman was in proper position, as the ball bounced straight down from the bar, narrowly landing over the goal line.
Within five more minutes, at 22:16, the lead extended to 3-0, with Barber nabbing her second two-goal brace, both coming in this postseason. Strike partner and fellow fourth-year senior Mary Reilly (Chula Vista/Hilltop HS) received the ball with her back to goal near the center circle. The local product made an exquisite turn, and fed forward with her right foot, perfectly into Barber's path. She took one touch ahead, and from the left diagonal right around the edge of the penalty area, shot left-footed into the bottom right corner. With the tally, she joined Reilly in double figures in goals with a career-high 10, and wasn't done on the day. Reilly's assist was her third.
UC San Diego missed several other golden opportunities for an even bigger score line, so at the half, there was still some minor doubt as to the result of this one.
That doubt was no more just 117 seconds after the second-half whistle. Redshirt junior holding central midfielder and co-captain Natalie Saddic (San Diego/Torrey Pines HS) dribbled straight through the heart of the WTAMU defense before laying off a picture-perfect pass for Reilly to run onto before placing her right-footed shot into the bottom left corner for her West Region-leading 16th. Saddic's assist was her career-best fifth. It was the second time that the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, hooked up directly for a goal in just this postseason, having combined for a very similar-looking strike in the CCAA Tournament final in front of the home crowd on Nov. 4.
In the 54th minute, Barber wrapped up her hat trick, the trip to Pittsburgh, and the scoring for the afternoon. Sophomore Maddy Samilo (Rancho Bernardo/Rancho Bernardo HS) threw the ball in to Reilly on the right sideline, and Reilly sent a first-time cross from the end line, with Barber getting her head to it for her 11th, and 5-0. Samilo's fourth assist, also meant a third two-assist game for Reilly's Triton days.
Redshirt junior UC San Diego goalkeeper Angelica Ramos had four saves for her 10th individual clean sheet of 2018 and 22nd of her Triton career. Dippel had nine stops in her Lady Buff finale.
Whittet, fellow redshirt junior Kelsey Kimball, and sophomore right back Natalie Widmer, all played the full 90 minutes of the shutout. Saddic, the defensive midfielder in front of Kimball the center back, was able to exit for the final 12:36.
UC San Diego finished with a commanding 25-7 advantage in shots, and 9-2 in corner kicks. Fourteen of those shots were on target. Sophomore central midfielder Caitlin McCarthy (Carlsbad/Carlsbad HS) led all players with her six, three on goal.
Barber completed her hat trick in just 36 minutes of action, coming out for good upon scoring that third goal at 53:46. It's the second hat trick by a Triton in 2018, with Reilly having hit for four at home against Cal State Monterey Bay on Sept. 14.
Some of the many near-misses included McCarthy in the 12th while still a 1-0 game, with what looked to be a hopeful left-footed cross from the left side, glancing off the right post and away. In the 20th, Reilly cut her defender and fed Samilo, whose effort was blocked away by a defender. With just over two minutes left in the first half, freshman winger Ashlynn Kolarik got to a loose ball, but her close-range attempt from the left edge of the six-yard box was denied by Dippel.
Following the interval, McCarthy was turned away by Dippel on a header attempt right in front of goal in the 58th. Samilo's right-sided cross reached sophomore forward Mia Bonifazi, whose shot from in close was also saved by Dippel in the 61st. Saddic put one high over the bar in the 66th after finding the ball in front of her around the penalty spot.
UC San Diego also got a defensive team save out of Whittet in the 68th, the Manhattan Beach product clearing Calista Cordero's attempt off the goal line.
UC San Diego scored with the first shot attempt by either side, in both halves, and in fact each of the first two in the second period to salt it away.
Sunday's victory also assures a fourth straight year in which the Triton seniors improved upon the previous season's run. Bales, Barber, Kimball and Reilly were true freshmen in 2015 when the Tritons lost in the first round of the NCAA Championship. They were upended in the West Region final in 2016, and eliminated on penalty kicks in the national quarterfinals at home last November, before breaking through to the final destination in their final go-arounds.
That was the goal for that quartet. Now it's time to dream even bigger, in Pittsburgh.
Triton Notes: UC San Diego is 28-11-5 (.693) in its 16th Division II Championship appearance ... UC San Diego utilized the same starting lineup for the 21st time in 23 games this year ... Senior co-captain Summer Bales started her 46th consecutive game on the left side of midfield ... Redshirt junior co-captain Natalie Saddic started her 62nd straight match ... The Tritons are 3-0-1 in their Division II history in the state of Texas, having posted a pair of 1-0 wins in Austin in 2012 en route to the national final, prior to Friday's scoreless draw with Western Washington ... UC San Diego has not conceded a goal in Texas as a Division II program, now with 380 shutout minutes over four unbeaten games, outscoring opponents, 7-0 ... The temperature at game time was 33 degrees, after a 68-degree kickoff on Friday ... Bales' assist was the milestone 25th of her career, and her goal the fifth ... It was a second 5-0 result for UC San Diego this postseason, after a home semifinal of the CCAA Tournament against San Francisco State on Nov. 2 ... The Tritons are now the top scoring team in the West Region, moving past Western Washington (44) with 48 tallies on the year ... Megumi Barber's three goals gave her 17 for her career, and likely marks the first postseason hat trick by a Triton in the Division II era, since 2000 ... Mary Reilly's 49th career goal puts her alone in the history book in fourth, passing the great Lauren Johnson, and she remains fifth in total points with her 121, behind Johnson (132) ... Reilly's career-best 16th goal puts her one shy of matching the single-season program record for the Division II era, with Erika Alfredson having hit for 17 in the 2001 national championship campaign ... The Tritons' 25 shots were two shy of their season high, reaching 20 for the ninth time.
About UC San Diego Athletics
With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles and the top student-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country. The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in summer 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego student-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent. A total of 80 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 36 have earned prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships. In competition, more than 1,300 UC San Diego student-athletes have earned All-America honors.
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