Men's and women's NCAA weekend soccer recap
The GIST: In a weekend full of fútbol, NCAA women and men were making history on the pitch with upsets that rewrote more than just this season’s books. Here’s who’s drinking the good champagne.
The women: The No. 2 UNC Tar Heels may be the world’s greatest college soccer dynasty, but the No. 7 Virginia Cavaliers had something to say about that on Saturday, coming from behind to beat the Tar Heels 3–2. The game marked UNC’s first-ever regulation loss after being up by at least two goals.
- Even more impressive? Virginia didn’t have a single shot in the first half, clawing their way back through the second 45 minutes alone.
- Thanks to strikers Rebecca Jarrett and Alexa Spaanstra, the Hoos were even with the Tar Heels by the 61st minute, but it was midfielder Lia Godfrey who scored the winning goal in the 72nd to extend her squad’s undefeated season. Wa-hoo-wa!
The men: While it wasn’t the only ranked upset of the weekend, it was arguably the most prolific. The still-undefeated No. 16 Syracuse Orange took down the No. 1 team for just the third time in program history on Friday night, besting the Clemson Tigers 2–1 on home turf.
- Defending College Cup champ Clemson hasn’t dropped a regular season match since October 2021, when the Tigers lost 2–0 to, you guessed it, the Orange.
- Forward Isaiah Reid scored the Tigers’ lone goal and the first of the game. In the last 13 seasons, Clemson is 125-8-8 (wins, draws, losses) in matches when they strike first.
- But Syracuse outshot the Tigers 10-4 in the first half, with midfielder Jeorgio Kocevski (pronounced Georgio kove-CHESS-ki) evening the score and striker Levonte Johnson grabbing the go-ahead two minutes into the second half. All to say, the Orange have Clemson’s number.
