Updates from the women's field hockey and soccer national tournaments

The GIST: The field hockey and women’s soccer national tourneys raged on through the weekend, offering up a few moments that could become our new Roman Empire.

🏑 Field hockey: Fockey’s tournament is fast and furious. Friday’s first round unexpectedly sent Iowa and Rutgers packing before yesterday’s vengeful quarter-finals saw No. 2–seed Northwestern dramatically avenge their season’s only loss, beating Louisville 3–2 to advance to their third straight semis.

• Virginia also did revenge in the quarters, crushing No. 4–seed Maryland 4–0. The dominant ’Hoos held Maryland to just one shot on goal (!!!) the entire game. What’s that about defense and championships?

• Rounding out the final four? No. 3–seed Duke, who dealt conference rival Syracuse a narrow 2–1 defeat yesterday, and reigning champ No. 1–seed UNC, who confidently dispatched Harvard 4–2. Friday’s ACC-heavy semis can’t come quickly enough.

⚽ Women’s soccer: This natty’s first round went almost as expected — with one earth-shattering exception: The UC Irvine Anteaters captured the ultimate upset when they stunned defending champ No. 1 UCLA 1–0 on Saturday. Shook.

• The only other seeded team to fall was No. 4 Xavier, thanks to Saturday’s 1–0 loss to Tennessee. The other 30 matches had few surprises, but all those seeded squads still standing make for a spicy second round next weekend. The plot thickens…