Boca Raton, Fla., plays host to the last weekend of the 2014 season for the No. 5 Texas A&M soccer team as it takes on the Virginia Cavaliers at FAU Stadium with a trip to the national championship match hanging in the balance.
While the Aggies are participating in their first College Cup, the semifinals are a familiar setting for Virginia, the Florida State Seminoles and the Stanford Cardinal.
Stanford is participating in its sixth cup in seven years, with seniors on the squad attempting to bookend their careers with a second national championship. Their final four opponent, Florida State, has seen head coach Mark Krikorian utilize talent from seven different countries on the roster this season. It is the squad’s fourth consecutive college cup appearance.
Virginia is making its second consecutive final four appearance. After losing to UCLA in the national championship last year, the Cavaliers have compiled a 22-2-0 record in 2014, including a 2-1 victory over UCLA in the third round of the tournament to earn a trip to Boca Raton.
Since the tournament’s start, only two teams have won the College Cup in their first appearance. The University of South Carolina was the most recent team to do so in 2007, but A&M (22-2-2) will look to re-write that page of the record books when it kicks off against Virginia at 4 p.m. Friday.
“They came here to make history, and they have so far,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said of his team. “We have proven this is the best team Texas A&M has had of all the great teams. Let’s go out and show we can be the very best in the country.”
Guerrieri said the Cavaliers are “widely regarded as the most talented team in the country” and called head coach Steve Swanson “one of the brightest soccer minds in the country.”
Both teams come to the final four with record-setting performers on their rosters.
Virginia senior Danielle Colaprico set the Cavaliers single-season record with 18 assists this year on her way to being named ACC Midfielder of the Year. Junior Makenzy Doniak’s 19 goals spearheaded Virginia’s march to becoming the top-scoring offense in the nation. And last year’s Hermann Trophy winner Morgan Brian has split time between Virginia and the United States Women’s National Soccer Team this season, converting 10 goals on 12 shots for the year.
On the A&M side, senior Shea Groom has been named as a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy after posting 16 goals and seven assists this season. Kelley Monogue leads the team in points scored with 44 and goals with 17. She is just two shots short of 100 on the year and consistently finds herself close to the goal with a chance to attack.
Allie Bailey provided two goals in the Aggies’ previous matchup against Penn State that led to a 2-1 victory, punching the ticket to Florida for the A&M squad.
Jordan Day recorded seven saves in the matchup with the Nittany Lions, including two back-to-back saves requiring a dive that protected the lead for the Aggies. In just more than 1,800 minutes of action, Cavalier goalkeeper Morgan Stearns has conceded only 12 goals while recording 34 saves as a sophomore.
Virginia is the only second-seed remaining in the tournament. If victorious, the Aggies will take on the winner of Stanford and Florida State on Sunday — the winner will return home as national champions.