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Women's Soccer Makes UVU History

By UVU Photo

April 25^th, 2021

Women's Soccer Advances to Second Round

The UVU Women’s Soccer team became the first team in Utah Valley Athletics history to win both a Western Athletic Conference regular season championship, a WAC Tournament title, AND an NCAA Tournament game in the same year. We’ve accomplished something that has never been done before. We also will be in the history books as the first team from Utah Valley University in any sport to have won an NCAA Tournament game.

We accomplished this in a 90-minute, hard-fought battle with the Memphis Tigers in Greenville, North Carolina. In the 60th minute, Sadie Brockbank found the back of the net for the only goal in the game and kept UVU dancing. Next up will be the 6-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday, May 1, at 2 p.m.

Final Preparations at Home

The team runs the width of the practice field at the start of the last home practice before traveling to Greenville, North Carolina to compete in the NCAA tournament.

Saturday, April 24

Sophomore defender, Nicole Olanda puts her hair up in preparation for practice.

Josh Morzelewski, head strength and conditioning coach, leads the team in stretching exercises prior to practice.

Team members, (from left to right) Jenna Shepherd, Nicole Olanda, Heather Stainbrook, Breanna DeWaal, Amber Tripp and London Miller listen to instruction at the beginning of practice.

Hannah Harrison and Nicole Olanda use each other to balance during a pregame stretch.

Brenna Crow and Makiah Herrin high five before they begin a competitive exercise.

Midfielders Nicole Ray and Hannah Harrison compete at the net in a Soccer-Tennis game intended to practice ball control.

Post Practice

Travel Day

Going to Greenville, NC

COVID tests, packing, plane rides, bus rides, team unity, and savoring every moment of our NCAA experience sum up a full day of travel to the Tar Heel State. Even though this is our third trip to the tourney in the last six years, we fully appreciate it. We understand the hard work it takes to get here, and we will soak in every second of our Big Dance.

Monday, April 26

Bus Ride to Greenville

Day before game time: Practice and Prep

It’s Game Day Eve at the NCAA Tournament! After going through COVID tests this morning and being cleared for play, we got ready and took the short bus ride to East Carolina’s Johnson Field for practice and game prep. The excitement we have is palpable. Arriving at the stadium and seeing that NCAA logo on the field makes it real! Coach Lemay has a way of getting us fired up. We trained hard today, and we couldn’t feel more prepared.

Tuesday, April 27

Game Day Prep

Wednesday, April 28

Wolverines vs. Tigers

Game time: First Half

Game time: Second Half

Game Winning Goal

Sadie Brockbank scores the only goal of the game.

Post Game

On to Round 2

The Wolverines had Thursday and Friday to recover and prepare for the 6th seed Arkansas Razorbacks.

PREPARING FOR THE GAME

Back at it! We had a great practice in preparation for Saturday’s second round match against No. 6 Arkansas. Coach Lemay and his staff started laying out the game plan for Saturday’s match. We trust our coaches and know how much time they spend studying the opponent and creating a blueprint for success. We will be ready for Saturday! Soccer is a grind, and keeping yourself healthy can be difficult. It’s nice to have a couple of days to recover and get ready for Saturday. We were able to get some cryotherapy, which uses extreme cold to help decrease pain, swelling, and inflammation. It also helps speed up our muscle recovery time. We do cryo quite often, and it helps!

Thursday, April 29

CRYOTHERAPY TREATMENT

Some of the athletes participated in cryotherapy as part of their post practice treatment. They stand in a chamber chilled in air chilled by Liquid Nitrogen for three minutes.

Friday, April 30

Pre Game

Saturday May 1

Game Time: First Half

Wolverines vs. Razorbacks

Game Time: Second Half

UTAH VALLEY FALLS TO NO. 6 ARKANSAS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT SECOND ROUND, 3-1

We fought until the very end and gave it everything we had. Sadie Brockbank scored her second goal of the tournament on a nice lead pass from Amber Tripp. We scored a goal and cut into the Arkansas lead and continued to fight to get another goal into the net. We battled one of the best teams in the country, and we leave the pitch with our heads held high!

We come home having accomplished something that no team in any sport has ever done at Utah Valley University. We are the first UVU team to ever win an NCAA Tournament game. We are also the first team in school history to ever win both a WAC regular season championship and a WAC Tournament title in the same season. That’s all great — but we still want more. We expect this level of success to be the new standard of UVU soccer. We believe it will be. Fall is right around the corner. Stay tuned.

Footnotes

Photos by Jay Drowns / Text by Jason Erickson and Tim Doyle

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FootNotes

Photos by Jay Drowns / Text by Jason Erickson and Tim Doyle