What went down in the 11th week of college soccer? The aim each week is to bring you five stories that defined the week in college soccer or help navigate the long road to San Jose and the Women's College Cup. For most of the country, that meant transitioning this week from the regular season to conference tournaments.
Seventeen seconds and the best performance of the week
"If you don't know Kelsey Johnson you are really, truly missing out."
So began Central Arkansas teammate Jessica Pantuso's attempt to explain why the story of the week didn't involve the ACC, Pac-12 or any of the other conferences most likely to fill the field in the College Cup. It only indirectly involved Central Arkansas taking another step toward giving itself the chance to play on those same NCAA tournament fields, the Sugar Bears wrapping up the Southland Conference regular-season title in unbeaten fashion against Northwestern State this past Friday.
Johnson started the game for Central Arkansas but came off after just 17 seconds, long before Alex Moore's goal put the team ahead or Ashley Smith doubled the lead. But those 17 seconds came after nine months of waiting. Nine months of hoping she would get that chance to play, even as she confronted a reality that made a game inconsequential by comparison. Diagnosed with a benign brain tumor this past winter after suffering lingering headaches following a minor car accident, Johnson had surgery to remove it in May.
She hoped all along that she would return to the field for her senior season but was unable to gain medical clearance while undergoing post-surgery radiation treatment, even as she continued with her classes and as a part of the soccer team from the sideline. Until Friday's home finale, that is. Still not fully cleared, she played anyway.
"I get doubts in my mind and obviously everyone's going to think of the worst-case scenario every once in a while," Johnson told Little's Rock's KATV in April. "But I have a great feeling I'm going to get out there again."
No one in the month ahead will get more joy out of being on a field than Johnson did.
West Virginia closes out regular season in style
Don't even bother trick or treating at Dick Dlesk Stadium in Morgantown. If the current residents haven't given away a goal in months, what are your odds of getting free candy off them? Not satisfied with just dominating the Big 12, No. 1 West Virginia completed a shutout of the league with a 3-0 win over Oklahoma State this past Friday. Eight conference games, 12 hours of soccer and not a single goal scored against the Mountaineers by a Big 12 opponent.
Like any successful defense, some of that is about not having to defend -- the Mountaineers outshot the Cowgirls 26-4. But a lot of it is also just that Kadeisha Buchanan and the rest of the defensive core are just better than everybody else.
The Mountaineers face Texas Tech in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal Wednesday in Kansas City, with the potential for a semifinal against No 24 Oklahoma after that.
Florida State's not-so-secret weapon returns
Eliminating No. 6 Duke in an ACC quarterfinal penalty shootout, a week after beating the Blue Devils at home, enhances Florida State's resume. To a small degree that is because of the result itself, officially a draw, but mostly because it presents a needed opportunity to earn more resume points against No. 14 Clemson in Friday's ACC semifinal in Charleston, South Carolina.
Now 4-1-2 this season against teams ranked in the most recent RPI top 50, there still appears to be a path for the Seminoles, No. 16 in that RPI release, to swoop in and claim a valuable top-eight seed in the NCAA tournament if they run the table in Charleston. (As there is for No. 16 North Carolina, which had its best week of the season by beating Florida State to close the regular season on Thursday and routing No. 7 Virginia 3-0 in a weekend ACC quarterfinal).
No matter where they play their games, the Seminoles will be better for freshman Deyna Castellanos being there rather than in Jordan. That's where she spent most of October, leading Venezuela to the semifinals of the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup (a longer stay than the American entry enjoyed). Castellanos scored five times in the World Cup, tied for the second-most in the event. Factor in her production at Florida State and it adds up to 11 goals in 15 games this fall. The most recent of those was a screamer from 20 yards that tied Sunday's game, her first appearance since returning. She was a threat the entire game.
USC survives a slip in race for No. 1 seed
Geography alone makes a Pac-12 weekend swing through Utah and Colorado a challenge. It is compounded this season by the fact that the Utes and Buffaloes are good teams headed to the NCAA tournament. So No. 4 USC coming out of Thursday's game at (not for much longer) unranked Utah with a 1-1 draw after a potential winner was waved off for offside promised to be only as big a deal as its response warranted.
It turns out it wasn't a very big deal.
USC kept a firm grip on a 3-0 win at Colorado on Sunday, the first time all season the Buffaloes allowed more than one goal in regulation at home. Alex Anthony scored two opportunistic goals, Savannah Levin scored on a well-executed corner kick and one of the best defenses this side of West Virginia looked the part.
That matters because Stanford, South Carolina and West Virginia (in the order ranked in the most recent RPI) have the top three seeds in the NCAA tournament almost locked down. It is the fourth of the top seeds, which come with the chance to host through the quarterfinals, that looks like it is up for grabs.
One candidate, BYU, can't do much to help its cause in the final week of the regular season. That leaves USC with one huge opportunity Friday against UCLA, which suffered far more on the road in losses at both Utah and Colorado.
Missouri and Florida poised for an SEC sequel
Turn on the SEC Network this week (shameless plug), and there is a good chance you will see soccer, all nine games from the SEC tournament on either that network or ESPNU. While the team to see remains No. 2 South Carolina, which closed an unbeaten regular season and swept the conference awards for coach, offensive player and defensive player of the year, the game with the most long-term consequence may be a quarterfinal between Florida and Missouri. Mostly that's because the Tigers couldn't solve the Gators in a 1-0 loss this past week.
Had that result gone the other way, Florida's hopes for a top-eight seed in the NCAA tournament would have taken a hit and Missouri would have solidified its case for an at-large bid to the big tournament. Instead, we get to do it all over again with the same stakes. It will feature SEC freshman of the year Sarah Luebbert putting her 10 goals for Missouri up against Savannah Jordan's 13 goals.