Santa Clara and Texas joined Notre Dame and North Carolina, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Soccer America Women's Top 25, as the top regional seeds in the NCAA Division I women's tournament, which begins with the first two rounds Thursday-Sunday at 16 regional sites.
Santa Clara beat both of last year's Women's Cup finalists, Portland and UCLA, and won the WCC title. But the Broncos were drawn in one of the most difficult regional brackets. They open against USC and could face neighbor Stanford, one of the hottest teams on the West Coast in the last month, in the second round if the Cardinal beats Nevada on Friday.
Texas earned the highest seeding in the program's history, sneaking past a host of teams in the last two weeks to earn a No. 1 regional seed, but must travel to Connecticut for the opening weekend of play. The Longhorns, the Big 12 champions, will be heavily favored against Long Island in the first round, but they could face host Connecticut in the second round if the Huskies get past Columbia. UConn held Notre Dame to a 0-0 tie last month for the only blemish on the Irish's record. North Carolina and Connecticut are the only two teams who have been invited to the tournament every year since its inception in 1982.
Columbia is one of 10 teams are making their first appearance in the tournament, along with Drake, Grambling State, Louisville, McNeese State, Nevada, Niagara, Old Dominion, Southeast Missouri and Toledo.