NCAA Tournament Bracket

CARY, N.C. – An hour and a half weather delay to the start of the match couldn't slow down Santa Clara women's soccer in the third round of the NCAA Tournament as the 11th-seeded Broncos beat sixth-seeded Arkansas 2-0 to move on to the 16th national quarterfinals in program history. The last trip to the round of eight was in 2016.

Santa Clara (8-1) was able to handle the pressure of the Razorbacks (12-4) and kept putting pressure on the Arkansas backline before breaking through in the first half with a goal from Izzy D'Aquila and again in the second half with a goal from Skylar Smith.

The Broncos, who will play Clemson on Sunday in the quarterfinals, got off 11 shots and put seven on target with Razorbacks' goalkeeper Hannah Warner making five saves.

On the other side, Arkansas managed six shots and three on target but was denied by Marlee Nicolos who made a pair of tremendous saves to keep the clean sheet.

The scoring got started in the 28th minute. Julie Doyle danced around a defender in the box before sliding and sending a high pass that Warner got a hand on but it went right to the head of D'Aquila who finished the chance.

An insurance goal came in the 73rd on the second in as many games from Smith. Again, Doyle sent a great cross after beating a defender, this time to Smith who volleyed the ball out of the air and into the top of the net.

HIGHLIGHTS | Goals from Izzy D'Aquila and @sky__smith, assists from Julie Doyle and saves from @marleenicolos_1 in today's 2-0 victory over Arkansas in the third round of the NCAA Tournament!#StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/CORHUSrgeY

— Santa Clara Women's Soccer (@SCUWomensSoccer) May 6, 2021

��️ @SCUJerrySmith talks about the #SCUBroncos moving on to the third round of the @NCAASoccer Tournament after a 2-0 win over @RazorbackSoccer.#StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/h4X7aO0DHJ

— Santa Clara Women's Soccer (@SCUWomensSoccer) May 6, 2021

NOTES

• Santa Clara is now 1-0 all-time against Arkansas.
• This was the 56th NCAA Tournament win for the Broncos.
• Santa Clara is one of seven teams to have reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament in four of the last five years and the only non-Power 5 team.

UP NEXT
The Broncos play 14th-seeded Clemson Sunday at 2 p.m. Pacific for a trip to the College Cup.

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