The 2009 Women's College Cup will have a familiar ring to it.
North Carolina, Notre Dame, Stanford and UCLA made the trip to Cary, N.C., last season to decide the NCAA Division I soccer champion. The same foursome made reservations for the first weekend in December again, only this time in College Station.
All Final Four teams have returned only once -- in 1986 when North Carolina repeated as champions. The Tar Heels have a chance to do it again after beating Notre Dame 1-0 in last year's final.
The two teams face off Friday in the nightcap of the semifinals.
"It's like in any sport, you learn how to win, learn how to maneuver through the Tournament, learn how to go on the road and win big games" Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum said. "I can remember when I started a program at Baylor, we got into the Tournament for the first time after the third season and the atmosphere was so different, we were so excited to be in the NCAA Tournament we had no way of understanding how to navigate through an NCAA Tournament."
UCLA and Notre Dame also made it to the 2007 Final Four, which was in College Station. UCLA made it to the first Women's College Cup hosted by Texas A&M in 2005.
All four teams were ranked in the top five at the end of the regular season, and Notre Dame was the only team not seeded No. 1 in its regional.
Seven of the 15 semifinalists for the Herman Trophy (national player of the year) are playing in Friday's semifinals.
Undefeated Stanford has Kelley O'Hara, who has 25 goals, and her frontline running mate Christen Press, who has 20.
UCLA boasts senior Lauren Cheney and sophomore Sydney Leroux as their Herman Trophy representatives. The two have 17 and 23 goals, respectively.
North Carolina has midfielder Tobin Heath, an U.S. Olympian, and defender Whitney Engen, who has helped the Tar Heels to 17 shutouts, including one against Notre Dame earlier this season.
The Irish are the lone College Cup team with only one Herman Trophy candidate, sophomore midfielder Courtney Barg. Waldrum credits the move of Barg to holding midfielder for rallying the Irish after a 3-3 start.
Ironically, the team with the most College Cup appearances in women's soccer history -- 25 in 28 years -- is making its first postseason appearance at A&M. It's no shock they're here, however; the Tar Heels have won 20 national titles.
"I'm not superstitious. It's a tremendous hurdle to actually get here," Tar Heel head coach Anson Dorrance said. "If you think about how other sports get to the finals, the NBA or MLB, they have series for advancement. The terrifying and exciting thing about college athletics is that there is a single game to get here, and upsets in soccer are so common."
Dorrance credited UCLA coach Jillian Ellis for reaching the semifinals seven straight seasons, calling it a "tremendous achievement."
UCLA has advanced to the championship match in two of those season, 2004 and again in '05 when the Bruins lost 4-0 to Portland at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
"I think everyone else thinks we're snakebit, but for me, every year and every team presents an opportunity to win," Ellis said. "Ask someone like Anson. He's won so many but I'm sure every year it's a different journey and he's excited to be in that journey."
Even though all four teams are the same from last year, three of the stars will be different. Last year's runs were done without North Carolina's Meghan Klingenberg, Notre Dame's Lauren Fowlkes and UCLA's Sydney Leroux.
This time last year, that trio was in Chile, playing for the American team on its way to winning the gold medal in the FIFA Under 20 World Cup.
It was a tough decision that three had to make.
"It was really awesome because I formed a great bond with the 20s as well, but this team is my family," the junior midfielder Klingenberg said. "This is my first College Cup, My freshman year we didn't make it, so I'm like a little kid in a candy shop right now."
The familiarity of the College Cup goes further than just the four teams being back. The two semifinals are rematches of regular season ties.
Stanford defeated UCLA, 2-0 at home, while North Carolina romped against Notre Dame, 6-0, early in the season when the Irish were still searching for a lineup.
"We're more focusing on us, that we want to play to the best of our ability, but yeah, we know UCLA is a strong team," Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said. "Jillian is a great coach; they are a quality team and we are going to have to play our best.
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NOTES -- There are six players from the state of Texas on Notre Dame's roster, Courtney Barg (Plano), Haley Ford (Midland), Jazmin Hall (Highland Village), Melissa Henderson (Garland), Taylor Knaack (Arlington) and Jessica Schuveiller (Plano). Texans on the other three teams include North Carolina's Kristi Eveland (Southlake), and Nikki Washington (Mesquite), UCLA's Lauren Wilmoth and Stanford's Alina Garciamendez (Fairview). ... Notre Dame has an unbeaten string of 19 matches. ... UCLA's string of seven straight College Cup appearances is second only to the Tar Heels' run of 22. ... Stanford (24-0-0) is looking to become only the second school to go through a season undefeated. UNC has done it four times. ... There is a threat of snow on Friday, which prompted Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum to say "Come on snow, just pound us tomorrow."
College Cup
What: NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship.
Where: Aggie Soccer Stadium
When: Semifinals, 4:30 and 7 p.m., Friday; Final, noon, Sunday.
Who: Game 1: No. 1 Stanford (24-0-0) vs. No. 3 UCLA (21-2-1). Game 2: No. 4 North Carolina (21-3-1) vs. No. 5 Notre Dame (21-3-1)
Tickets: $40 adult, $35 youth for all three matches.; $25 general admission for semifinals.
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