Women D1 Quarterfinals. The Cream Rises to the Top
Women D1 Quarterfinals. The Cream Rises to the Top
It will be Virginia vs Virginia Tech in one bracket and BYU vs Grand Canyon in the other in the Women's D1 Spring playoffs.
Those four teams all won quarterfinal games on Friday, setting up Saturday's semis.
Virginia rode a sterling second half to put North Carolina to the sword 64-7.
North Carolina played tough and it was actually only 12-7 midway through the first half. UNC threatened a couple of times after that and had much of the territory for a chunk of the first half. But with about five minutes left in the first period, Virginia got some go-forward, stole the ball from UNC in the Tar Heels' 22, and some smart passing put them over.
That made it 19-7, and moments later the Cavs were over again set up by a big break up the middle and some good support. That made it 26-7 and just enough time for one more restart. Virginia kicked deep and UNC opted not to put the ball in touch to end the half. Instead they ran it, UVA got the ball back and scored in the corner.
That final sequence past the 35-minute mark turned a nervy 12-7 game into a game Virginia controlled 33-7. They rolled from there.
Virginia Tech had all they could handle from Central Florida and UCF's pace put them up 7-0 early. After a solid defensive stand Virginia Tech edged closer with a try, And Tech's ability to punish turnovers got them back into scoring position where their scrum set the platform for a try in the backs.
Another Hokies try made it 19-7 at halftime. UCF scored in the second half to make it 19-12, but Virginia Tech's superior fitness saw them through 39-12.
In the West, GCU vs Stanford came down to the wire. Up 26-24, Grand Canyon found themselves defending their tryline with no time left. Stanford had a few chances where a quick pass or a look to support could have led to a try. And then right at the end a smooth catch-pass would have put them away in the corner.
But no, they took it into contact instead, and when the ball was eventually sent wide, there far too many defenders there, forcing a dropped pass and the end of the game.
Stanford will be ruing those lost chances later. GCU 26, Stanford 24.
BYU, meanwhile, ran hard, won the contact area, and were very quick—too quick, in fact, for Washington.
The Cougars were clinical, and even when they emptied the bench, the reserves were just as dangerous. BYU 80 UW 3.
Both games in the same embedded stream: