The BYU Cougars women’s soccer team learned the road it will have to travel toward a national championship this season, as the 2021 NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed on Monday.
The Cougars, who won the West Coast Conference tournament championship in overtime last weekend as the 12th-ranked team in the country, are one of 16 teams in the 64-squad tournament to be seeded. BYU (13-4-1) received a No. 4 seed and will face New Mexico in the first round at home on Saturday.
First kick is set for 5 p.m. MST.
Perennial powers Virginia (1), North Carolina (2) and USC (3) are the other seeds in the Cougars’ quadrant.
If BYU wins its first-round matchup, it will face the winner of Clemson-Alabama in the second round.
The Cougars are on course to face Virginia in the round of 16 after the Cavaliers knocked them out of the 2020 tournament (in the second round), which was played in the spring because of COVID-19.
BYU enters the tournament boasting the very best offense in the entire country. On the season, the Cougars are averaging 3.44 goals per game. Mikayla Colohan is tied for fifth nationwide in assists with 13.
Colohan and Cam Tucker both have 13 goals on the season.
New Mexico enters the NCAA Tournament having won the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Santa Clara and Pepperdine join BYU as teams from the WCC to earn bids in the NCAA Tournament.