Who's still standing in the College Cups?
The GIST: The NCAA’s women’s footy stars can’t go too hard at Thanksgiving dinner, because their national quarter-finals kick off a mere 24 hours later. And after a slightly longer post-turkey nap, the men’s teams will duke it out in their tourney’s third round on Saturday and Sunday.
The women: Friday’s the main course with three spicy evening matchups, starting with No. 2–seed Stanford vs. No. 5 Nebraska at 5 p.m. ET and ending with No. 1 BYU against dynasty No. 3 UNC at 8 p.m. ET.
- In between, prep for a 5:30 p.m. ET dramatic all–ACC rematch when undefeated No. 1 Florida State takes on No. 7 Pitt — one of the only conference foes to truly challenge FSU this season.
- Then, for dessert on Saturday, powerhouses No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Penn State will battle at 1 p.m. ET — and once the clock runs out on that epic match, the women’s College Cup (aka soccer’s final four) will be officially set. Chills.
The men: Soon after, the 16 remaining guys’ squads will duel to dance on to next week’s quarters. The highlight? Saturday’s 10 p.m. ET bout between Loyola Marymount and James Madison. Both bagged big upsets over seeded teams to make it this far, but there’s only room for one Cinderella in this bracket.
- No leftovers here — Sunday’s 5 p.m. ET matchup between No. 2 Notre Dame and Western Michigan is worth every crumb. WMU are perennial postseason troublemakers, but this would be their most shocking upset yet. Who’s hungry for chaos?
