NCAA Interactive Bracket

Greenville, S.C. – The Furman Paladins, unbeaten at 8-0-2 and ranked 29^th in the latest College Soccer News Top 30 Poll, are set to take on 21^st-ranked Rice in the opening round of the NCAA D1 Women's Soccer Championship at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at WakeMed Field No. 2 in Cary, N.C.
 
Wednesday's first round tilt will be streamed live through GoHeels.com/watch. Links to the live stream and live statistics are available at FurmanPaladins.com. The winner of Wednesday's Furman-Rice matchup will advance to face No. 5 seed West Virginia in second round play on Saturday, May 1, at WakeMed Park at 12 p.m.
 
Furman, under the leadership of head coach Andrew Burr, is making its eighth trip to the NCAA Championship and first since 2015. The Paladins earned their spot in the tournament by downing Samford, 2-1, in a double overtime thriller in Birmingham, Ala., to capture the school's seventh SoCon title. In 16 seasons at the helm of the Furman program, Burr, the winningest coach in SoCon history, has posted a 209-89-25 record and led the Paladins to four SoCon Tournament titles and four NCAA Tournament berths.
 
The 2020-21 Paladins are led by SoCon Player of the Year Isabella Gutierrez, who has netted four goals and added three assists in 10 matches this season. The junior from Statesboro, Ga., was featured by College Soccer News this week in their article "Fifteen Midfielders Who Will Make Their Presence Known This Week In The 2020/2021 NCAA Tournament." Gutierrez is joined in the attack by redshirt-sophomore Kyndal Anderson (4 Goals, 1 Assist) and sophomore Jasmine Greene (3 Goals, 2 Assists) with senior Ellie Laxer (1 Goals, 3 Assists) and SoCon Freshman of the Year Nieva Gaither (2 Goals, 5 Assists) attacking from the central midfield.
 
Freshman Addison Corn and sophomore Nora Sampson have combined to post a 0.46 goals against average this season with help from freshman midfielder Miya Poplin and a back line that has included sophomore Angela Steidl, junior Faith Hauberg, freshman Maggie Miller, freshman Camryn Bolick and junior Ellie Perkins.
 
Wednesday opening round matchup marks the first meeting between Furman and Rice. The Owls posted a 12-2-1 record this season and reached the tournament by claiming the Conference USA title with a 2-0 victory over Charlotte in the finals on April 18. Rice is led by Burr's former college teammate and the founder of the Furman program, Brian Lee. In 11 seasons as head coach at Furman from 1994-2004, Lee led the Paladins to three SoCon Tournament titles and four NCAA appearances before serving as the head coach at LSU for 10 seasons and then joining the Rice program prior to the 2019 season. This season's Rice squad enters the tournament having recorded eight consecutive shutouts.
 
Furman is 0-7-0 in its previous seven appearances in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship and dropped a 3-0 decision at Clemson in its last postseason game during the opening round of the 2015 tournament.