TCU Soccer’s season comes to an end

What a team. What a season.

TCU Soccer’s historic 2020/2021 season has come to an end following a 1-0 defeat against the Virginia Cavaliers in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Championship Tournament.

The game was evenly matched for the most part though Virginia had control of possession for the majority of the first half. The Cavaliers would eventually find an opportunity early in the second half (60’) to tally the lone goal of the game by way of a header off a corner kick.

After the goal, the Frogs kicked into high gear firing off four shots in the following 20 minutes. TCU controlled possession for the majority of the time following Virginia’s goal, but nothing broke through for the Frogs… or did it?

In the 65th minute, Yazmeen Ryan blasted an absolute rocket from outside the 18-yard box which curled its way off the crossbar, then off the ground near goal. Some would say the shot never crossed the goal line, and those people would be sitting on a throne of lies.

The ball clearly crossed the line, though without any sort of replay technology available at the NCAA Tournament officials weren’t able to take a second look and blindly called no goal. This is a conversation for another day, but there is absolutely no excuse for the NCAA to not provide such basic equipment for the biggest spectacle in collegiate soccer.

Even though the NCAA can’t provide replays, Twitter can:

I rest my case.

After the bogus no-goal call, the Horned Frogs played all out for the remaining 25 minutes despite not finding the equalizer.

“I’m really proud of our group and the way that we represented our program,” said head coach Eric Bell. “We’ll build on this historic season, we’ll build on it and continue to strive to be better.”

This year’s team will go down in the record books as the greatest TCU Soccer team since the program began back in 1986. Numerous individual record holders, countless program firsts, and an Elite 8 appearance. The 2020/2021 Horned Frogs Soccer team is truly special.

Despite being eliminated tonight, the Horned Frogs are far from done in the NCAA Tournament. Eric Bell has turned this program into tournament regulars these past few years and I can’t wait to see what he has cooking for next season.

‘Til next season, Go Frogs!