UChicago Rolls Past UW-Superior in NCAA Tournament Opener
The seventh-ranked University of Chicago women's soccer team picked up a 5-0 victory over UW-Superior on Saturday morning to open its 2025 NCAA Tournament run.
The Maroons found the net quickly in the game with a goal in the fifth minute to open the scoring. Indira Naylor picked up the ball about 40 yards from goal, dribbled through the defense to the end line, and played a ball across to the foot of Kamiryn Braxton Grimes who found the opening goal. Over the next 40 minutes, both defenses excelled and kept the score at 1-0 heading into the halftime break.
Coming out of the halftime break, it was the the Indira Naylor show as the sophomore scored a brace in the first 3:35 of the second half. The first goal from Naylor came after Mary Stuart Kerrigan laid a ball off at the top of the 18, and Naylor curled a shot to the far post, leaving the Yellowjacket keeper froze on her line to double the lead. Then, just 63 seconds later, Naylor received a short corner from Ella Cho, beat her defender into the box, and was fouled from behind to earn a penalty kick opportunity. The sophomore quickly grabbed the ball, stepped up to the spot, and buried it for her brace in just 63 seconds.
Avery Gallucci would add a fourth goal for the Maroons in the 62nd minute when the Madison, New Jersey native received a pass at midfield and dribbled past four UW-Superior defenders, slicing through the Yellowjacket back line, before burying a shot in the upper 90.
In the 89th minute, Karena Shah would score the final goal of the game for UChicago as Cate Brown slipped a pass through to Shah who sent a cross back across the face of goal and into the back of the net to seal the 5-0 victory.
Braxton Grimes led the team with six shots, and Naylor tallied five points in the win. Sophia Sasaki also made three saves en route to her fifth clean sheet of the season.
With the win, the Maroons improve to 13-2-3 on the season and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in the past 10 seasons.