The NCAA women’s soccer tournament title game Monday night saw an incredible comeback from the UCLA Bruins.
The top-seeded Bruins trailed the UNC Tar Heels 2-1 in the final minute of regulation time but came back thanks to a headed goal from Reilyn Turner off a corner kick. They then won in extra time off a 107th-minute strike from Maricarmen Reyes off a rebound.
However, Turner’s goal wound up drawing some commentary, especially with what happened to UNC keeper Emmie Allen on that play. And ESPN NFL reporter Brooke Pryor sparked particular discussion there by sharing a video of it and referring to it as a “tackle”:
I know more about the other football, but I don’t think you can tackle the keeper into the goal on a corner. pic.twitter.com/1FcWCqj5ce
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) December 6, 2022
There certainly was some contact between Allen and the UCLA player (not Turner) she was close to. And Allen did wind up falling into the goal and was unable to contest Turner’s header. That led to the goal, and to the celebration seen above. But a different angle, posted in response to Pryor’s tweet, raises questions about how much contact there actually was on Allen and how impactful that was:
goalkeeper wasn’t fouled at all. UCLA player had legal positioning in front of her. Then the gk jumped back knocking her own teammate over. pic.twitter.com/BlQa2uDXD7
— the scarlet psylocke (@marvelnut) December 6, 2022
Whether that should have been called a goal-nullifying foul or not can be debated, and it has been. But the officials ruled that that was a good goal. And that paved the way for UCLA to win in overtime, with that winner coming after Reyes collected the ball off a rebound following an Allen save. And at least there was no “call an ambulance, but not for me!” here.
That marked UCLA’s second national championship. The Bruins’ first national title came in 2013, also in extra time.
[Brooke Pryor on Twitter; photo from Bob Donnan/USA Today Sports]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.