Canadians to face off in NCAA College Cup

Jessie Fleming and Rebecca Quinn often room together in camp with the Canadian women’s soccer team.

On Friday, however, the two friends will be facing off in Orlando when Fleming’s UCLA Bruins meet Quinn’s Duke Blue Devils in Friday’s semifinal of the NCAA College Cup.

“I think we’ve been playing together since I was 15,” the 19-year-old Fleming said from Florida. “We know each other pretty well ... We’re just super close.” A pre-game coffee was planned. “It’ll be exciting and kind of funny to see us (battle it out) but at the end of the day there’ll still be a Canadian in the final,” she added.

Duke (23-2-0) is ranked third while UCLA (19-2-2) is fourth. The Bruins hold a career 4-1 edge with the only loss coming in their first meeting in 1996.

No. 1 Stanford (22-1-0) takes on No. 5 South Carolina (19-2-1) in the other semifinal Friday. The championship game goes Sunday.

Stanford, South Carolina and Duke were all seeded No. 1 in their respective brackets while the Bruins were seeded second (No. 1 North Carolina lost to Princeton and fellow Canadian Vanessa Gregoire). UCLA beat Princeton to win its bracket.

Fleming, Quinn and Gregoire, are among the 15 semifinalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy as the top women’s NCAA soccer player.

Fleming, from London, Ont., has been a hit right out of the box with the Bruins. She opened her collegiate career last year with a four-game goal-scoring streak, including a two-goal game in her debut against Florida on Aug. 28, just nine days after helping Canada to a bronze medal win over Brazil at the Rio Olympics.

She led UCLA in scoring with 11 goals and 27 points and was just the fourth UCLA freshman to earn NCAA All-America honours.