NASHVILLE - On Friday, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference opened its first-ever Women’s Soccer Conference Championship at Trevecca Nazarene University, beginning with a semifinal match between #3 seed Ursuline College and #2 seed Cedarville University.
In the first half, sophomore Amanda Levaskevich put the Arrows up 1-0 in the 36th minutes, assisted by freshman Vanessa Consiglio, whose pass from the left side of the box, deflected off Levaskevich to the right and she put it home.
Ursuline held the lead into the half and locked down the defensive effort to hold onto the one goal victory. Cedarville managed seven shots, but only three on goal - two coming late in the second half as the clock became a factor. Senior Rachael Smith made three saves for the Arrows, posting her fourth shutout of the season.
Following the first semifinal match, the undefeated top seed and host Trevecca Nazarene advanced to the finals to face Ursuline with a 2-1 victory over the fourth seeded Urbana University Blue Knights.
In the 35th minute of the first half, Kayla VanEs scored an unassisted goal from the right side of the box, giving UU the halftime lead. In the Trojans three wins during the regular-season in conference play, one goal was enough as they shutout their opponents in each of their three wins.
However, in the postseason one goal usually isn’t enough and Urbana proved that as the Blue Knights tied the game in the second half on Mikaela Tolberts goal with over 38 minutes left in the game. TNU wasted no time reclaiming the lead and slowing any momentum swing that may have come from Urbana’s game-tying goal. It took Brooke Gann, coming on a pass from Becky Bartos, only two minutes and 10 seconds to grab a 2-1 lead, closing out the scoring and pushing the Trojans into the finals of the G-MAC Championships.
Urbana managed only two shots the entire game, scoring on one, while TNU totaled 12 shots and controlled possession a majority of the game.
LIVE STREAMING AND STATS FOR G-MAC FINALS: Live streaming of all games, courtesy of Trevecca Nazarene, can be viewed at G-MACsports.com. You can access the broadcast portal (contains live stats as well) by clicking on the Live Streaming button on the main page, or the Live Broadcast link under the Multimedia tab in the main drop down menu
FINALS PREVIEW: Coming into the tournament, Ursuline seems to be peaking at the right time winning four straight, five straight after the semifinal victory over Cedarville and now seven of its last eight games. During the regular-season, the Arrows dropped its conference match-up against Trevecca Nazarene 1-0. The game, which was played on turf at a neutral site (Urbana University), was a tight one with TNU scoring the game’s only goal off a deflection and rebound in the first half.
Brooke Gann (TNU) led her team with eight goals, which is also third in the conference, and 17 points, ranking fifth in the conference. In goal, TNU’s Bekah Headrick posted a 0.37 goals against average. In over 1,225 minutes she allowed only five total goals, posting nine shutouts and a .909 save percentage.
Despite the various win totals in conference and overall, a case could be made for either team to win the first-ever G-MAC Women’s Soccer Championship. Trevecca went undefeated in conference and is tied with Ursuline with 11 overall wins. More than likely the first team to post a goal will win as an overwhelming majority of conference action ended in shutout victory.
In no way did any one team dominate the other. Of the eight conference games played this season two of them finished 2-0, four of them finished 1-0, one was a 0-0 double overtime scoreless tie, and tonight’s 2-1 win was the only contest in which both teams posted a goal.