G-MAC Women's Soccer Championship Page
CEDARVILLE, Ohio - After a fairly calm opening round of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championships in which the top four seeds all advanced with home wins this past Saturday, the semifinal round was much more dramatic. The semifinal doubleheader, hosted by the overall top seed and regular season champion Cedarville Lady Jackets, featured two newcomers to the G-MAC in Davis and Elkins vs. Alderson Broaddus, and two original G-MAC members in Ursuline vs. Cedarville.
In the first game, the Senators took full advantage of quick two-goal spurt in the first half to hold off a second half charge by Alderson Broaddus. With just under 20 minutes left in the first half, D&E scored two goals less than 40 second apart. The first was netted by Alison Bogar, an All-Conference First Team selection, at 25:47. Ashley Muscat then scored exactly 37 seconds later on a cross from Emma Davis.
The Battlers regrouped at halftime and came out on a mission, scoring a goal less than two minutes into the second half on a penalty kick, converted by Brooke Hunsaker, an All-Conference Second Team selection. It gave AB 43 minutes to try and force overtime, and they definitely had plenty of chances, but D&E held strong defensively and controlled a majority of the possessions.
D&E ran the clock out, and with the victory defeated Alderson Broaddus for the third time this season by a total score of 6-1. The Senators then had to wait to see who they would face in the finals.
In the second semifinal, Cedarville faced an Ursuline squad that they had defeated twice this season by a combined score of 6-3. In both men’s semifinal games the winner had faced and won all three match-ups with its semifinal opponent. However, Ursuline was able to come away with the upset, winning a very dramatic 1-0 decision over the regular-season champion Lady Jackets.
In the first half, Cedarville dominated the possession of the ball putting up seven shots to just three from Ursuline, including four corner kicks for the Lady Jackets and none for the Arrows. Of course, freshman goalkeeper Helen Jazzar, an All-Conference First Team selection was up to the task making four big first half saves.
The second half was more of the same for Cedarville as they posted seven more shots, Jazzar made four more saves. Sophomore and two-time G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year Jacoby Ziegler ripped a pair of shots and controlled a lot of the offensive attack was held without a goal after scoring four times of the teams six goals in the first two meetings between CU and UC.
The deciding goal came at 59:40 as Cassie Cripe, the G-MAC Women’s Soccer Freshman of the Year and All-Conference Second Team selection, made an incredible individual play knocking down a clearing attempt, making a touch toward the goal and ripping a long shot over the reach of the goalkeeper but it dropped under the bar and into the bottom corner.
Ursuline was able to sit back with eight defenders and secure the shutout and advance to the Conference finals for the second-straight season.
A full Championship Preview will be released on Friday in anticipation of the Saturday afternoon meeting between Davis and Elkins and Ursuline at noon on the campus of Cedarville University.