PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – The favored seeds prevailed in the midst of inclement weather conditions as No. 1 Ursuline and No. 2 Trevecca both emerged from their Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championship semifinal matchups on Thursday.
The Trojans toppled sixth-seeded Alderson Broaddus in the early contest, 3-0, while the host Arrows pitched a 2-0 shutout to end fourth-seeded Kentucky Wesleyan’s postseason run.
After G-MAC Championship quarterfinal action set the stage for the semis, both Ursuline and Trevecca patiently waited their turn with respective first-round byes.
Ursuline and Trevecca will collide for ultimate G-MAC glory on Saturday in the championship final scheduled for 12 p.m. (noon) EST.
The final match will be streamed online at g-macsports.com via the Stretch Internet portal with video/audio/live stats coverage. Streaming will start 15 minutes before the scheduled start at 11:45 a.m.
Prior to the start of today’s matches, the league’s co-coaches of the year Jason Kubbins (Ursuline) and Mark Foster (Trevecca) were each recognized along with G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year Vanessa Consiglio (Ursuline), G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year Jordan Ponto (Trevecca) and G-MAC Freshman of the Year Lauren Small (Alderson Broaddus).
No. 2 Trevecca 3, No. 6 Alderson Broaddus 0
Box Score
A mini-Cinderella run as a bracket buster for the Battlers ended against the youthful Trojans, who received a pair of goals from freshman Chelsey Russom that helped ignite a second-half surge.
What turned out to be a fierce defensive struggle in the early stages started to swing towards the Trojans following multiple manufactured offensive opportunities in AB’s half of the field.
Russom, who had scored one goal on the year coming into today, found the back of the net with 6:15 left in the first half to break open a scoreless contest. She was able to unleash a shot from about 25 yards that whizzed by the outstretched fingertips of AB keeper Sarah Turner.
Russom’s initial strike helped set the tone for three more quality shots on goal against the Alderson Broaddus defense right before the half.
Another Trevecca offensive wizard, Brooke Gann, scored in the opening minute of the final period and Russom was the recipient of a beautiful feed from Anna Hoffman that closed the scoring.
Ponto was the ringleader of a strong defensive effort by the Trojans as they combined to slow down Small and another high-scoring player in Olivia Augustine.
TU keeper Liz Denton recorded five saves as the Trojans held a narrow 13-10 shot advantage.
ABU upset in-state rival Davis & Elkins in the G-MAC Championship quarterfinals before making the trip west to Ohio. The Battlers finished the 2014 fall campaign with a 6-12-1 overall record.
No. 1 Ursuline 3, No. 4 Kentucky Wesleyan 0
Box Score
An inspired and scrappy effort by the upset-minded Panthers fell short as the Arrows continued to back up their top billing as the conference’s preseason and postseason favorite.
Patiently waiting in the wings following the outcome of Trevecca/Alderson Broaddus, the Arrows showed poise, patience and efficiency, while methodically breaking down KWC defense.
And while Ursuline features two of the nation’s most prolific scorers in Vanessa Consiglio and Paige Rowan up front, the Arrows received big-time contributions from Taylor Dackin and reserve Giuliana Pugliese.
Dackin scored in the 10th minute of regulation on a feed from Consigilio and the Arrows permitted just three shots from the Panthers in the first half.
Pugliese gave Ursuline a 2-0 lead heading to the intermission just 28 minutes later.
To an outside observer, the Panthers were able to maintain possession on their opponent’s side of the field for stretches, but of the five shots fired in the final 45 minutes, none found the net thanks to UC keeper Helen Jazzar.
Jazzar made five saves in the shutout effort and stopped a variety of shots the Panthers were able to fire off around the box.
Kentucky Wesleyan defeated Cedarville in the first round to advance to the semifinal portion of the bracket. The Panthers closed their 2014 fall season with an overall record of 10-7-1.