Official Great Midwest Women's Soccer Championship Page
INDIANAPOLIS – The list of title contenders was narrowed down following the quarterfinal matchups of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championship on Saturday.
Eight teams gave it their all in the playoffs on a soggy Saturday with heavy rains and uncomfortable temperatures that had players wearing long sleeves, leggings, gloves and head gear.
At the end of the day, favored seeds No. 1 Ohio Valley, No. 2 Ohio Dominican and No. 3 Walsh all advanced, along with an upset provided by No. 5 Ursuline over a No. 4 seed. The four teams will now gather for the championship banquet Wednesday evening at top seed and Great Midwest regular season champion Ohio Valley for the semifinals.
The women’s semifinal contests will then be conducted in Vienna, WV., on Thursday, November 2.
The matchups feature top seed and Great Midwest regular season champion Ohio Valley in the later contest at 2:30 p.m. ET vs. No. 5 Ursuline. The early game will have No. 2 Ohio Dominican vs. No. 3 Walsh at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The winner between both semifinals will play for the championship on Saturday, November 4, at 2:30 p.m. ET with a trip to the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional as an automatic qualifier on the line.
The all-conference team will also be announced this week and the remaining games will be streamed on the Great Midwest Digital Network.
The Great Midwest currently has two teams in the Midwest Region rankings. Ohio Valley is at No. 3 while Ohio Dominican is sitting in seventh. The Fighting Scots (15-0-2) continued their undefeated season with their 13th straight win in a 3-0 shutout vs. No. 8 Lake Erie.
Just over 35 minutes elapsed before OVU was able to find a crease in the Storm defense. The Fighting Scots carried a 2-0 lead at halftime before Laura Jimenez scored just five minutes into the second half to keep momentum with Ohio Valley.
Three of the four quarterfinals ended in shutouts as scoring dynamos Olivia Peters and Lauren Bates each flashed their offensive talents for Walsh (15-3-0) and Ohio Dominican (14-4-1) with game-winning goals.
Walsh eliminated No. 6 seed Trevecca and Ohio Dominican downed No. 7 Kentucky Wesleyan, each by 2-0 decisions.
The intriguing finish came at Cedarville, where the Yellow Jackets had entered the postseason as winners in seven of their last eight games. Despite a huge advantage in the shot chart, Cedarville was unable to capitalize and battled with Ursuline (7-7-2) to 110 scoreless minutes.
The Arrows, no strangers to deep conference tournament runs, were able to advance by the shootout with a final tally of 4-3. All-conference defender Rachel Strahorn was able to record the final successful PK.
Ursuline and Ohio Valley will be playing each other for the first time this season. Ohio Dominican edged Walsh in the team’s previous meeting back on October 8, a 2-1 score in favor of the Panthers.