Great Midwest Women's Soccer Championship Page
MARIETTA, Ohio – Umbrellas were out in full force as steady rains descended on both Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championship semifinal matches on Thursday at Marietta College.
The playoffs produce both ends of the spectrum in terms of human emotion. One side feels elation and one experiences heartbreak with seasons on the line looking to advance one more round in the tournament bracket.
Four teams from the Great Midwest gave it their all on the blue turf as No. 1 seed Ohio Valley and No. 3 Walsh, were able to emerge from their semifinal matchups.
No. 4 Findlay and No. 2 Trevecca made it difficult to advance against their respective opponents as all-conference performers put their talents on display for the fans to see.
The Oilers, making their first postseason performance as a member of the conference, were victimized by a hat trick from sophomore forward and first-team all-conference selection Fernanda Araya.
Araya was a one-person wrecking machine as the Fighting Scots struck quickly in both halves to help keep Findlay off balance. It appeared the Oilers were struggling finding their footing on the turf, but still managed to fire off some more than respectable shots, including one that pinged off the crossbar late in the first half.
Ohio Valley, already repeating as back-to-back regular season conference champions, have one more step to go to secure back-to-back tournament titles.
Walsh had to go a little past regulation to most past TNU. On paper, it was a tantalizing matchup between a pair of 13-win programs and two teams that were only separated by one point in the conference standings.
You had the veteran experience of Walsh and five first-team all-conference positional players going up against young up-and-coming talent from Great Midwest Coach of the Year Kelsey Fenix’s unit.
The Trojans were able to take a 1-0 lead into the intermission as Lidiya Ogorodnik put TNU up in the 13th minute. But the Cavaliers were able to come back and tie before the teams ended regulation in a draw.
Into overtime, there was a chain of events that happened quickly and changed the fortunes for both programs instantaneously. Trevecca collected a ball inbounds near the end line inside the box, which was whistled and set up a penalty kick opportunity for Walsh.
Junior forward Olivia Peters, a first-team all-conference forward, kept the ball low on the ground to find the net and send her team into the championship game.
The Great Midwest Championship game is at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday between Walsh and Ohio Valley. Both teams will practice tomorrow as their final preparation for the conference’s automatic qualifier spot.
Three teams from the Great Midwest are also regionally ranked as the league continues to garner respectability for the NCAA selection show. OVU is No. 3, Walsh is No. 6 and Trevecca is No. 9, this week.