Official Great Midwest Women's Soccer Championship Page
MARIETTA, Ohio – Going back-to-back to capture tournament trophies was top-seeded Ohio Valley as the Fighting Scots held off No. 3 Walsh in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championship final on Saturday at Marietta College, 1-0.
With a combined 13 all-conference performers between both programs on the pitch, each team was evenly matched throughout the contest with an automatic qualifier spot to the national tournament on the line.
In the end, the Fighting Scots’ poise and previous championship experience gave them the upper hand as sophomore Fernanda Araya capped off a ridiculous tournament with the fourth goal in two games.
No longer will this Ohio Valley program have a deer in the headlights look after making its first appearance in the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional last season.
Acting coach Christian Galindo (former OVU men’s soccer student-athlete) helped guide the women to victory while head coach Luis Rincon was over at Heidelberg University to coach the Fighting Scots’ men in the championship game vs. Tiffin.
“It was a very tough game,” Galindo said. “We knew Walsh University had a very good team and we knew it was going to be very close. At the end of the first half, we knew we had to come out with the same kind of intensity in the second half.”
Similar thoughts were echoed by 2017 Great Midwest Defensive Player of the Year Ana Da Costa, who helped slow down a high-powered Walsh offense on the navy blue turf.
“It took a lot of hard work,” she said. “This is a group that most of us have been through the process since last year. We had difficulties on the road, but we have the talent and dreams. Most of us came so far for this and this is something that we wanted to fight for until the very last minute.”
And similar to the Tiffin men, even with a loss on Saturday, OVU’s resume has been built on such an impressive body of work during the regular season, an at-large bid would almost certainly have been a lock.
The Fighting Scots were ranked third regionally coming into the final stretch of the conference tourney.
Walsh first-team all-conference goalkeeper Mickey McClanahan left the game with an undisclosed injury to her hand at halftime. She was unable to return and the Fighting Scots were eventually able to capitalize.
In the 81st minute, OVU had plenty of traffic crashing the box as Araya, the conference’s leading scorer and first team All-Great Midwest pick, scored the game winner.
The Cavaliers, ranked sixth in the Midwest Region rankings going into the semifinals/championship, are hoping for an at-large bid to the national tournament. Walsh and Trevecca Nazarene were slotted in the top 10 of the regional rankings last week.
The Great Midwest will find out if it can place more than one team in the Midwest Regional with the unveiling of the NCAA Selection Show on Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. ET.