ALLENDALE, Mich. – The first-ever playoff win in the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional bracket for the Walsh women’s soccer program was a moment to be savored on Friday in the chilled air of Michigan with a first-round quarterfinal shutout over Saginaw Valley State, 1-0.
 
The Cavaliers picked up their 15th win of the season as a goal from two-time Great Midwest all-conference performer and two-time athlete of the week Alisha Himes gave her team a lift in the 21st minute.
 
Snow was on the ground in some parts of The Wolverine State, but the cold weather didn’t faze Walsh in the program’s first NCAA tournament showing.
 
The defense did the rest as the Cavaliers stifled the Cardinals, representing the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), for the rest of regulation.
 
Walsh senior goalkeeper Mickey McClanahan returned in between the pipes after missing part of the conference championship title game with a hand injury. She was a first-team all-conference selection this season by the coaches with some talented netminders throughout the league.
 
Himes was fed in the first half on a pass from Great Midwest Offensive Player of the Year Brianna Sanborn for the lone goal of the game.
 
Walsh was the Great Midwest Championship runner-up in recent history at Marietta College before earning an at-large selection to the national tournament bracket as the No. 4 seed.
 
The win gives the Great Midwest two teams in the women’s regional semifinals after No. 2 seed Ohio Valley toppled No. 7 Ashland on Thursday.
 
Walsh (14-5-1 overall, 11-2-1 G-MAC) now faces either region host and No. 1 seed Grand Valley State or No. 8 seed Rockhurst on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.