DAYTON, Ohio – The second-seeded Walsh Cavaliers put on a clinic of fundamentals, excelling in all facets of the game to emerge as tournament champions in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championship final on Saturday.
Head coach Lauren Lewicki’s program was sharp, effectively putting teams on notice around the Midwest Region who may potentially face her program in the NCAA Championship.
Walsh (15-4-0, 10-2-0) has endured adversity, including mourning the loss of former teammate Taylor Ceepo in May while running in the Cleveland Half Marathon.
During a 3-0 victory against No. 4 seed Ohio Dominican at Roger Glass Stadium, the Cavaliers made pinpoint passes and telepathically seemed to know where everyone would be moving into their attacking zone.
Walsh is returning to the dance for the second straight season after earning at-large qualification in 2018 and proceeding to secure a first-round victory.
This year, the road wasn’t easy, but after finishing as the tournament runner-up a season ago, the Cavaliers methodically took care of business while working through all three rounds of the championship bracket.
After entering the postseason ranked No. 4 in the Midwest Region, the Cavaliers are safe in the field as the league’s automatic qualifier, but could certainly rise with a 3-0 week of competition.
Walsh started the conference tournament beating No. 7 seed Kentucky Wesleyan and advanced through the semifinals with a 2-1 victory vs. No. 3 Cedarville.
The championship game was another opportunity for Walsh’s senior class to shine as Olivia Peters and Brianna Sanborn continued to play a starring role in the playoffs. Each finished the game with 1 goal and 1 assist.
The combination of Peters and Sanborn harmonized for a pair of beautiful goals on give-and-go sequences. The all-conference seniors were in sync for the first and final goals of the game while Maddie Mailnowski gave the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead.
Ohio Dominican was coming off a very impressive semifinal win over top seed and regular season champion Findlay. The Oilers are in very good shape to receive an at-large selection to the national tournament by the selection committee.
The Panthers kept it very close in the shot department, but were just unable to really put much on target. Starting GK Cecilia Kuntz was injured in the first half, but came back in the second half as she finished a terrific freshman season with multiple defensive player of the week awards.
Walsh senior goalkeeper Mickey McClanahan recorded four saves in the shutout effort.
The NCAA Selection Show for the Division II Women’s Soccer Championship bracket is on Monday evening at 6 p.m. ET.