First Round Complete At Women’s National Tourney

November 17, 2006
First Round Complete At Women’s National Tourney

Photo: Action ShotALBANY, Ga. – The first day of competition for the NJCAA Division I Women’s Soccer National Tournament at Darton College is now complete.

There were no real surprises in the first round as three teams were able to keep their opponent off the scoreboard. Monroe Community College, Iowa Western Community College, and Young Harris College all recorded shutouts in their matches.

The #1 seed Monroe (NY) Tribunes proved to be too much for Navarro College (Texas) as they scored three goals in the second half of play to post a 4–0 victory. The defending national champions now advance to the semi-final game and will meet #5 Iowa Western Community College. The Reivers were led by freshman Kim Olsen who scored two goals in the game to help Iowa Western to a 3 – 0 win over #4 seed Laramie County Community College.

Region XVII champion Young Harris College (Ga.) wasted little time in scoring as Megan Bruso pushed the first score across with less than eight minutes into the game and the Mountain Lions cruised to a convincing 3–0 shutout of #7 seed Harford (Md.) Community College. Newcomer Kennya Cordner sealed the victory for Young Harris with an early goal in the second half.

In the final game of the night, Schoolcraft College (Mich.) met #6 seed Mesa (Ariz.) Community College and struggled to contain the speed of the Thunderbirds early in the first half. Andrea Evans added the first goal for Mesa and it looked like they would take a 1–0 advantage into halftime. With the clock ticking down, Schoolcraft’s Jessica Austin found Stephanie Setaputri at the goal and she made it count with one second to spare before the break to make it 1–1.

The second half was a defensive struggle and the two teams went to overtime. Even with an extra twenty minutes, neither team could find the net. It would come down to penalty kicks and #3 seed Schoolcraft College was able to advance in the best match of the first round.

Second day action resumed on Friday, Nov. 17, with four matches beginning at noon. There are no games scheduled on Saturday. Winners from Friday’s games will advance to Sunday’s competition and the national champion will be crowned that evening. The championship game will begin at 6 p.m.

For game scores and other information throughout each day, visit the Championship Web site at http://njcaasoccer.darton.edu.