Highlanders Advance to NCCAA Championship Game with 1-0 Win
KISSIMMEE, FL—Sarah Gabriele (Mahwah, NJ, Eastern Christian) did exactly what you're taught to do on a rain-soaked pitch. She kept it simple, and she hit her shot low and to a corner.
The senior just wasn't ready to go home yet.
Gabriele slid her seventh game-winning goal of the season past the keeper early in the second half, and the Highlanders defense earned their third shutout in as many games, as the second-seeded Houghton women's soccer team (15-6-2) defeated third-seeded Mid-America Christian University, 1-0 on Thursday night.
Though the conditions were slick and fast, the Highlanders patiently controlled the majority of the possession while the Evangels tried to counter. Neither team found more than one or two genuine scoring opportunities throughout the first half.
Just over six minutes into the second period,
Darlene Eckhardt (Eden, NY, Eden) beat her defender around the corner and slid a perfect pass to Gabriele about eight yards out. Gabriele hit a low, well-placed shot with the inside of her right foot between two defenders and past a diving keeper just inside the left post for the eventual game-winner.
The goal was Gabriele's second of the tournament and 12
th on the season. It was Eckhardt's team-leading seventh assist of the season.
With the Highlanders leading and only four minutes to play the Evangels had perhaps their best scoring opportunity when a corner kick sailed into a packed box, but after an initial Evangels header, Houghton quickly cleared the ball away and possessed in the opposing third until time ran out.
Goalkeeper
Shawna Sprout (Portville, NY, Portville Central) earned her fifth consecutive shutout and 13
th of the season, collecting three saves on the night.
The Highlanders advance to face Pool A winner, and top overall seed, Mississippi College in the Division I women's championship game on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
While Coach David Lewis and the Houghton women own a storied history full of national-level accolades, including advancing to the NCCAA National Championship Tournament every year since transitioning from NAIA to NCAA Division III, this is the first time during that span that they have advanced the national championship game.