SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — A trip to the NCAA Div. III National Tournament just wasn’t meant to be for the
Earlham College women’s soccer team as the Quakers fell to
Wittenberg University 2-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament title match on Saturday night.
Faye Rowell scored as she got the ball though Wittenberg’s goalkeeper Melissa Gartner at the 28:55 mark to give the Quakers the lead in front a large contingent of Earlham fans who made the journey to watch their team compete for NCAC Tournament crown for the first time in school history.
"The atmosphere was special,” Earlham Head Coach Jocelyn Keller said. “I think we did a good job at calming our nerves and coming out feisty and aggressive. We just kind of got unlucky and
Wittenberg got after us.”
All was well after the opening period as the Quakers led 1-0 at intermission. “The first half was commendable,” Keller said. “We were able to find space on the field and make the most of having the ball at our feet.”
“In the second half, a few of their players made adjustments,” added Keller, who is in her second season with the Quakers. “Unfortunately, balls in the air is where they really dominated us in the second half.”
The second-seeded Tigers (11-4-5) scored both of their goals in the final half to claim their fourth straight tournament championship. The first came on penalty kick by Maureen Buckley at 54:07. Emily Murray had the game-winner at 64:17.
Wittenberg had a 15-9 edge in shots, while each squad had three corner kicks. Earlham goalkeeper
Megan Holthaus had seven saves for the Quakers.
Earlham finishes the season with a 12-7-1 mark, which is the third year in a row the Quakers have posted a school record with a dozen victories. However, a difference this season was the 4-3-1 record in the conference was good enough to qualify for the NCAC Tournament for the first time as the No. 4 seed.
“The Quaker Army needs to have tremendous accolades,” Keller said of Earlham’s fans in attendance on Saturday. “I'm not going to attribute all our success to them, but they've helped us rally in a number of games and I'm really grateful and thankful for the support they give our women's team.”
Saturday was also the final time that Rowell,
Franny Newport,
Callie Thompson and
Amy Boxell would be in uniform for the Quakers, but the squad has numerous players back for next season.
“The players who have experienced this now have a taste of it in their mouth,” Keller said. “They know what it feels like and they're going to be hungrier next year. To build on that going into a new conference is great.”
Earlham is leaving the NCAC at the end of this academic year to become a member of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference next fall.
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