Three of the top teams in Division III stand between the TCNJ women's soccer team and a berth in the Final Four as the Lions prepare to head to Scranton for the sectional rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
TCNJ, ranked No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches poll for the final eight weeks of the regular season, take on the host Royals in Saturday's Sweet Sixteen. Misericordia and William Smith make up the rest of the sectional pod, a confluence of four of the country's strongest programs.
Of the four unbeaten teams remaining in Division III, two of them (Scranton and TCNJ) reside in this quartet. The four teams, remarkably, have combined for just two losses on the season and an aggregate record of 74-2-4. In short, the Lions have their work cut out for them.
TCNJ is no stranger to stern tests. The Lions overcame 110 scoreless minutes and a penalty shootout against Rowan to claim the NJAC championship, then had to stave off 2019 national champion Messiah in a titanic second-round tilt.
Now awaits a showdown with another unblemished squad. The Royals have outscored their opponents by a 54-4 count this season, with a 2-2 draw at Elizabethtown on October 30 the only outcome standing between them and a perfect record. That stalemate also marks the only goals Scranton has conceded since the calendar flipped to October, a run of 11 shutouts sandwiched around a thriller where the Royals fell behind in the 79th minute only to equalize 11 seconds later.
Since then, Scranton has run off four consecutive clean sheets, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2003 when Steph Lowrey broke a scoreless deadlock against SUNY Geneseo with 6:32 to play in the second round.
Saturday's match will pit two loaded rosters against one another. TCNJ brings the NJAC defensive player of the year (Jess Hall), goalkeeper of the year (Alexandra Panasuk), midfielder of the year (Gianna Coppola), rookie of the year (Ava Curtis), and coach of the year (32nd-year boss Joe Russo) to the fold. Scranton dominated its all-conference awards, with Grace Elliott (offensive player of the year) and Niamh Healey (rookie of the year) joining Teresa Hagerty and Hope Drewes on the All-Landmark first team while defenders Callie Deola and Isabella DiBenedetto appeared alongside goalie Amanda Steinberg on the second team.
Elliott tied for the Landmark lead with nine goals, matching Healey (5 assists) for the league's top scoring honors.
Deola was named MVP of the Landmark Tournament after scoring her first goal of the year in a 2-0 victory over Elizabethtown in the title game. Steinberg leads the conference in goals-against average (0.26) and save percentage (.900) to go with eight solo shutouts.
The Lions have shown strength in numbers all season. With 10 players registering at least eight points and three goals, TCNJ's depth is a weapon. Sophie Vieira leads the way with nine goals, three of them coming in a 4-0 rout of Westfield State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Amelia Curtis paces the Lions with seven assists, including one on a corner kick that led to Ivonne Vazquez' opener in the 2-1 victory over Messiah on Sunday.
With Hall, Ave Curtis, and Kristina Ng anchoring the back line, TCNJ has conceded just five goals all season and is permitting opponents a measly 5.5 shots per game. Alexandra Panasuk is third in the country in goals-against average (.235) and has posted eight solo shutouts.
Should the Lions advance past Scranton, the top-seeded team in the sectional, an Elite Eight meeting with either No. 4 Misericordia or No. 3 William Smith awaits.
Misericordia is No. 1 in the d3soccer.com poll and 20-1 on the year, its only setback a 1-0 loss to Scranton on September 29. The Cougars are one of the highest-scoring offenses in Division III, racking up 4.24 goals per contest and outscoring opponents by a sizeable 89-9 gap. Freshman midfielder/forward Emma Sweitzer, the MAC Freedom Rookie of the Year, is fourth in the nation with 54 points (21 goals, 12 assists), while Landmark Offensive Player of the Year Kaylee Sturans has 15 goals and 8 assists. Senior midfielder Michaela Fasolino and first-year defender Julia Beck were also first team all-conference choices.
The Cougars made it to the weekend with an 11-0 demolition of Bryn Athyn in the first round and a 3-0 shutout of Middlebury in the second.
William Smith started 1-1-1 with a 4-2 loss to Messiah and a scoreless draw against Rochester in its first three contests, but the Herons have rattled off 17 consecutive victories since, surrendering just six goals in that span. They rolled to a 9-0 victory over John Jay in the first round before edging Hamilton, 2-1, to book a date with Misericordia in the Sweet 16.
The Herons, who are making a record 31st appearance in the NCAA Tournament, have advanced to the sectional round in six straight seasons. Forward Julia Keogh (player of the year), midfielder Julia Berg (defensive player of the year), and defender Ireland Krawczyk (rookie of the year) swept the Liberty League's major accolades for head coach Aliceann Wilber and her LL Coaching Staff of the Year.
Keogh leads William Smith with 21 goals and 48 points. She entered the tournament ranked ninth in the nation in total goals and 12th in total points. She is 13th in the nation in goals per game (1.06) and points per game (2.44). Sheila McQuillen is second on the team with 30 points on 10 goals and a team-best 10 assists. Amanda Kesler has played a majority of the minutes in goal, going 15-1-0 with a 0.53 goals against average and an .855 save percentage.
Sunday's sectional championship will take place at 3 p.m. back on Scranton's Weiss Field.
TCNJ resides in the top right corner of the bracket. The top-left sectional features Washington University/Wisconsin-La Crosse and Loras/Centre; the bottom-left is Christopher Newport/Trinity and Case Western Reserve/U-Chicago; and the bottom-right pits Johns Hopkins/Wesleyan and MIT/Carnegie Mellon. The winners of each of the four sectionals make the Final Four in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The stage is set. All that remains is to see who is left standing.
"sweet" - Google News
November 19, 2021 at 09:45PM
https://ift.tt/3nzEynK
Women's Soccer Set for Sweet 16 in Scranton - The College of New Jersey Athletics - The College of New Jersey Athletics
"sweet" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2PcPlld
https://ift.tt/2KSpWvj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Women's Soccer Set for Sweet 16 in Scranton - The College of New Jersey Athletics - The College of New Jersey Athletics"
Post a Comment