Women's soccer team falls short in national championship game

The Eastern Florida State College women's soccer team lost a hard-fought battle with Iowa Western in the NJCAA Division I National Championship Game Saturday afternoon in Wichita, Kansas.

Iowa Western scored on a nice shot outside the box one minute, 35 seconds into the first overtime session to win the national title 1-0.

"I felt like we never really got going on our A game, we battled hard but never seemed to click all day," Eastern Florida State College women's soccer coach Scott Carswell said. "We had a flurry in the last couple minutes of the second half and after that I thought we were going to come out and surprise them in OT but it was a great goal by them and they are a great team."

The Titans and Reivers were scoreless through the first 90 minutes of the game as the Eastern Florida State College defense held Iowa Western at bay despite being tested for much of the contest.

But goalkeeper Lauren Pastor had one of her best matches as a Titan, stopping seven shots including several that looked like sure goals.

Pastor and Nancy Almanza were named to the All-Tournament team after the game.

Almanza is among 11 sophomores who played their final game for the Titans on Saturday afternoon. The team finished the season 14-4-1, reaching the national championship tournament final for just the fourth tie in school history. The group won both the Region 8 and Southeast District Championships.

"Our kids overachieved all year and there are a lot worse things than being runner-up," Carswell said. "Every time somebody got injured or got a card and we had to move people around, someone stepped up. It is a great group of sophomores and that is the downside to junior college, you only get them for two years and we are going to miss them, but they left an impact on Eastern Florida."