Lewis & Clark fall in OT but advance to national tournament semifinals
Hill College won the game, but it’s Lewis & Clark that will advance to semifinals at the NJCAA Division I Women’s Soccer National Championship Tournament.
Jami Anderson scored five minutes into overtime to give Hill a 4-3 victory on the final day of pool play at Orlando Health Stadium on the campus of Eastern Florida State College.
Lewis & Clark, Hill and Navarro all finished pool play with 1-1 records. However, it will be fourth-seeded Lewis & Clark (20-3) that will advance due to goal differential.
“With our numbers, we’re doing the best we can,” Lewis & Clark coach Tim Rooney said. “I’m really proud of them. They worked hard.”
Hill came into the game knowing it had to win 5-0 in order to advance. A win by two goals would put Navarro into the semifinals.
With Navarro players and coaches watching anxiously from the stands, Hill jumped out to a 2-0 first half lead on goals by Risa Yamada and Mitzy Guereca.
Yamada’s goal came on a ball that hit off the crossbar, hit off the head of Lewis & Clark goalkeeper Mercedes King and went into the net.
Given that the Trailblazers were already missing three starters – including second-leading scorer Candice Parziani – and had just two substitute players available, Navarro probably had its hopes up.
However, Lewis & Clark’s Boitumelo Rabale got her game going in the second half.
The nation’s leading scorer, who came in with 54 goals, didn’t get credit for the Trailblazers first goal. But she did put a shot into the box that was deflected by a Hill defender into the net.
It stayed 2-1 until the 73rd minute, when Kara Crutchley found Rabale open running into the box. Hill keeper Juliana Gomez came out to challenge, but Rabale chipped the ball over her for the game-tying goal.
Hill would come back to take a 3-2 lead on a goal by Anderson, but Rabale tied it up with 1:33 left in regulation with her 56th goal of the season.
“She’s a special player,” Rooney said of Rabale. “If people don’t stay with her the whole time, if they give her a little bit of daylight, she can score.”
Unfortunately for the Trailblazers, they may have also lost another player to a concussion. That would leave them with only one substitute.
Hill (15-3-1), meanwhile, had plenty to be happy about despite not advancing out of pool play.
This was the first national tournament appearance for the Rebels and they left with a victory.
“We won, so that’s all that matters,” Hill coach Paul Davenport said. “They get to go home with a win under their belt. The sophomores go out as winners.
“Our program motto is, ‘We Will Win,’ and we won. I couldn’t be happier for everyone who is part of the program, all the alumni and the future (Rebels). It’s a great day.”
