Women's soccer team plays Iowa Western Thursday in national tournament semifinal
The Eastern Florida State College women's soccer team will play for a spot in the NJCAA Division I National Championship Game Thursday evening in Evans, Georgia.
The Titans are the defending national champions and are back in the Final Four, playing Iowa Western in the national tournament semifinals Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
"They play a similar game as us, they play good soccer and it will be a good matchup," Eastern Florida State College women's soccer coach Scott Carswell said. "We have a way that we have wanted to play since August and we have done it sometimes and haven't done it at other times this season. Since we have been here, we have played the way we want to play and they just have to continue to do that."
Eastern Florida State College advanced to the semifinals by winning Pool B with shutout wins against Laramie County Community College and Hill College. The Titans have scored more goals than any team in the tournament and sophomore Laura Cetina leads all goal scorers with four goals during pool play.
"It's been a pretty good two games so far, we have been able to move the ball the way we like and because of that, we have achieved the goals that we wanted to achieve," Cetina said. "I just like to help the team in any way I can. If it is scoring, I am glad to score and hope to do that again tomorrow. Iowa Western likes to move the ball like us, I think that we can definitely win but it is the semifinals so we will have to work hard to get the win."
Iowa Western defeated Polk State College and Seminole State to win Pool D. Marta Llopis has goals in each of the games in pool play.
The Titans defeated Iowa Western 4-3 during their trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming in August but head coach Scott Carswell knows both teams are much different than they were in August.
"We have been playing with a lot more confidence than we were a couple weeks ago. Everybody is playing their role, the starters are doing well and the reserves are coming in and playing well so it has really been a good team effort all the way around," Carswell said.