Women's soccer team plays Iowa Western today for national championship title

The Eastern Florida State College women's soccer team will face Iowa Western in the NJCAA Division I National Championship Game Saturday afternoon at Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas.

The Titans are playing in their second championship game in the past three years and for the fourth time in program history.

Saturday's game is a rematch of last year's national tournament semifinal in which Iowa Western ended the Titans season and went on to win the national championship.

Many of the sophomores remember that loss and are ready for the rematch.

"The blood is boiling for sure, we lost to Tyler in the regular season and it made us want to beat them so much more and I am hoping the fire is burning as hot in them as it is in me," Mia Lewis said. "It means so much to be able to prove to everyone that they are not better than us. For us to win this time."

The Titans come into the national championship tournament on a six-game win streak and have outscored opponents 20-2 in the postseason.

They opened the national tournament with a 1-0 win against Barton Community College and then defeated Tyler Junior College 3-2 to advance to the semifinals, where they beat Arizona Western 1-0.

"To beat Barton was one thing, but to beat Tyler gave us confidence and said OK, nobody can stop us now, Cali Stranz said. "We didn't really have that mindset in the semifinals, but it is hard. If we can beat Iowa Western, it would mean the whole world. We know they are good, and it is going to be good game. We know them."

Iowa Western is the defending champions and come into the championship game undefeated 17-0. They have outscored opponents 87-5 this season and have not allowed a goal so far at the national tournament, beating Laramie County 6-0, Hill College 3-0 and then Cowley County CC 1-0 in the semifinals to advance to the finals.

"We know that every team we play against is going to have their five minutes of glory, really a team can't play 90 minutes having their best game ever so we know that a team is going to have five minutes of great soccer," Lewis said. "Unfortunately Tyler was able to score in those five minutes but as a team we understand that is going to happen and we don't panic about it, we don't let it get in our heads and I think that is really one of the best things we have been able to do this week."

Saturday's championship game will begin at 2 p.m. EST at Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.