Women's Soccer National Tournament Preview
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Great Lakes Christian College women's soccer has already made history this season by bringing home the NCCAA DII Mideast Region title, the first championship in any sport for Great Lakes since men's baseball won their conference title in 1977.
Now, they've got their eyes on a new prize: the school's first-ever national championship.
The task is a tall one in the program's first national tournament appearance, but GLCC enters this week's tournament as the number-one seed, a position they've held through every poll this season while registering an 11-4-1 record under Mideast region coach of the year Sam Sibilski.
Great Lakes opened the season on a tear, winning nine of their first 10 games, including seven shutouts, their only blemish being a loss at Bob Jones in September. Their hold on the top spot has looked shakier in recent weeks, however, as they closed the regular season with just one win and one draw in five games before winning ther regional final against Johnson (Tenn.) 3-0 on November 6.
In order for GLCC to bring home a title, they will need someone to step up and score goals. The team will be without Hailey Conine (10 goals in six games) and with the status of her sister Casey Conine (eight goals in eight games) unknown heading into the tournament, GLCC may be missing two of their top three goal scorers this week.
Fortunately for Great Lakes, they are not without other options. Striker Randi Fitzgerald (10 goals in 15 games) was named second-team all-region, as was midfielder Morgan Chamberlain (five goals in 15 games). Solara Sheldon (six goals in 16 games) made the first team as a midfielder and Emily Rector scored two crucial goals in the regional championship game.
Defensively, GLCC are as strong as anyone, having conceded 1.42 goals per game and 0.60 against NCCAA DII opponents this year. They will be without Hannah Rossner, however, as the first-team all-region defender has been out since October 8 with a knee injury. The task now falls to Ashley Owens, who was named second-team all-region and has started every game for GLCC, as well as first-year players Brooke Pagel and Rylee Owens to anchor the back line for Great Lakes.
In goal, GLCC boasts an embarrassment of riches with three capable keepers who have all shared time this season and teamed up for seven total clean sheets. Rachel Wienclaw made 39 saves (.722 save percentage), Katarzyna Polek made 35 (.854) and Malia Fry is yet to give up a goal, making 11 saves this season and keeping a clean sheet on her own in the regional championship game.
GLCC joins three other teams in this year's tournament, each winners of their own regional tournament.
Great Lakes' first-round opponent will be four-seed Trinity Baptist College, who stunned Toccoa Falls in an extra-time thriller to win the South region championship, 1-0. This is TBC's first appearance at nationals as well, going 5-6 on the season with a 3-2 record in region play. Trinity's lineup is bolstered by four all-region first-teamers, led by freshman Madison Desilva, who scored 15 goals for TBC this season.
GLCC's game with TBC will kickoff at noon Eastern on Thursday. More information, including streaming subscription information, can be found here.
Across the bracket, two-seed Arlington Baptist will square off with three-seed Faith Baptist Bible for a spot in the finals. Arlington went 8-7 this season, knocking off Southwestern Adventist 2-0 in the Southwest regional final. Faith Baptist won the Midwest regional final against Maranatha Baptist, 2-0. They finished the year 3-7-2 during a season in which 10 of their games were decided by two or fewer goals. That game will kickoff at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
The losers of these two national semifinal games will play in the third-place game at noon on Saturday while the championship will be played at 2:30. All games will be played at Austin-Tindall Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Fla. The tournament can be streamed live (with a subscription) at the NCCAA's website. More information here.