By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
FOLEY, Ala. – It was disappointment once again for the William Carey University women as they fell short in the NAIA Women’s National Tournament championship game.
For the second time in the past three seasons, the Crusaders had to stand on the field and watch another team hoist a championship trophy.
The Crusaders scored a late goal to tie it up 1-1 in regulation, but were unable to get a second goal, then were outgunned 3-2 in the penalty-kick shootout against the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) Tuesday at the Foley Sports Complex.
Cumberlands (18-1-3) won in its first appearance in the national finals, while Carey (24-1-0) lost after coming into the final undefeated. It was the second straight championship loss in a PK shootout for the Crusaders who also lost a shootout in 2021 to Tennessee-Southern.
“I don’t know what it is,” said WCU coach Danny Owens. “We work on (PKs) all the time in practice, but it’s anybody’s game when you get into a shootout and we just came up short today.”
Carey had plenty of opportunities, getting 34 shots to just six for UC. But Patriots’ keeper Georgia Martell made 19 saves in the 110 minutes of play, then back-up keeper Laura Vogt stopped the Crusaders’ first three attempts in the shootout.
Junior Christina Salmon had the first good attempt for WCU just 22 seconds into the match, whistling a shot from the right side of the 18-yard box that Martell made a diving save to knock the ball away.
Carey had seven shots, five on goal, in the first 25 minutes of play, but it was the Patriots who got the goal at 26:34 by freshman Laura Bosca after a corner kick.
After the kick, the ball bounced around in front of the net and Bosca took advantage of a screen to get a point-blank shot. Crusader goalkeeper Marlen Kelm got a hand on the shot, but it bounced off the right post and into the net.
“It was honestly a great kick,” said Carey senior defender Chloe Strickland. “Our goal-keeper tried to save it, but it wasn’t enough.”
The Crusaders kept the pressure on and kept getting good chances, with junior Mariangela Jiminez dictating the offense. She finished with 9 shots, 3 on goal, and played all 110 minutes of game action.
“I don’t think they did anything, really,” said Jiminez. “We had 36 shots to six. It’s just God’s decision. He just didn’t want us to win today. We did everything we could. I’m proud of the way we played.”
Carey had 13 shots in the first half, 7 on frame, and the onslaught continued in the second half, as the Patriots continually frustrated the Crusaders, either with their defensive set-up or with Martell making one highlight-reel save after another.
Cumberlands had not surrendered a goal in the previous three games at the national tournament.
“I think they knew where they wanted to set up,” said Owens. “We tried to go wide and go around then, and I thought we had some success. We just could never get a real good look.
“Credit to them. We knew they were going to be tough to score on, and we got the one goal, but we needed two.”
In all, Martell finished with 18 saves.
“She was amazing,” said Jiminez. “She was really focused on the game. She saved a lot of good shots, but I thought we had the better team.”
Cumberlands took advantage of Carey’s inability to make the kind of connecting passes in the front third of the field that had often come so easily in previous games. And with one notable exception, the Crusaders got very little out of their set-pieces.
“I just think we were trying to pass the ball in space and we needed to pass the ball to the feet,” said senior Maria Azarias. “We’re not as good passing in space, but rather passing feet-to-feet.
“Technically, we were good. It’s like night or day. Some days they’re not going to happen. The balls were there; we just needed to hit it. Sometimes I’s just not your day.”
In the 66th minute, Owens called on senior forward Julia Herbst, who played sparingly in the tournament due to a hamstring injury, to come off the bench and give the Crusaders a spark.
Herbst has been one of Carey’s offensive stalwarts this season, with 52 points on 17 goals and 18 assists, but it was obvious that she wasn’t able to contribute and Owens sent sophomore Virginia Mesa back out in Herbst’s spot.
“The girls are used to playing off of Julia,” said Owens. “And because we were playing her on top, she didn’t have to defend.
“So we were trying to see if the girls could connect with her, and we wanted to give Virginia a rest. I told Virginia she was going to rest as long as Julia could go. Plus, Julia has given so much to this program, I wanted her to have an opportunity to play in the final”
And it was Mesa who finally cashed one of the Crusaders’ chances with time running out in the 87th minute off their sixth corner of the game – they had nine altogether.
Sophomore Karen Vilau got a head on the ball off the foot of Azarias and Mesa pounded the shot into the net from point-blank range at 86:17.
“I was so excited about that goal,” said Mesa. “It came off the corner kick and I didn’t expect it to go in.”
WCU had four good chances in the first overtime, but Martell saved two shots and two went wide.
Carey’s best scoring chance – by far – came on its last shot of the game, when Salmon intercepted a pass and had a breakaway for a one-on-one against Martell. However, she pulled the shot wide to the left, and the game remained tied.
“We make it here every year and fight as hard as we can, and we fall short,” said Strickland. “I’ve played here all four years. We’ve just got to keep going and fight for it next year.”
The shootout was almost anticlimactic. Azarias started it for Carey, and Vogt knocked her shot away. Sophomore Carola Fortan was good for the Patriots’ first attempt and the Crusaders were playing from behind the rest of the way.
Kelm kept Carey in the shootout through the next two rounds, saving a shot from junior Rita Aguye Cots after Patriots’ junior Jayden Boelter missed her shot high. But Vilau shot high and Vogt swatted away Strickland’s shot.
Jiminez buried her shot, as did senior Alexia Arnoult, but Cumberlands answered both goals by netting shots from junior Sarah Hammerstone and freshman Samantha Sokolove to send the Patriots into a victory celebration.
For Strickland, it was a bitter end to her career at Carey. The former Greene County High standout earned All-Tournament honors, along with Azarias, Salmon and Jiminez. Azarias was named Most Valuable Player for the tournament.
“I’ve got to give it all to Danny Owens,” said Strickland. “He’s a phenomenal coach, fantastic person. He just encourages everyone to get you to that point where you need to be. He wants you to fight for your team and gets you in the right mindset.
“I wouldn’t want to play for anyone else.”
Owens will have some rebuilding to do if the Crusaders hope to get back to this point again next year.
Not only do the Crusaders lose Strickland, Azarias and Herbst, but also Arnoult, senior Alyssa Davis, who played 73 minutes off the bench, and senior Fernanda Pena Nieto, who had 7 shots, 5 on goal, in her last game for Carey.
“Our goal every year is to get to this game,” said Owens. “We’ve come up short the last couple of times, but there’s next year and we’ll give it a go then.”
