Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College women's soccer team was back in action tonight when they played host to the William Woods (Mo.) University Owls in the AMC Women's Soccer Tournament Championship. The Cougars tied the Owls 1-1 through two overtime periods but were able to win 3-0 on penalty kicks to improve to 15-4-1 on the season. With the win, the women's soccer team has clinched a spot in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
On a snowy night in Columbia, both sides came out and had a tough time keeping control of the possession for the first 20 minutes of the game. The Cougars amped up the pressure as the half progressed and created several chances to score but could not find the back of the net as the Owls keeper made several saves to keep the score tied at zero. Columbia College did their best to get a goal before the half but were unable to capitalize as the score remained 0-0 at the halftime break. The Cougars outshot the Owls 14-2 in the period and put six shots on target.
Columbia College came out in the second half and forced the Owls keeper to make a save in the first five minutes of the period. William Woods responded by putting a shot off the post with 37 minutes left to play in the game but the score remained tied at zero through 10 minutes of the half. The Cougars were finally able to score the first goal of the contest with 6:40 left to play in the game when Lucy Kingsley beat the William Woods keeper for her ninth goal of the season to make the score 1-0. However, there lead did not last long as the Owls were able to tie the score at one just a minute later. The score remained tied over the next few minutes and the game entered overtime.
The Cougars controlled the possession in the first few minutes of overtime and came close to scoring after Lucy Kingsley hit a shot off the crossbar. Columbia College continued to push the tempo as the period progressed, creating three corner kick opportunities, but ultimately the score remained tied at one as the game entered a second overtime.
Both sides exchanged scoring chances in the second overtime but neither team was able to score and the game entered penalty kicks.
Lucy Kingsley took the first penalty of the shootout and was able to bury her shot in the bottom left corner of the net to give Columbia a 1-0 lead. Neither side was able to score on the next three shots as each keeper made a big save. Kaitlyn Tambke stepped up on the third penalty for the Cougars and beat the Owls keeper to extend the Cougars lead to 2-0 in the shootout. Erin Jones made her second save of the shootout on the next penalty and then Molly Klein stepped up and beat William Woods keeper to the top left corner to solidify the 3-0 victory in the shootout and win their fourth straight AMC Women's Soccer Tournament Championship.
Erin Jones was in goal tonight for Columbia as she made five saves in the contest, and two saves in the shootout.
Following the conclusion of the match, the AMC announced the women's soccer all-conference teams as well as the superlative awards for the 2018 season. For their efforts on the field, Kelsey Mirts, Molly Klein, Lucy Kingsley, Kaitlyn Tambke, and Abby Meyer were all recognized as First Team All-Conference and Samantha Bassler was recognized as Honorable Mention All-Conference. This is Mirts third straight First Team All-Conference Selection and Tambke's second straight First Team All-Conference selection. In addition, Klein was also named the AMC Women's Soccer Player of the Year.
Klein, a 5-4 junior out of Columbia, Missouri, has been great for the Cougars all season long. She finished the regular season tied for the team lead with 12 goals, tied for the team lead with nine assists, and led the team with a total of 33 points. Coming into tonight's contest, she ranks in the top 50 in the NAIA in total assists (10), total points (38), total game winning goals (4), assists per game (0.530), and total goals (14).
With the win, the Cougars have solidified a spot in the NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship Opening Round. They will find out who they will play in a live selection show held of Monday, November 12th.
