The second goal Northwest Missouri State soccer team scored was as beautiful as the 4-2 victory over Emporia State Thursday evening at UMKC.
“They took care of their possessions,” Northwest coach Tracy Hoza said of the Bearcats. “The last two games we didn’t take care of the final product and the final product is always putting the ball in the back of the net.”
The best example came in the 57th minute. Junior forward Amanda Bundrant delivered a textbook pass to sophomore midfielder Emilee Davidson on the left side of the box.
Davidson took the pass and struck the ball perfectly, hitting a diagonal shot into the far corner of the goal that left Emporia State goalkeeper Nikki Schmitz helpless. The goal gave Northwest a 2-0 lead.
“I knew I had to aim for the far post. The keeper was giving me that far side,” Davidson said.
The win was significant for the Bearcats. It was their first-ever in the MIAA Soccer Championship Tournament.
The only other time there was a MIAA Soccer Tournament was in 2007. Only four teams made it and the Bearcats were not one of them. Those few notes on the brief tournament history are really a moot point to the 2011 Bearcats.
Because the Bearcats offense was clicking at such a high level, they are moving on to the semifinals and will play top seed Central Missouri 4 p.m. Friday at UMKC.
It is a daunting task for Northwest, which improved to 10-6-2. Central Missouri is 17-1 and ranked No. 10 in NCAA Division II.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” said Northwest sophomore midfielder Anna Calgaard. “They are a really good team, but after this game I think our team has a lot of confidence and I know we can get it done. We can score goals against them.”
Based on the way it played Thursday, Northwest appears ready for the challenge. The Bearcats had many stars like sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Adams, who had several tremendous saves when the game was still close.
Equally impressive was Calgaard, who returned from getting kicked in the nose in the second half and scored the third and fourth goals for the Bearcats.
“It stung a little, but I’m used to it now,” Calgaard said.
The way Northwest was playing defense, the two-goal lead that Davidson gave them early in the second half appeared to be more than enough.
“It helps a lot,” Davidson said. “We should be secure now. Obviously, they got two goals on us, which is not helpful. We got a little too comfortable.”
The Bearcats built a 3-0 lead on a penalty kick by Calgaard that came because of a handball by Emporia State in the box in the 64th minute.
“Every goal is an important goal,” Calgaard said. “We’ve been practicing PKs in practice so I wasn’t that worried about it. I just needed to go to the corner.”
Perhaps the huge lead caused Northwest to relax a tad on defense. Emporia State kept playing hard despite the enormous deficit it faced.
The Hornets finally scored in the 66th minute on a goal by Jessica Decker. Seven minutes later, Calgaard scored again for a commanding 4-1 lead.
Interestingly, Calgaard was confident about Northwest scoring goals in the first round of the conference tournament.
Northwest finished the regular season with two straight losses and only scored one goal.
“We were talking on the bus and everybody was really confident for this game,” Calgaard said. “We just knew we were going to kill it. Sometimes you have feelings about games and this game I knew it would be a good one.”
Northwest played a solid a first half, putting pressure on Emporia State defense by constantly pushing forward.
The Bearcats were tight on defense. One time when the Hornets threatened in the 35th minute, senior defender Jacque Dedovesh quickly stopped the ball from reaching Adams. Dedovesh kicked the ball away from Kelsey Haist.
The Hornets had one other scoring opportunity with 3 minutes left. Northwest defense closed in and prevented Emporia State from challenging Adams.
“Both teams played really well in the first half offensively and defensively,” sophomore forward Tori Von Mende said. “Our defense was awesome in the first half. Our defense kept us in the game.”
The stingy defense made the goal scored by Von Mende in the 18th minute look like a three-goal advantage.
“It was a real uplifting thing,” Von Mende said. “We definitely didn’t want to tie and go into overtime and deal with all of that. Getting one ahead is a starter for everything else.”
— David Boyce – NWMSU Sports Information —