Houghton Women Advance at Nationals
Fans gathered in Houghton
College's campus center celebrate the women soccer team's 1-0 victory at the
NAIA national tournament.
Box Score
Daytona Beach, Fla.—The
Houghton College women’s soccer team has advanced to the second round of the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ national tournament by
defeating Cornerstone University (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1-0 Wednesday
evening.
In a closely contested first half, Houghton had the better of possession,
but generated relatively few scoring chances. With just under ten minutes
left, though, Chelsea Adams won the ball and advanced up the left side. She
sent a long diagonal pass forward that Hannah Swift controlled nicely. She
took a touch between two defenders to open an angle on the net and then
calmly sent the ball past the onrushing Cornerstone goalkeeper, Julianne
Bruining, for the only goal of the game.
In the second half, Cornerstone came out and put pressure on early, then
Houghton evened out play for about 15 minutes. In the 53rd minute, Houghton
had its best opportunity of the second half when they hit the post on a
header from a corner kick.
For the last 20-30 minutes of the game Cornerstone controlled most of the
possession as Houghton was content to defend its single-goal lead. The
Houghton defense was solid, and, despite Cornerstone’s pressure, yielded no
truly dangerous chances.
Houghton goalkeeper Lauren Foster was credited with two saves in the second
half and three overall. Bruining had three saves in the first half and one
in the second. Houghton had three corner kicks to one for Cornerstone.
Houghton, now 13-2-3, will play Azusa Pacific University (17-1-1), the
tournament’s third seed, Thursday afternoon at 4:30.
Photo credit: Greg Bish
Houghton College
has deep
and
solid
roots in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, where our
teams use their commitment to excellence, both on the field-of-play
and
in the classroom, as a platform for their strong and
unique emphasis on Sports Ministry. Their goal is to make a difference
for the Kingdom
on campus, in Allegany County,
in the Northeast and
around
the world.
Houghton is one of only 13 institutions who have been hand-selected
by the NAIA to serve as "Champions of Character" Program Centers, opening the door
for Houghton to be a leader,
both in the Northeast and
nationally, in character education.
Through hands-on,
innovative community outreach initiatives, Houghton coaches and
student-athletes
are working together to change the culture of sport and
to change our culture through sport.
