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The post season ended for Metro’s No. 1 ranked women’s
soccer team as they lost in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division
II Tournament to No. 3 UC-San Diego.
The game, which was played in front of over 1,000 people in La Jolla,
California, saw two of the top teams in the nation play a hard game.
The Roadrunners gave up the first goal of the game, but was able
to tie the score at 1-1 after senior Naomi Clarke shot a corner kick
and junior Élin Otter was able to push the ball past the UC-San
Diego’s goalie. Metro fell behind again after UC-San Diego’s
Kristin Jones scored on a header past Metro sophomore goalkeeper Mandy
Allen at 57:43 in the second half.
Metro was able to tie the score after junior forward Meisha Pyke
scored on a header at 62:39 in the second half.
'We want to keep the momenum going
that
we had this year...'
-Danny Sanchez
Women's Head Soccer Coach
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That was all the scoring the Roadrunners could manage and they weren’t
able to stop UC-San Diego’s offense, which was able to score
the go-ahead goal shortly after Metro tied the game. The ‘Runners
finished the season with an overall record of 21-1-1 and remained
undefeated during their RMAC play.
With that said, Head Coach Danny Sanchez still is very proud of the
Roadrunners.
“We went undefeated in RMAC play the last two years, we are
the Midwest champions for the second year in a row and that was some
goals we had this year,” Sanchez said.“We want to keep
the momentum going that we had this year and carry it into next year.”
The future still is pretty bright for the Roadrunners’ next
season, as they have most of this season’s group coming back.
Sophomore forward and leading team scorer Amy Leichliter will return
for action next year as will junior forward Ymara Guante. Plus, the
Roadrunners core defense is going to stay relatively intact. Allen,
who notched 17 shutouts this season, will also return to the team.
Metro will have to say goodbye to senior forward and team captain
Naomi Clarke, senior defenders Colleen Fellin and Kristin Nason and
senior midfielder Shauna Stefan.
Sanchez believes his younger players will step up and will play a
big part in the team’s success next year. He said he likes the
way he saw his team play, and hopes Metro is as successful next season.
“Metro has a very good soccer team, and when they play well
I get a sense of school pride,” said junior Boyd Fletcher, Metro
journalism major.
“I hope that they have a good season next year and go further
than this year.”
The one thing that Metro was unable to accomplish was getting to
the Final Four, and that is one goal that they would like to accomplish
next season.
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