The Spring Arbor University women's soccer team advanced to the NAIA Region 8 Championship game with a convincing 3-1 win over WHAC regular season champion Cornerstone University today.
Spring Arbor was unfortunate in the first half, and fell behind in the 41st minute when senior back Diana Humphrey lost her footing with Cornerstone's Lena Baldwin hot on her trail. The WHAC player of the year picked up the loose ball and slammed a high shot to the far side netting, beating Cougar goalkeeper Flo Atar (right) and earning the game's opening tally.
SAU nearly tied it up just moments later when Jamie Siedzik's 30 yard attempt slammed off the crossbar. The Cougars flirted with the equalizer again before halftime when Megan Mains played Heidi Sharp in behind a Cornerstone defender who had slipped and Sharp sent her shot low and towards the far post. The shot had Golden eagle goalkeeper Mindy Erny beat, but skidded just wide of the mark and went out of bounds.
After some halftime adjustments, the Cougars came back out and turned up the pressure on the Cornerstone net, breaking through in the 59th minute when junior forward Christine Strohmaier sent a beautiful early ball through the Cornerstone defense to a streaking Katie Sayler who finished the resulting break-away to know the score at one all.
Sayler would return the favor moments later when she drew two Cornerstone defenders and then slipped the ball between them to a sprinting Strohmaier who calmly finished to the lower left corner to give the Cougars the lead. After a pair of near misses over the next 10 minutes, Spring Arbor delivered the knockout punch when Megan Mains delivered one of SAU's 7 corner kicks on the day to Diana Humphrey, who nodded the ball to Sayler for her second marker of the match, and her 15th of the season.
Spring Arbor held a 12-8 advantage in shots, and a 7-2 edge in corners on the contest.
The Cougars will now face off with Siena Heights University who downed Indiana Wesleyan 1-0 in the other semi-final match-up. The two teams will clash tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. for the regional championship and the right to advance to the NAIA national championships in Olathe Kansas. If the Cougars advance, it would be their second trip to the NAIA championships in the past three years.
