ELLISVILLE - A late goal from Holmes did little, if anything, to dampen the jubilation on the Northwest side in Saturday's NJCAA Region 23 Championship match.
Over the final minute of regulation, the chorus of Lady Rangers counted down the remaining seconds like a New Year's Eve celebration, as top-ranked Northwest triumphed 4-1 against fifth-ranked Holmes for the program's second consecutive NJCAA Region 23 title.
"I am super proud of this group," Northwest coach
James Beattie said. "This group of sophomores in particular have lost only two matches in their college careers. It's really crazy to think about a stat like that. Our standards are high at Northwest and this group has taken every demand in stride. I am excited to see how we end up."
Less than 10 minutes into the match, sophomore
Penny Warner got the Lady Rangers on the board with her 10th goal of the season. Minutes later,
Emma Jensen made it a 2-0 advantage for Northwest, scoring her 18th goal of the season.
Jensen struck again in the 26th minute, pushing the Lady Rangers' lead to a 3-0 margin. Although Northwest was unable to add any other goals in the first half, Holmes was unable to respond on its end and trailed by the same score entering the break.
Although the Lady Bulldogs fired off several shots early in the second half, Holmes was unable to get anything past Lady Rangers' goalkeeper
Anna Kathryn Harrell. In the 60th minute, Northwest made things more difficult for Holmes, thanks to yet another goal from Warner, which stretched the lead to 4-0.
Four goals proved to be all the Lady Rangers needed and even though Bailee Fairley broke up the shutout in the 87th minute, it was too little, too late for Holmes.
Northwest took 13 shots, including 10 on-goal. The Lady Bulldogs finished with 15 total shots, with eight of those coming on-goal.
Harrell played nearly 87 minutes of the match, logging seven saves with no goals allowed.
Ann Marie Barton finished out the final three minutes.
Katie Smith and Addi Roberts split the first and second halves evenly, with Smith allowing three of the Lady Rangers' four goals. Both players finished with three saves each.
Both teams combined for 23 fouls, with Holmes being whistled for 12 fouls. Northwest was hit with eight fouls in the first half, while the Lady Bulldogs were hit with nine fouls in the second half.
With the win, the Lady Rangers moved to 18-0 and locked up an automatic bid to the NJCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship tournament, the program's third straight trip to the national tournament. Beattie also received NJCAA Region 23 Coach of the Year honors following the victory.
Northwest will await its national tournament matchup, which will be announced during the NJCAA Selection Show on Tuesday morning. The Lady Rangers are expected to be the overall No. 1 seed after holding on to the nation's top ranking since the preseason polls were released in August.
This year's NJCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship tournament will take place November 17-23 in Huntsville, Ala. More tournament details will be announced later this week.
