WICHITA, KS – The hopes of a repeat as the NJCAA Division II Women's Soccer National Champions is still alive for the #3 Northwest Mississippi Community College women's soccer team after they rallied from down 2-1 with 16 minutes to go in the national semifinal against #7 Jones College to win 3-2 in overtime.
"Playing a team for the third time is always going to be difficult. Jones is really well coached, and I have a lot of respect for both of their coaches, and we knew coming in it was going to be difficult. They have some very good players that made the day harder and that's credit to them," Head Coach James Beattie said.
The opening half of the match was nothing to write home about, as both sides slugged it out to a 0-0 draw with limited opportunities for both sides as the two defenses played strong, not allowing much room to work in the 18-yard box.
Beattie's message to the team at the half was all about capitalizing on chances when they got them.
"We talked about getting the ball in the final third and when we get it there can we make them make decision defensively. I thought we didn't do that in the first half, and we did do that in the second half," he said.
Both offenses started finding more holes after the halftime adjustments, and the Rangers were the first to strike when Emma Jensen found a bit of space and got a ball past Jennifer Huerzeler in the 60th minute to put Northwest on top 1-0.
Jones wasn't shaken though, and the Bobcats showed why they were coming off of an upset of the number one team in the country when they attacked six minutes later with Jameyah Hubbard answering after a pass from Magalena Polrolniczak found here in a spot with space and the match was evened at ones with just under 25 minutes to go as she slipped a ball just past Ann Marie Barton.
Another eight minutes went off the clock and the Bobcats struck again, this time with a full field run from Sherline King that ended up with her one-on-one with Barton and King didn't miss the chance for her only goal of the match, making it 2-1 Jones with 16:51 left on the clock.
Northwest was stunned but this has been a team that has responded quickly to adversity this year and reached down to do so again. The Rangers immediately put pressure right back on the Bobcats and just over 60 seconds later, it was Caroline Perkins who found the ball in the scrum of bodies and finished it to even the match, with assists going to Olivia Miller after her cross was headed by Lena Scholze.
"It meant so much," Perkins said of the quick response. "Going down as a team, it's hard to stay positive, especially in a game like this, it's hard to keep the hopes up so scoring that quick just let us know that we were still in it."
There were several near misses after that in the final 15 minutes, but both sides duked it out to overtime where the Rangers once again put the head onto the Jones defense, and after setting up another corner kick, the Rangers saw a ball into the box from Miller on the opposite side get played in to Jensen, who continued it to Perkins, and the striker for the Rangers found enough of the ball with her head to slip it past a Jones defender before it deflected off of a dive from Huerzeler and in for the game winning goal to send Northwest into the national championship game for the second time in a row.
"I think it was being really aggressive on the ball, it's what I do best, just attacking the ball," Perkins said of the final goal. "At the end, it was just kind of a blur, everybody was just running at the ball and it just happened to be me."
This is the second straight national tournament that has seen Northwest go to overtime going back to the 2024 tournament where the Rangers defeated St. Charles Community College 1-0 in pool play. It is the third time the Rangers have been in overtime at the national tournament, improving their overtime record at the national tournament to 3-0 with the only other game being a 2-1 double overtime win over Pima Community College in 2022 in Tuscon, AZ.
The match was something of a tale of two halve in the box score, with the Rangers outshooting the Bobcats 17-12 across the 94 minutes, but the shot differential was much tighter in the second half at 9-7.
The Rangers also led the way in corner kicks with nine in the match to the six of the Bobcats, although both took five in the second half. Northwest was called for more fouls in the match as well, with seven in the second half on the way to 13 in the match. Jones finished with eight, and only two called in the final 49 minutes of play.
For Perkins, the two-goal match gives her four in the tournament as she leads the team in total goals scored and she said it has even surprised her that she is leading the team in that category.
"It's definitely weird," she said. "Coach was telling me last year about how Emma stepped up as a freshman too, so it's kind of cool to follow in her footsteps because she is really good."
Emma Jensen picked up her third goal of the championship and now has three assists to boot for seven total points.
Barton picked up her third win of the tournament, garnering a pair of saves in the win in what was her 16th of the season.
The defense in front of Barton had a different look today, with Aven Matthews joining Lena Scholze, Allison Carroll and Allie Kimbrell, and Perkins said they all played exceptional during the match against a formidable foe.
"This is one of Aven's first games playing defense all season and she did insane," Perkins said. "I'm so proud of them. They knew what they had to do and they worked so hard all game. We could not do it without them."
Matthews hasn't been a regular starter for the Rangers, but as Beattie always said, it's teams that win championships and every player could be called on in any roll on this roster.
"Going into the game we are not a set eleven," he said. "We are still rotating and keeping as many players on their toes as possible. Aven did really well today, and it could be another player who does well on Saturday. We trust her and she is someone who is really coming alive in the postseason.
The Rangers will now play in the national championship match against #4 Heartland Community College, who they faced in their fourth match of the year when they defeated the then fifth ranked Hawks 5-3.
This has been the goal all season long and Perkins said this is a reward for all of the work they have put in as a team.
"We have worked so hard. If you would have told us August first that this is where we'd be, it's exactly what we wanted. We have worked so hard and done everything right, so we've earned it and I think we can do it," she said.
"It's what you set out for," Beattie added. "You want to win games, you want to make memories, and we made another memory in the semifinals and hopefully we can get the job done on Saturday and make another memory."
The match will be at 1:00 pm and will be streamed on the NJCAA Network. The match will be pay-per-view. Find more information on the contest by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along with Northwest on social media.
