South Euclid, OH – With a Sunday matchup deciding tournament seeding in their last regular season game of the year, Charleston would head up to Northern Ohio as the 3
rd seed to square off with the 2
nd seed in Notre Dame College. It would be two scores separating the two teams in their previous matchup, as opposed to their first meeting of the year when the Falcons took a crushing 20-5 victory.
The Basics
Location: Mueller Field
Score: UC 10, NDC 12
Records: UC (8-10, 7-3 MEC), NDC (10-8, 8-2 MEC)
How it Happened
The first quarter would entail a "tug-of-war" for the lead, as the first ten minutes featured two goals from each side. Sydney Verlinghieri and Tess Yuhas would find the back of the net to match Jamira Mashore and Grace Nickoloff score to knot the game at 2-2. With just eight seconds remaining in the quarter, MEC Defensive Player of the Year Piper Hammond would score on a man-up free position goal to take a 3-2. In the second quarter, Charleston would take hold of the reigns and proceed to score three unanswered goals. The first coming from Darby Stolz at the 10:45 mark to level the game at 3-3 and the go-ahead score from Madison Partridge just two minutes later. The final goal of the half would come from Stolz off the assist from Antonia Martinez to take a 5-3 advantage into the locker room.
With just eight goals scored total for the entire game up to this point, the third quarter would have nine total goals combined from each side, with Charleston taking the upper hand in the scoring margin 5-4. Midway through the quarter, the Falcons would find three consecutive goals from Carlie Wilson, Joselyn Storm, and Kendal Johnson to tie the game at 7-7. The Golden Eagles would strike back and find three unanswered goals of their own from Yuhas, Stolz, and Partridge to regain the three-score lead at 10-7. Despite the momentum taken into the fourth quarter, the Falcons would score five crushing goals, shutting out Charleston in the quarter to take the 12-10 win over the Golden Eagles and advance to the MEC Championship to face the Frostburg State Bobcats.
