Eagles Dominating Season Comes to an End

By Erinn Marroquin - photo by G-Rox

HATTIESBURG, MO.- The Eagles' stellar season came to an end in the championship of the Hattiesburg bracket of the NAIA Women's Soccer Championships with a 0-3 loss to the #1 ranked Crusaders of William Carey. 

When asked about the match and the season, Head Coach Andy Kaplan said, "William Carey is well-deserving of their #1 ranking in the country. Our team fought the entire game and made it very competitive. Our team has so much to be proud of! We started the season 0-2, worked very hard to fix our problems, and won 18 games in a row. These players earned 2 championships and advanced in the national tournament. We overcame more injuries than any team I have ever coached. 

I have so much respect and gratitude for our seniors. They are all wonderful, young women who have been a pleasure to coach. They arrived after our program had a down year. Each year we got better, and they returned our program to national prominence. I'm getting sad thinking about not getting to coach them anymore. Thank you, Caroline, Mary Kate, Lis, SeSe, Kaylee, and Kaitlyn!" 

Both teams proved they were willing and ready to move onto the final site of the Championships as a combined 6 fouls were called within the first 13 minutes of the match. William Carey had 6 shots, with two blocked and one being saved by Caroline Johnson before they netted their first goal of the night in the 25th minute to make it 1-0. 

Reinhardt had back-to-back corner kicks, but the Crusader backline was able to hold them from adding their own point on the scoreboard. Willliam Carey kept pushing but three more saves by Johnson kept the tally at 1-0 going into the half. 

The match continued to be aggressive in the second half and a Reinhardt foul in the box provided a penalty opportunity the Crusaders executed to make the score 2-0 for William Carey in the 54th minute. 

Johnson continued to make a valiant effort with three saves in a row within three minutes of each other before William Carey was able to score their last goal of the night in the 86th minute to make the final score 3-0 when the last whistle blew. 

Season Highlights 

· Reinhardt went undefeated in the AAC with a record of 14-0 and captured the title of AAC Regular Season and Tournament Champions. 

· Caroline Johnson was named AAC Defensive Player of the Year. 

· Lauren Akemon was named AAC Freshman of the Year. 

· Andy Kaplan was named AAC Coach of the Year. 

· 5 Reinhardt players were selected to the All-Conference Teams with 4 being on 1st Team All-Conference 

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For more information on Reinhardt Women's Soccer, please click here.