For Immediate Release
Asheville, NC – The 2011 USCAA Soccer National Championships have concluded and the Lindenwood-Belleville Lynx and University of Maine-Fort Kent Lady Bengals have been crowned as the National Champions in Men’s and Women’s Soccer. In the women’s bracket Maine-Fort Kent defeated first year USCAA member Ohio Midwestern by a score of 2-1. On the men’s side the Lynx held off Briarcliffe College 2-1.
These games concluded an exciting three days of soccer in Asheville, North Carolina. After a second round that featured three overtime games; two of which that were decided on penalty kicks, the UMFK Lady Bengals took the field in the early game looking to defend their title as the Women’s Soccer National Champions. Ohio Midwestern, the sixth seed in the women’s bracket, entered play Saturday with wins over University of Maine-Machias and the second seed Washington Adventist University. Shorthanded with only 12 healthy players, Midwestern was looking to pull off its third straight upset.
Fort Kent took a 1-0 lead into halftime with a goal by USCAA All-American Whitney Sinclair. Midway through the second half Sinclair added her second goal of the day, which proved to be all that UMFK would need to complete their repeat. Ohio Midwestern’s Sydney Kurz added a goal shortly afterward, but a frantic push by Midwestern at the end fell short.
The Lady Bengals were led through the tournament by forward Donike Ferriera, the MVP of the women’s championship. Named to the All-Tournament team from UMFK in addition to Ferriera were forward Whitney Sinclair, midfielder Theresa Biggs and goalkeeper Sydney Proctor. Ohio Midwestern All-Tournament team members were defender Courtney Quarles, midfielder Marcela Salum, and midfielder Sydney Kurz.
After defeating the men’s soccer defending champion University of Maine – Fort Kent in penalty kicks, Lindenwood-Belleville entered Saturday needing another upset against the second seed, Briarcliffe College, to complete its National Championship run. Briarcliffe College defeated Penn College and Florida College on its way to the finals, shutting out both opponents. The men’s final was a defensive battle for most of the game and went into the final 11 minutes of play tied at 0-0. All-American Tyler Houck from Lindenwood-Belleville broke the tie with a goal setting up a frantic final ten minutes of play. Just minutes later Briarcliffe College tied the game up on a penalty kick before giving the lead back up for good just three minutes later on a goal by freshman Juan Pablo Santamaria.
The Lynx were led through the tournament by goalkeeper Genaro Fernandez, the MVP of the men’s championship. Also named to the All-Tournament team from Lindenwood was Santamaria, a midfielder, Houck, and defender Johann Sundberg. From Briarcliffe All-Tournament members included midfielder Edison Guayallasaca, midfielder/forward David Panchano, and goalkeeper Gustavo Cinfuentes.
For more information about the 2011 men’s and women’s soccer National All-Academic teams, All-American’s, and All-Tournament award recipients check out the championship pages for men’s soccer and women’s soccer on the USCAA website.
-USCAA
