Pittsburgh, PA- The Christendom Women's Soccer Team finishes as USCAA Runner-Ups after falling to UC Clermont in the National Tournament Championship Game by a score of 5-0.
The Crusaders earned their way to the Championship Game by winning Pool B in pool play. The #3 seeded Crusaders played their opening game of the tournament against Paul Smith's College out of New York. The Crusaders battled hard for 90 minutes, but after a scoreless 90 minutes from both sides, the game headed into extra time. There, the Bobcats of Paul Smith scored off of a deflected shot to hand the Crusaders a tough loss.
However, given the structure of the tournament, the loss to Paul Smith did not eliminate the Crusaders. The Crusaders had one more game against the #2 seeded Southwestern Adventist University out of Keene, TX. In order to advance to the championship game, the Crusaders not only had to win, but win by 2 or more goals against a team seeded higher than them. The Crusaders knew this, and fought hard from start to finish. After a scoreless 44 minutes, the Crusaders were able to get a promising attack that led to a corner. Ava Hudson (Freshman/Manassas, VA) made an incredible heads-up play and grabbed the ball and rushed over to take the corner as time was about to expire. She played the ball into the box and Maria Blank (Sophomore/Woodbridge, VA) who was able to get her foot on the ball and score with only 9 seconds left before the half ended. The Crusaders carried this momentum into the second half and played confidently and got good chances, but were scoreless after the opening 15 minutes of play in the second half. The Crusaders drew a foul from about 35 yards out, and Hudson stepped up to the ball for a free kick. Because it was so far out, the majority of players and spectators expected Hudson to play a ball into the box to get a head or foot on it. But Hudson saw an angle, and decided to go for goal, and she launched an incredible shot that went over the outstretched arms of the goalie, giving the Crusaders that 2-0 lead they needed to advance. The remainder of the game was scoreless, thanks to great defensive efforts from the Crusader back line and midfield, along with keeper Miranda Keller (Senior/Harrisburg, PA). Keller recorded the clean sheet shutout, and the Crusaders advanced to the National Championship Game with the 2-0 victory by means of goal differential. The Crusaders finished with a +1 goal differential throughout pool play, Southwestern Adventist finished with a 0 goal differential, and Paul Smith finished with a -1 goal differential.
The National Championship Game was played between the #3 seeded Crusaders and the #1 seeded Cougars of UC Clermont, the reigning national champions and came into the game looking to defend their title. The Cougars opened the game incredibly strong, scoring 3 goals in the first 16 minutes. The Crusaders were never able to recover, and the Cougars put in two more goals throughout the rest of the game to beat Christendom by a score of 5-0.
Hudson, Blank, and Georgia Francis (Senior/Front Royal, VA) were named to the USCAA DII All-Tournament Team for their contributions to the Crusaders' second place finish.
In addition, multiple players were honored with end-of-season awards from the USCAA. Keller and Catherine Thomas (Senior/Corpus Christi, TX) were both named 1st-Team All-Americans, while Theresa Luckey (Sophomore/Front Royal, VA) and Colleen Kosten (Senior/Warrenton,VA) both earned Honorable Mentions as well.
The Crusaders finished this historic season with an 11-3-3 record, with an impressive 9-game win streak that lasted throughout all of September and half of October. The Crusaders also secured their second Runner-Up finish in program history for Women's Soccer. Thank you Lady Crusaders for all of your efforts and hard work this year and the memories made throughout the season!
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