Kissimmee, FLORIDA – The Lady Tigers soccer team opened the NCCAA Championship Pool Play round against Asbury University. Central is competing in Pool A along with #1 Grace College & #9 Asbury University. Central enters the championship as the #6 seed in Pool Play. Winner of each pool advances to next round with one wild card team moving on as well.
Asbury entered the match already 0-1 losing to Grace College the day before 4-0, thus must win to keep chances alive. Tigers entered the match looking to knock off Asbury and earn 3 points with a win and come into the match tomorrow against Grace College even.
MATCH SUMMARY
Freshman
Sophia McConnell had the ice breaker in the 28' minute off a free kick just outside the box and hit an absolute laser past the wall and goalkeeper to put the Tigers up 1-0.
With 17 minutes remaining in the first half,
Mariah Godinez scored the Tigers second goal as the Tigers take a commanding 2-0 lead going into the half.
Asbury needing a win to stay alive played the Tigers aggressively to begin the final 45 minutes, and created a penalty in the box and got awarded a PK. Asbury converted to cut the Tiger lead down to 1 with 38' minutes to go in regulation.
Tigers didn't get frazzled by the Asbury goal and stayed patient despite some crucial saves from the Asbury keeper. In the 73' minute,
Alexa Riddle placed a dangerous ball in the box off a corner and the ball rebounded to
Sophia McConnell who scored her 2
nd goal of the game. The goal put the Tigers back up by 2, 3-1 Tigers.
Tigers continued to pressure Asbury and added another insurance goal as
Alexa Riddle used some fancy footwork to get past the keeper and scored her first goal of the game. With under a minute remaining,
Alexa Riddle scored another goal and put the Tigers up 5-1 as they dominate Asbury and move to 1-0 in pool play.
UP NEXT
#6 Tigers (1-0) will take on #1 Grace College (1-0) for the final round of pool play. Winner of the match will automatically move on to next round. Tigers improve to 14-6-1 on the season.
LADY TIGER NOTABLES
