By Matthew Wellman, Staff reporter
The SNU women’s soccer team played in the NCCAA National Championship this past weekend. They advanced further than any women’s soccer team from SNU. They breezed through the first round and semi-finals, but were unfortunately taken down by California Baptist University in the championship.
It took only a single goal by Junior Kayla Thompson in the 37th minute for the Storm to bring down Houghton (N.Y.) University in the first game. It was clearly a defensive game and the ladies were able to keep Houghton from getting any real scoring chances.
The semi-final game against Trevecca Nazarene was not much different from the first. The Storm was able to keep the defense solid and got two goals from sophomore Mallary Schaub in the 54th and 88th minute. Freshman goalie Yoli Zamarripa continued her strong play and moved her shutout streak to three as the Storm went rolling into the national championship.
SNU came in very confident, but the championship would prove to be a test just too tough for the Storm. California Baptist came out with their guns blazing and put up two quick goals in the first four minutes. It was almost as if you could just see the life being sucked out of the Storm. They just could not get anything going offensively and would end up losing 3-0, as California Baptist would defend their national title successfully.
“My favorite part of the national championship was the team bonding. A lot of teams will say that they are super close and bonded, but I have never been on a team that is a close as this one. We really are like a giant, awesome family,” Thompson said.
“My favorite part about this year’s team was just how well we all got along. Most of the other teams I’ve been on have had a lot of drama but this team rarely ever had any conflicts and when we did it was just us being overly competitive,” said Schaub.
The Crimson Storm finished the season 13-8-1. They will lose three seniors from this year’s squad, Rachel Atnip, Kendra Nixon and McKenzie Redwine.