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The Mississippi College women’s soccer team will compete for the National Christian College Athletic Association national championship on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. (ET) at the Austin-Tindall Soccer Complex.
The Lady Choctaws (14-3-4) will face Houghton College (15-6-2) out of New York in the championship match. MC is the #1 overall seed with the Highlanders coming in as the #2 seed. Both teams went undefeated in pool play to advance to the title match.
MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE — ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
HOUGHTON COLLEGE — ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
Live video is available for the championship match, courtesy of Tourbeau Sports. The one-time fee of $6.95 will be charged to anyone wanting to watch the final. LIVE VIDEO
“The ladies are really excited for this opportunity,” said head coach Darryl Longabaugh. “They have worked hard all season to have a chance to attain this goal that was set at the first meeting of the season. This team really wants to win a national championship for each other and for our university.”
MC opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Trinity Lutheran and followed that up with a 4-0 win over Central Christian. On Thursday, the Lady Choctaws needed a win or a draw to advance to the national championship game and earned a 1-1 tie with Trinity Christian.
Senior Sayit Mejia Bello has scored in each of the tournament games and tallied an assist in the win over Central Christian. She has scored eight goals on the season and is tied with senior Meghan Dodge with a team-leading eight assists.
Freshman Jess Davenport leads the team with 13 goals on the year and earned a D2CAA All-South Region honor earlier this week. She scored in the first two matches, along with freshman Gaylynn Cooper, who has scored seven goals on the year.
The back line has been the key to MC’s success this season, posting 12 shutouts in 20 matches. Dodge, junior Madison Leonard, sophomore Caitlin Hayes and freshman Lauren Dodge have been the mainstays in the back. They have allowed just 14 shots in the three matches of the tournament with only eight coming on goal.
Freshman goalkeeper Andrea McDonald has played all but 133 minutes in net this season, recording 10 shutouts with a 0.67 goals against average in 21 matches. She has allowed just one goal over 290 minutes in the tournament.
“We’ve had a little bit of a hard time finding our game in the tournament after having a month off from the regular season,” Longabaugh went on. “We have been a little banged up all season long, but the girls have dealt with it well and have stepped up each time, getting stronger as the season has progressed.”
Houghton College is an NCAA Division III member that is part of the Empire 8 Conference. They finished 4-2-2 in conference play and were fourth in the final standings.
The Highlanders have shut out all their opponents in the NCCAA Tournament, outscoring their foes 10-0 over three matches. They picked up a 1-0 win over Mid-American University on Thursday to advance to the championship match.
HC’s defense has recorded 14 shutouts on the season and has allowed more than one goal just five times in 23 matches this season. Senoir Shawna Sprout has played all but 60 minutes in net for the Highlanders, posting a 0.74 goals against average with 80 saves on the year.
Sarah Gabriele has scored a team-high 12 goals, including seven game-winners, one of which came on Thursday against Mid-American. She has also posted six assists, while Darlene Eckhadt has tallied a team-high seven assists.
Nine differen players have scored multiple goals with Bailey Shattell scoring nine and Jessica Beattie adding five.
This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools and the first time the Lady Choctaws’ program has faced a team from the State of New York.
