MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The #4 University of Tennessee Southern women's soccer team faced #3 William Carey for the second time this season. The squads played to a 2-2 tie in the conference opener in Pulaski. The second chapter was another clash of two of the best teams in the country. The Firehawks fell 3-1 in the SSAC Championship on Saturday.
Both the Firehawks and Cursaders entered today's showdown tied with 146 goals, for UT Southern this eclipses the program mark set in the magical 2021 National title season which produced 131.
In the opening half, the Firehawks were the aggressors controlling the ball in the offensive half. Marina Nawa fired the opening shot on frame in the second minute. A Crusader save led to another great opportunity for the Firehawk offense on the match's first corner kick. A foul on the Firehawks indirectly led to the first goal of the match for WCU. The Crusaders intercepted a UTS clearance attempt that pinballed through the bodies to the back of the net.
Trailing 1-nil, The Firehawks continued to press for the equalizer. UT Southern leading scorer, Maclani Michael broke free for a one vs one chance against the Crusader keeper. Michael's attempt sailed high resulting in a goal kick. WCU moved the ball down the field and a Firehawk clearance resulted in their (WCU) first corner of the match. The corner was served up in front of the goal. Once again, the Firehawks attempted to clear the ball out of the zone. As before the Crusaders were in the right place at the right time to extend their lead to 2-nil.
An unfortunate series of events continued to trend away from the Firehawks, in the 13^th minute Nawa, SSAC First Team All-Conference player, would be shaken up on a hard challenge by the Crusaders and would not return to the match.
Being down an all-conference forward, the Firehawks dialed up the offensive pressure and were able to cut the WCU lead to only one. In the 42^nd minute, Keito Ido, SSAC Player of the Year, slipped a shot past the Crusader keeper. With the momentum beginning to swing toward the Firehawks, UTS would put a couple of good looks of frame, but couldn't find the equalizer before the half. WCU led in shots 11-8 at the break.
UTS came out in the second half and dominated the shot count, but four big saves from WCU would deny the Firehawks the chance to extend the game. The Firehawk defense denied the #3 team in the land a shot on goal in the final 45 minutes.
On the offensive end, UT Southern pressured the Crusader defense with 11 corner kicks attempts in the half. Each and every serve in to the box could have changed the outcome of the match.
In the final minute, a WCU clearance led to a third and final goal for the 3-1 result.
Stephanie Hodgson (10-1-1) was a warrior for the Firehawks. She recorded four saves and allowed three goals in a full time effort.
NAIA CHAMPIONSHIP
The Firehawks will await the NAIA selection show on November 16^th to learn their NAIA Championship Opening Round matchup. The First two rounds will be played at 10 satelite sites around the country. The remaining 10 teams from each site will advance to Penscola, Fla., for the Final site showdown. The opening round matches will be played between November 21-23. The final site bracket will commence on December 2-9.
UT Southern has made 20 consecutive NAIA Championship appearances from 2004-2023. The NAIA Championship selection show can be found here.
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