The Jennies advanced to the MIAA Tournament semifinals after defeating Southwest Baptist 3-1 in a penalty-kick shoot out Tuesday night. It was the first shoot out since 2007 and the Jennies first shoot out victory in school history.
The Jennies vaulted two spots to claim the top spot in the latest NCAA-II Central Regional Rankings released Wednesday afternoon.
No. 3 Minnesota State dropped two spots to third while Central Oklahoma held steady in the two spot. 18th ranked Southwestern Oklahoma State inched up one spot to fourth while Winona State slid to fifth. Upper Iowa, Minot State, Truman and Northeastern State remained sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. Bemidji State jumped back in this week's rankings at 10th after a one week absence.
The top six teams in the final regional rankings released next Monday, November 5th at 6:30 p.m. CST earn a birth to the NCAA Division II women's soccer tournament.
The Jennies rank in the top 15 in three categories in all of NCAA Division II. They are fifth in the nation in goals-against-average (0.43), ninth in shutout percentage (0.61) and 12th in won-lost-tied percentage (0.86).
Individually, Jennies' forward
Alexis Robbers ranks 28th out of 150 in game-winning-goals with four so far in 2012.
MIAA Tournament Quarterfinal Recaps (All recaps with the exception of UCM vs. SBU courtesy of TheMIAA.com)
(3) Truman State vs. (6) Fort Hays State
FINAL SCORE: FHSU 1, TSU 0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Nicole Randall scored her first goal of the season for Fort Hays State as they earned a 1-0 upset win over the third seeded Bulldogs in the first round of the MIAA Women's Soccer Tournament.
Randall's goal came on a free kick in the 75th minute from 25 yards out as she got one past the keeper inside the right post. Truman finished with four shots on goal and 21 shots in total and Fort Hays State had 13 total shots and two on goal. FHSU's Nicole Baranba stopped five shots in goal to pick up the first win of the post-season.
(2) Central Oklahoma vs. (7) Missouri Southern
FINAL SCORE: UCO 4, MSSU 0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Central Oklahoma got nine shots on goal, converting four of them as they picked up a 4-0 victory over Missouri Southern to open the MIAA Women's Soccer Tournament.
The Bronchos got on the board in the seventh minute as Kate Foran took a pass from Stephanie Fleig for the 1-0 lead. In the 29th minute Caitlin Bond netted an unassisted goal to give UCO the 2-0 advantage. They grabbed the 3-0 lead in the 46th minute as Stephanie Fleig got her second assist on an Alyssa Anderson goal. They added their fourth score in the 84th minute as Elle Aston took a pass from Paige Matacchiera.
(1) Central Missouri vs. (8) Southwest Baptist
FINAL SCORE: UCM 2, SBU 2; UCM advances to semifinals with 3-1 win in PK shoot out
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Twelfth ranked Jennies soccer battled to a 2-2 draw against Southwest Baptist after two overtime periods then advanced to the MIAA Tournament semifinals with a thrilling 3-1 penalty kick shoot out victory Tuesday night at the South Recreation Complex. It was the first penalty kick shoot out for the Jennies since 2007 and the first shoot out victory in Jennies soccer history.
The Bearcats struck first in the match in the 15th minute when Karla Jamison slid a corner kick from Amy Bolton into the back of the net, giving SBU the 1-0 advantage, a lead they would retain going into halftime.
The Jennies knotted the match up in the 65th minute at one when
Audrey Copenhaver hammered a cross from
Carly Stanley into the left corner of the net. Just five minutes later the Jennies took a 2-1 lead when
Becky Lackey sent a short pass that deflected off SBU keeper Paige Hemphill and bounced right to her sister,
Cindy Lackey, who blasted it home. The Bearcats found an equalizer two minutes later though courtesy of an own goal from the Jennies.
The score remained tied as each team battled the remaining 19 minutes in regulation but neither team could find the net and the match headed to extra time.
The first extra time period the Jennies nearly scored the winner, but
Alexis Robbers' shot glanced off the goal post and out of play. The Bearcats faced a similar fate in the second extra time period when Karla Jamison's wide-open shot bounced off the cross-bar and harmlessly out of play.
The match officially ended in a 2-2 draw but in order to determine who advanced to the MIAA Tournament semifinals, the match went to the penalty-kick shoot out.
The Jennies sent
Kayla Shain up for the first attempt and she drilled it past Hemphill, giving the Jens the 1-0 advantage. SBU evened the shootout up at one with their first attempt though on a kick from Camala James.
Kelsie Hanson was next up for the Cardinal and Black and easily converted to put UCM back in front, 2-1. Bolton was next up for Southwest Baptist and kicked her shot just wide of the goal, allowing the Jennies to maintain a 2-1 advantage.
Nicki Wisnasky was the third Jennie in the shootout. Wisnasky sent a powerful kick but SBU's Hemphill guessed right and saved the attempt, keeping the match at 2-1. Southwest Baptist then sent Jamison into the box for an attempt. Jennies' goalkeeper
Morgan Hartzler predicted correctly on where Jamison would place the PK, saving the shot to keep the Jennie lead intact.
Jenna Stones was next for Central Missouri and she caught Hemphill guessing wrong and converted, giving the Jens the 3-1 lead. The Bearcats had one last chance to keep the shootout going but Hartzler again guessed right and saved Halee Ruckman's attempt, sealing the Jennies 3-1 shootout victory.
(4) Northeastern State vs. (5) Northwest Missouri State
FINAL SCORE: NSU 2, NWMSU 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo -- Northeastern State got two goals in the first 22 minutes and held on for a 2-1 victory over Northwest Missouri in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament.
The RiverHawks got on the board in the 19th minute when Elizabeth Cudjoe scored her seventh goal of the season off a pass from Lindsey Latta. Cudjoe would return the favor in the 21st minute hitting Latta for her seventh goal of the year. Northwest Missouri would get on the board in the 56th minute when Elizabeth Walde took a pass from Victoria Von Mende. Maggie Kloza had five saves in goal for NSU as her team finished with 10 shots on goal of their own.
