TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State women's soccer team earned a 1-0 victory over Missouri Western State in the quarterfinals of the 2015 MIAA Championship Wednesday night at DeLoache Field.
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The No. 3-seeded RiverHawks (14-4-1) advanced to the semifinals of the postseason tournament for the second time in four years after eliminating the No. 6-seeded Griffons (9-8-1). This is the fourth-straight time NSU has defeated MWSU by a 1-0 margin.
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Northeastern State will take on No. 2 seed Central Oklahoma (12-5-2), who defeated Nebraska-Kearney 3-1 earlier in the day. The RiverHawks and Bronchos will meet at 7 p.m. Nov. 6 in Warrensburg, Missouri. UCO owns two victories over NSU this season.
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The winning goal in Wednesday's playoff victory came from senior forward
McKenzie Musella in the 85th minute.
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The two sides played scoreless soccer for nearly the entire match, and overtime appeared imminent. That was until a ball inside the box was played out to Musella at the top of the 18. She took one touch around a defender and rifled a shot that sailed over the head of MWSU goalkeeper Sarah Lyle.
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Musella was assisted by junior midfielder
Rachel Gleason. The goal was the fifth of the season for Musella, and the assist was the first of Gleason's career.
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Junior goalkeeper
Jordan Woodruff (14-4-1) was only forced to make one save as she registered her seventh shutout of the season. Lyle (9-8-1) suffered the loss after finishing with three saves and the lone goal conceded in the contest.
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NSU held a narrow 9-8 shot advantage and a slight 2-1 edge in corner kicks.
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Scoring SummaryMWSU            0         0         –         0
NSU                0         1         –         1
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Individual ScoringMcKenzie Musella (NSU) at 84:09 (
Rachel Gleason)
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Goalkeeper SavesSarah Lyle (MWSU) – 3
Jordan Woodruff (NSU) – 1
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH CHASE WOOTENOpening Statement.."I thought overall our team worked hard and we got some good things from our subs. We were trying to get some spot minutes and we were able to get some players in there to get some fresh legs. Defensively, we knew they were going to be a handful. Probably our biggest concern was that we didn't want to concede a goal knowing how difficult it would be to score on them. (Missouri Western) locked us up pretty well. I thought overall we had the majority of the play, which left us vulnerable for a counterattack. We really didn't have much of it in the final third. (Missouri Western) did a great job and they made it very difficult for us all night long."
On McKenzie Musella..."I think she'd be the first to say that wasn't the best game of her college career, and she's been somebody we've leaned on so heavily over the past four years. She does so much for us and so I'm really glad it went that way for her specifically, and our team too. In the big picture of it all she got half a look and put it on frame, which is one of the biggest things we've been talking about all season. We gave ourselves a chance on a shot and caught a fortunate break that it went over the goalie's head."
On preparing for UCO in the next round...
"As a credit to Missouri Western, they forced us to play a below average match tonight. I didn't think we played well. Not that we didn't play hard, but we just didn't play our best soccer. I think there's some things we can do to tighten some things up in the next 48 hours. Obviously, we have some things we'd like the learn from the last time we played UCO. They've got a really offensively organized team and we've got to be able to weather their storms and put together some organized soccer."
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