The women's soccer team (10-8-1) lost a heartbreaker in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament quarterfinal game to Dominican University, 1-0, on a Stars goal in the last 30 seconds of play, on Saturday, Oct. 28, in River Forest, Ill.
After fighting head-to-head all game with fairly equal scoring opportunities, Dominican's Kelly Adler converted on a Mayra Camacho corner kick with 24 seconds remaining in the game to defeat the Muskies.
"They caught us and transition and we didn't make the recovery on the back post," said head coach Dave Madsen. "You expect anyone to score in that spot nine times out of ten. They created a good opportunity to score and finished it."
The goal left Lakeland with no time to fight back, and missed chances early in the game proved to make all the difference.
"We had two or three balls near the goal line, we just didn't have anyone there to finish it," Madsen said. "We were missing that killer instinct today to finish the ball off."
Junior midfielders
Elisa Waltz and
Laura Engel and sophomore
Amy Christenson tallied shots on goal to comprise four team attempts, with Waltz recording two, while the Stars finished the game with six shots on goal.
Seniors
Alli Weiss, Nellie Weiss,
Allyce Maus,
Ann Lehecka and
Nikki Boeckh capped off their careers, leaving the Muskies' underclassmen with some big shoes to fill.
Alli Weiss tallied five saves against Dominican, and ends her career with 34 total assists for first place in Lakeland's record book, while Nellie Weiss closed out the season with a team-leading nine goals.
"It's a tough one for our seniors to take," Madsen said. "I think as a group we expected to get a lot further. I think the seniors really helped set the tone for where I want things to go from this point. They really laid a good foundation, and I hope the rest of the group picks up where they left off and keeps building."
Dominican will advance to the semifinals of the NAC Tournament to face either No. 1 seed Aurora University or No. 2 seed Edgewood College on Tuesday, Oct. 31, pending the outcome of Saturday night's other quarterfinal game between No. 3 Concordia University, Wis., and No. 6 Benedictine University.
"We played our hearts out today, and that's all we can ask," Madsen said. "They got a few more bounces than we did. I don't know if we were just missing a little hop in our step that they had, but it was an even game all the way through."
