NORTH CANTON, Ohio – The Malone University women's soccer team qualified for the 2024 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Women's Soccer Championship with their 2-1 victory at Walsh University on Wednesday evening.
Ohio Dominican University won their match against Cedarville University, meaning the Pioneers needed an outright win against the rival Cavaliers to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Malone would do just that in their first sweep of Walsh in the regular season in the team's NCAA Division II era.
"It feels amazing to make the postseason!" sophomore goalkeeper
Amelia Henderhan said post-match. "These girls have worked so hard. We have pushed and pushed and we felt every emotion in that moment. We knew this match could go either way and we wanted to leave it all out there on the field!"
Senior
Morgan Ross gave Malone a 1-0 lead in just the eighth minute of play. She was all by herself as she dribbled into the box, made the opposing goalkeeper miss and put the ball into the back of the net.
The Pioneers extended their lead with just seconds remaining in the first half. Sophomore
Gracie Ashton got a head on the ball to send it towards the opposing goal, and in a scrum, it was fellow sophomore
Alyssa Schofield who tapped it in for the score.
The team may have taken a 2-0 lead into halftime, but they needed to thwart off a ferocious comeback effort by the Cavaliers. Walsh outshot Malone 10-5 in the second half (16-10 in the match) and conceded a goal in the 65th minute to put the score at 2-1.
The defense stood tall in the closing minutes as Henderhan (8-7-1) made her fifth and sixth saves of the night to secure the road victory.
Malone enters the postseason tournament as the six seed and holds a record of 9-7-1 and an even 7-7-0 in conference play. Despite losing, Walsh will be the five seed in the G-MAC Tournament with a 10-6-1 mark and 7-6-1 total inside the league. The Pioneers will face Northwood University, the number three seed, on the road on Saturday, November 9 beginning at 12:00 P.M.
