TAMPA – Some players have a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
For Grand Valley State forward Melissa Botts, that was never truer than on Saturday afternoon, as her 78th minute goal gave the Lakers the NCAA Division II Women’s national championship with a 1-0 victory against Cal-State Dominguez Hills at Pepin-Rood Stadium.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Botts said. “They had a great cross, it bounced off someone and the goalie fiddled it with her hands a little bit and I just came up for a toe-poke.”
After a corner from the left had gone long through the penalty area, Katie Johnson gathered the ball on the right, cut in onto her left foot and hit an angled, low cross into the penalty area. Kristen Eible redirected the cross on net, and CSDH goalkeeper Alyssa Congdon dove to her right to make the save. Congdon wasn’t able to hold onto the shot, though, and Botts was on hand to tuck away the rebound into the left side of the net.
Botts had led the Lakers attack this season, the goal on Saturday being her 15th of the campaign, but because of an ankle injury she was limited for the end of the playoffs. However, less a minute after being brought on as a substitute, her goal proved crucial for the Lakers. GVS coach David DiIanni said that Botts had been goal-hungry throughout the season.
“We had decided we were going to run with Ashley for the last 10, 11, 12 minutes,” DiIanni said. “I don’t know if it was the sub or just like you said Ashley was in the right place at the right time, but it sent us to victory.”
The victory was a sweet one for the GVS seniors, who had been to two Final Fours in 2006 and 2007 without coming away with a championship. With the Lakers having lost only four games over the past four years, the championship provided a great send-off for the senior class.
“I think it’s definitely nice to go out with a win,” senior defender Natalja Stanski said. “It’s been rough couple of years with emotional highs and lows, and making so far and always getting disappointed when you lose. I’m upset that I’m never going to play again, but it’s nice to go out with a national championship, and it’s definitely nice to do it with these girls that I’ve played with for four years.”
CSDH had opened the better of the two sides, as the Lakers appeared a little nervous to start the game, and the Toros had almost taken the lead in the fourth minute when Jessica Murphy’s shot clipped the top of the crossbar before going out for a goal kick.
After the first 10 minutes, though, the Toros seemed to become disconnected, giving away possession cheaply, and being forced to chase as GVS controlled the tempo of the game for most of the remaining 80 minutes.
“I thought they passed the ball pretty well, controlled possession and dictated the flow of the game,” Toros coach Joe Flanagan said. “We had moments, I agree I thought the first 10 minutes we were looking good, and then they just started to establish possession more.”
The Toros came close to forcing overtime in the 88th minute when Lakers goalkeeper Chelsea Parisecame well off her line to try and gather in a free kick from the left, only to see the ball get redirected to the top of the penalty area. CSDH’s Paige Peel fired a strong low shot to the bottom right corner of thenet, but Parise was able to scramble back to turn the shot wide for a corner.
Parise then saved from Kristan Boyle from the ensuing corner to end what was the Toros last chance to extend the game.
All that was left then was for the Lakers to celebrate their first women’s soccer national championship.
“This is not about me, it’s so much about the 26 girls that are underneath us that have sacrificed for four months,” DiIanni said. “I’m excited for our program and our girls that are right here and our team and the 60 text messages I’m going have from our alumni when I get out of here, that’s what I’m excited about, and I’m excited for our school, quite honestly.
“Our school has been behind us forever, and that’s what we’re about, we’re a family at our school, and we just wanted to chip in.”
Showing posts with label Grand Valley State. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grand Valley State. Show all posts
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Colleges: Lakers rally to overtime victory
TAMPA – The look on Grand Valley State coach Dave DiIanni said it all, as did the first words out of his mouth.
“What a game,” DiIanni said.
DiIanni’s Lakers had just moved into the NCAA Division II Women’s championship game after rallying from a two-goal deficit to earn a 3-2 overtime victory thanks to Kristen Eible’s goal five minutes into the first extra period.
“I’m so proud of these girls,” DiIanni said. “To fight and scrap, it’s kind of the way our year has been at times, we’ve been put in tough situations, and we’ve been able to fight out way out of it and build some character in the regular season, and you saw some character today with the way our girls kept scrapping and believing in each other. I’m very proud of their effort.”
Their effort was matched by Saint Rose, who appeared to be closing in on a berth in the final with a strong defensive performance in the second half. Golden Knights goalkeeper Shannon Murphy made a number of excellent saves as Grand Valley State controlled the bulk of the possession and created most of the chances after the break. But with seven minutes to go, the ball deflected out to GVS’s Jaleen Dingledeen on the right side of the penalty area, and she cut inside onto her left foot and fired a shot into the opposite corner of the net.
“I wasn’t doing my best crossing today,” Dingledeen said, “so I decided to pull it back and kind of take a glory shot with my left foot. I really don’t remember the shot, I lifted my head and saw it go in the back of the net, and right then and there, I knew we were winning this game.”
Dingledeen’s confidence in victory was well-founded, as the Lakers continued to press forward in overtime, and after a corner was only partially cleared, a ball into the area was controlled by Kayla Addison with her back to goal. Addison saw the run of Eible, who was overlapping into the right side of the penalty area, and Addison’s pass found her in stride for a first-time shot into the left corner of the net, sending the Lakers bench streaming onto the field in celebration.
It was a disappointing conclusion for the Golden Knights, who had caught the Lakers flat-footed to take a 2-0 lead within the first three minutes. Nicola D’Errico scored the first, combining beautifully with twin sister Gianna to open the scoring within the first minute, and goalkeeping error allowed the Golden Knights to double their lead on a shot by Brittany Godin that was initially parried up in the air, but then turned into her own net by GVS goalkeeper Chelsea Parise as she appeared to try to turn it aside for a corner.
“We knew that we needed to come out strong, come out fast and catch them off guard,” Nicola D’Errico said. “We were definitely all determined to get a quick goal in the first five minutes. I don’t know how fast the first goal was, the first minute maybe, but after that we just had an adrenaline rush.”
The Lakers were able to grab a goal back quickly as Erin Mruz capitalized after a good move down the right gave her an open opportunity on the left side of the penalty area, and she roofed her shot into the net. According to DiIanni, getting a goal back quickly helped the team greatly, and from then on the Lakers were able to dictate the pace and the rhythm for the rest of the game, leading their coach to believe they deserved their place in the final.
“I was relieved, I think that was the big thing,” DiIanni said of his reaction to the overtime goal. “I don’t say this very often, but I really thought we deserved to win that game.
“Now, soccer’s a weird sport, it’s probably the weirdest, where you can deserve a lot of things and you don’t get them, so the other thing we talked about in the last two weeks is (how) you’ve got to take it. People aren’t going to give you anything at this level any more, you have to take it, and I thought we took it from them, there’s no doubt about it. They came in and took it from us in the first three minutes and took it from us, and we took it back, and I’m very proud of them.”
“What a game,” DiIanni said.
DiIanni’s Lakers had just moved into the NCAA Division II Women’s championship game after rallying from a two-goal deficit to earn a 3-2 overtime victory thanks to Kristen Eible’s goal five minutes into the first extra period.
“I’m so proud of these girls,” DiIanni said. “To fight and scrap, it’s kind of the way our year has been at times, we’ve been put in tough situations, and we’ve been able to fight out way out of it and build some character in the regular season, and you saw some character today with the way our girls kept scrapping and believing in each other. I’m very proud of their effort.”
Their effort was matched by Saint Rose, who appeared to be closing in on a berth in the final with a strong defensive performance in the second half. Golden Knights goalkeeper Shannon Murphy made a number of excellent saves as Grand Valley State controlled the bulk of the possession and created most of the chances after the break. But with seven minutes to go, the ball deflected out to GVS’s Jaleen Dingledeen on the right side of the penalty area, and she cut inside onto her left foot and fired a shot into the opposite corner of the net.
“I wasn’t doing my best crossing today,” Dingledeen said, “so I decided to pull it back and kind of take a glory shot with my left foot. I really don’t remember the shot, I lifted my head and saw it go in the back of the net, and right then and there, I knew we were winning this game.”
Dingledeen’s confidence in victory was well-founded, as the Lakers continued to press forward in overtime, and after a corner was only partially cleared, a ball into the area was controlled by Kayla Addison with her back to goal. Addison saw the run of Eible, who was overlapping into the right side of the penalty area, and Addison’s pass found her in stride for a first-time shot into the left corner of the net, sending the Lakers bench streaming onto the field in celebration.
It was a disappointing conclusion for the Golden Knights, who had caught the Lakers flat-footed to take a 2-0 lead within the first three minutes. Nicola D’Errico scored the first, combining beautifully with twin sister Gianna to open the scoring within the first minute, and goalkeeping error allowed the Golden Knights to double their lead on a shot by Brittany Godin that was initially parried up in the air, but then turned into her own net by GVS goalkeeper Chelsea Parise as she appeared to try to turn it aside for a corner.
“We knew that we needed to come out strong, come out fast and catch them off guard,” Nicola D’Errico said. “We were definitely all determined to get a quick goal in the first five minutes. I don’t know how fast the first goal was, the first minute maybe, but after that we just had an adrenaline rush.”
The Lakers were able to grab a goal back quickly as Erin Mruz capitalized after a good move down the right gave her an open opportunity on the left side of the penalty area, and she roofed her shot into the net. According to DiIanni, getting a goal back quickly helped the team greatly, and from then on the Lakers were able to dictate the pace and the rhythm for the rest of the game, leading their coach to believe they deserved their place in the final.
“I was relieved, I think that was the big thing,” DiIanni said of his reaction to the overtime goal. “I don’t say this very often, but I really thought we deserved to win that game.
“Now, soccer’s a weird sport, it’s probably the weirdest, where you can deserve a lot of things and you don’t get them, so the other thing we talked about in the last two weeks is (how) you’ve got to take it. People aren’t going to give you anything at this level any more, you have to take it, and I thought we took it from them, there’s no doubt about it. They came in and took it from us in the first three minutes and took it from us, and we took it back, and I’m very proud of them.”
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