COMMERCE, Texas—After three consecutive seasons of overtime games in the first round of the Southland Conference Soccer Tournament, Tuesday’s quarterfinal match must have felt like a blowout to Northwestern State.
NSU used a goal from Emily Gundin in the 52nd minute, as the Demons squeezed past McNeese 1-0 to advance to the semifinals for a sixth consecutive season.
The Demons (10-9) withstood a furious rush by the Cowgirls (9-8-3) in the final 30 minutes to push their ticket to the semifinals for their fourth clean sheet of the season.
“It feels great to win,” fourth-year head coach Ian Brophy, who won his 40th career game as coach to tie for the second most in program history, said. “Going to the semifinals is never a given, so to be here every year is a real accomplishment for everyone. Now the goal for us is to not stop here and shift focus to what’s in front of us. We put a lot into today, so I am glad we were able to come away with a win.”
After a scoreless first half, Gundin made her presence felt with her eighth goal of the season, which is now tied for the team lead.
Freshman Alexia Adimmah sent in a cross that went to Maliya Maldonado, but her shot was saved. A rebound bounced just far enough away from All-Conference goalkeeper Shannon Dempsey and Gundin hit it in for her team-best 23rd point of the season.
“I saw Alex kill her 1v1 matchup and we’ve been practicing on varying our runs and we’ve been timing them a lot better than we have been beforehand,” Gundin said. “I saw Maliya was in there and just tried to position myself in case the ball popped out and it worked out in the end.”
The assist was credited to Maldonado, who recorded her fourth helper of the season to push her season total to 10 points, becoming the seventh different Demons player to reach double digits in points this season.
The goal was one of seven shot attempts for Gundin, who was robbed on a great look by Dempsey, who made seven saves. In the first half, the Demons out-shot the Cowgirls 12-3.
But the second half was a different story, as the offense picked up.
Saki Tsuchiya, who earned her second consecutive start, was not asked to make any saves in the first half and made three enormous stops in the final 45 minutes to earn her first solo shutout of the season.
After a silent first half, McNeese’s first team All-Southland selection Rhiannon Maynes-Tourond came alive in a big way.
Facing McNeese’s leading goal scorer 1-on-1, Tsuchiya came up with the save of the season, as Maynes-Tourond made a move on Tsuchiya, but the NSU goalkeeper made a diving stop to keep the Demons in front.
“It was a 1v1, but Emma (Pethel) was chasing the ball and was inside,” Tsuchiya said. “She went outside and I just was chasing the player and just dived and was able to stop it.”
In the 84th minute, Tsuchiya came up huge again, as off a free kick, there was a scrum in front of the net and Alexandra Arvanitis tried to sneak one past Tsuchiya, but the Demons keeper was up to the task.
The Cowgirls recorded 14 shot attempts in the second half, but the Demons defense stood tall.
In the semifinals, NSU meets No. 2 Houston Christian, which beat No. 7 East Texas A&M 5-4 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw in regulation and overtime, on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Lion Soccer Field.