Orange Beach, Ala. — The Saints are diving into uncharted water in Orange Beach, Ala., following the biggest win in the program's history.
The Aquinas women's soccer team is going to the NAIA National Tournament quarterfinals for the first time after taking down Westmont (Calif.), 2-1, at the Orange Beach Sportsplex. The No. 13-ranked Saints (21-2-1) scored both goals in the second half after going down 1-0 in the first half to hand the No. 15-ranked Warriors (16-1-3) their first loss this season.
The Saints tied the program record for wins in a season (21) with its 18th straight victory, which is also a team record.
An unlikely hero, senior midfielder
Macy Hollingsworth, scored the Saints' game-winning goal with nine minutes left in regulation. After being injured in the WHAC Tournament semifinals, Hollingsworth was left watching from the sidelines in the last three AQ postseason games. Her patience paid off in a big way on Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 29) by scoring the biggest goal of her career off a perfect cross from
Laia Cunill that was headed on by
Maeva Lichtensteiger.
"I literally almost started crying when it went in," Hollingsworth said. "Being able to get back out there and help the team win felt so good. We have never been there before — getting to the second game (of the Final Site) — so every year we keep improving."
Westmont controlled possession for a bulk of the first half as Aquinas pressed them at every opportunity trying to win the ball back. The Warriors finally found a crack to exploit in the 30th minute when a through ball by Amarys Mach was deflected by an AQ defender. That allowed Kate DeMillo to run onto the pass from a previous offside position to score the opening goal.
It was DeMillo's third goal of the season and had Westmont leading 1-0 at halftime.
"The first half wasn't us," AQ head coach
James DeCosemo said. "We didn't play like we have all season. They owed themselves another 45 minutes of energy, pressure, intensity and quality. And they delivered."
Aquinas found the equalizer three minutes and 56 seconds into the second half. A curling shot on the left side found the right bottom corner for
Hannah Crum's 73rd career goal — one shy of tying the WHAC all-time goal scoring record. The acrobatic attempt turned some heads as to how Crum even managed to get the shot off, let alone score from a tough angle.
It was Crum's team-leading 17th goal of the season.
"Typical Crummy goal," DeCosemo said. "You need big players to step up in big moments, and she did it."
The Saints continued to press and flipped the momentum in their favor. Both
Sydney Shenk and
Brittney Carter both had breakaway opportunities to seize the lead, but the Westmont goalkeeper came up with two big saves.
The Saints, however, weren't going to be denied.
Cunill crossed in what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Lichtensteiger got a touch on the ball to keep the cross alive, but it was Hollingsworth on the back post that knocked the ball in.
"I was just telling Laia this," Hollingsworth explained. "In practice, she always plays the most perfect ball into the middle every time. I was so tired, but I saw her (on the wing). I just knew it was going to be in the middle, so I booked it and got it."
Westmont outshot Aquinas 5-4 in a defensive battle, but the Warriors only put one shot on goal:Â DeMillo's goal. The Saints ended with three shots on target.
Aquinas advances to play No. 1-ranked, No. 1-seeded Keiser (Fla.) in the NAIA National Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday (Dec. 1) at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Ala. The Seahawks (21-0-1) enter the match having not lost a game this year as well.
"We are excited," DeCosemo said. "I think we embrace the underdog role. We haven't been it much, but I think we embrace that and I'm excited to give them a good go."
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