The Madison College women’s soccer team was rolling coming into the NJCAA Great Lakes District Tournament, which they hosted, after a dominant performance against the Harper College Hawks to claim the Region 4 Division III Title.
However, the momentum and home field advantage weren’t enough to carry the WolfPack through to the national tournament and the season ended with a tough loss in the District Championship match to the reigning national champions, the Delta College Pioneers.
Before that Halloween day loss to the Pioneers though, the WolfPack did win their Saturday game against the familiar opponent, the Rochester Community & Technical College Yellow Jackets.
The match against the Yellow Jackets took place on Oct. 30, on Madison College’s home turf. The two teams had split matches during the regular season between their first two meetings, each winning against the other on the opposing home fields.
With each team knowing the other’s strengths and weaknesses, the match turned out to be a defensive duel in the dreary October conditions with only one goal being scored in the entire 90 minutes.
That goal came from an unlikely source for the WolfPack in defender Paris Rose at 74 minute, 51 second mark of regulation. The goal was Rose’s first and only goal of the season and was all that the WolfPack needed to get the job done against the Yellow Jackets.
Rose’s former high school teammate, midfielder Taylor Peterson, assisted on the goal by running a “give and go” with her down the field all the way to the goal.
The opening for Rose was also made possible by the Yellow Jacket’s game plan of eliminating the WolfPack’s leading scorer on the season, Angelina Perez, who at times drew four defenders guarding any press she attempted to make with the ball.
Fifth-year coach Matt Schwartz commented after the game that he was pleased with how well his team held their ground on defense against the Yellow Jacket’s persistent attack, especially after the goal by Rose. Stating that knowing what they were up against coming into the match certainly helped, and that the goal by Rose was just great execution on an opportunity the team had been waiting for.
The Pioneers team the WolfPack then faced at home again the next day for the District Championship and a ticket to the NJCAA national tournament were last season’s national champions, and remained undefeated on this year as they shut the WolfPack out in a 5-0 victory and chance to repeat a National Championship. This game was the WolfPack women’s soccer team’s first and only shut-out loss of the season.