By Ron Smith
November 19, 2022
(LAKELAND, Fla.) Westmont Women's Soccer (16-0-3), ranked 15th in the NAIA, earned a trip to the NAIA Championship Final Site with a 1-0 win over #9 Southeastern (Fla.) (14-4-2) in the second round of national championship play. It will be Westmont's third trip to Orange Beach, Alabama in the last four years.
 
"The quality of soccer we played tonight is what every head coach works so hard for every year," said Westmont's head coach Jenny Jaggard. "It is such a joy to watch them play right now. They are so unified. Their defending was so good tonight as was their building of the ball under pressure."
 
An astonishing goal by Amarys Machado in the 62nd minute was all the Warriors needed to claim the victory. Machado sent a ball from the middle of the field over to Shayna Stock on the left flank. Stock passed the ball down the left side to Karley Kingsley who allowed it to pass by her and go into the left corner.
 
Kingsley chased down the pass and then cut back up the field before delivering a line drive to the feet of Machado who was 10 yards from the goal on the left side. The sophomore forward pivoted on her right foot and, without allowing the ball to touch the ground, used her left to unleash a blistering shot into the far netting.
 
"It was the goal of the year," enthused Jaggard. "There can't possibly be a better goal scored in the NAIA this year. The difficulty of that kind of finish and the angle was unbelievable. She was fully facing the ball when it was served. To be able to get her hips around it, get solid contact on the ball, and to send it where she did – everything came together to perfection. She chose a really good time to score a really good goal."
 
Long before the game winner by Machado, Kailey Meyer, kept the Warriors even with a save on a penalty kick. Madelyn Davidson took a tumble in the box as she made a break for the goal. A foul was called on Westmont and a penalty kick awarded to the Fire.
 
Senior midfielder Naira Lopez took the attempt for Southeastern and elected to send the ball inside the left post three feet off the ground. However, Meyer anticipated correctly, dove to her right and pushed the ball down the left-hand end line.
 
"When the Fire played Georgia Gwinnett, two PKs were called," noted Jaggard. "So, we had an opportunity to scout two of Southeastern's penalty kicks and we knew where they were going. We told KK to dive hard to the right and she was going to make this save – and she did."
 
The Warriors are seeded ninth of the final 10 teams that will compete in Orange Beach and will face eighth-seeded Aquinas of Michigan (20-2-1). The Saints, ranked 13th in the NAIA, reached the finals by virtue of a 2-1 overtime victory over #7 Central Methodist (19-3-1) in second-round play.
 
Aquinas won the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) with a perfect league record of 11-0, then went on to claim the WHAC Conference Championship without conceding a goal.
 
The Saints have outscored their opponents 67-14 this season, led by Sydney Shenk (15 goals, 10 assists) and Hannah Crum (16 goals, 5 assists). Goalkeeper Kayla Shuck has allowed just 11 goals, posting a goals-against average of 0.54 with 38 saves. Aquinas has shut out their opponents 16 times.
 
Westmont and Aquinas have never previously met and did not have any common opponents this year.
 
The winner between the two teams will take on top-seeded and number one ranked Kaiser (Fla.) (21-0-1).
 
This year marks Westmont's 24 season in the NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship. The Warriors will bring to Orange Beach an NAIA Tournament record of 43-18-8 (.723) – including two wins so far this year. The Warriors have won five national titles (1985, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003), which is more than any other team.
 
"I feel like having this experience in the first and second round this year has set us up with a different mentality going into this final ten (teams) that is very different from what we have had in the past," said Jaggard, speaking of the team's travel and quality of opponents. "I think this gives us a better ability to handle the pressure of playing some of these better teams."
 
Westmont and Aquinas are set to kick off at 1:00 p.m. CST/11:00 a.m. PST on Tuesday, November 29. The game will be live streamed at https://www.naia.org/sports/wsoc/stretch_wsoc.