Minneapolis, MN -- Today, the first round of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) North Region Men's and Women's Soccer Tournaments kicked off at Elliot Park Field. The #5 ranked North Central University (NCU) women's soccer team faced off against the #4 Spurgeon College (SC) Knights from Kansas City, Missouri in a round one play-in game. The Rams entered this game following a 1-15-1 regular season where they were also unable to tally an NCCAA win going 0-4. Spurgeon entered this match after a 4-5-1 regular season. North Central came into this one hungry for a win, as the Rams would explode offensively scoring 7 goals to take down the Knights 7-0 to advance to the semifinals. NCU captain Kara Lewis would have herself a career game scoring 5 goals to lead the way for NCU.
The Rams would take control of this one early in the first half and not look back. To start the scoring, captain Kara Lewis would score her first of the day in the 16th minute off the feed from Deshawna Hodges to take the 1-0 lead. NCU would strike again in the 25th minute again off the foot of Kara Lewis, this time assisted by the sophomore Anna Deichert to double their lead. Continuing the pressure, freshman Madeline Lowe would fire a strike that would find the back of the net in the 33rd minute to make the score 3-0 in favor of North Central. Just before the end of the first half, Kara Lewis would complete the hat trick in the 42nd minute off the assist from Jessica Redman. NCU would absolutely dominate the first half, firing 19 total shots compared to just 1 from Spurgeon. The combination of stifling defense and electric offense from the Rams would give them the 4-0 advantage heading into the break.
With the season on the line, Spurgeon would need a complete flip of momentum in order to take over this one. However, NCU would show no signs of slowing down. Adding to her already stellar performance, Kara Lewis would score yet again, this time off the assist by midfielder Leanna Kyle in the 67th minute. To top things off, the Rams would score twice more in the 83rd and 88th minutes of the game. First, Kara Lewis would get her fifth goal of the contest off another feed from Jessica Redman and then Ramiyah Words would get in on the scoring action with a score off the assist from Lewis. NCU would outshoot the Knight 19-3 in the second half and earn 6 corner kicks to just 1 for SC. Goalkeeper Abigail Herbolsheimer would have a rather easy day in net as she recorded the clean sheet with 3 saves. The Rams won this one by a final score of 7-0.
Today's box score can be found here.
Looking Ahead:
The Rams advance to the semifinal round tomorrow where they will rematch their first opponent of this season in the #1 ranked Providence Pilots. NCU and PUC will square off right here at Elliot Park at noon tomorrow!
All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages for updates on women's soccer and all things NCU Athletics.
