BRIGHTON, Mich. – The No. 4 ranked Spring Arbor University women’s soccer team will be returning to Orange Beach, Alabama for the second straight season after defeating No. 25 Carroll College (Mont.) 3-0 in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round on Saturday.
Heavy snow in the area forced the two teams to move the match, which was originally scheduled to be played at the Cougar Soccer Complex, indoors to the Legacy Center Sports Complex in Brighton, Michigan. While it may have been cold outside, the Cougars were red-hot inside.
Not even Carroll (14-6-2), who entered the night ranked among the best in the country allowing just 12 goals in 21 matches the season, was able to slow down the high-powered Spring Arbor attack. The Cougars stunned the Fighting Saints tallying three goals in the first 20 minutes, including one by senior Nikki Bonnema less than a minute after the opening whistle. The Carroll goalkeeper came out to punch away a cross sent in by freshman Lauren Orr, but the ball was redirected before she could get a hand on it. The loose ball eventually found the feet of Bonnema who was able to slip a shot through before the netminder could recover.
The Cougars struck again in the 10th minute with a goal from sophomore Aubrey Schierbeek. Schierbeek took a pass from senior Shannon Balcer in SAU’s defensive zone and dribbled all the way down the field, beating a pair of defenders, before unloading a shot from 25 yards out and beating the keeper to the right corner.
Spring Arbor was not done yet as freshman Bethany Balcer would find the back of the net in the 20th minute to put the Cougars up 3-0. After taking a pass from Schierbeek, Balcer shook a defender and blasted a left-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box past a diving goalkeeper. The goal was Balcer’s 26th marker of the season, which is a new SAU single-season record.
Carroll kept the Cougars off the scoreboard in the second half, but was unable to mount anything offensively. Senior goalkeeper Sarah Yancer recorded four saves to post her seventh clean sheet of the season.
Spring Arbor finished the match with 20 shots compared to Carroll’s seven, and also held a 2-0 advantage in corner kicks.
The Cougars, who will advance to the national tournament final site for the fourth time in five years, are playing their best soccer of the season right now. The team has outscored its opponents 23-0 over the past six matches, and has not allowed a goal in over 557 minutes of action.
Spring Arbor (19-2-1) will meet No.11 Baker University (16-4-1) in the second round of the NAIA National Championship tournament on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at the Orange Beach Sports Complex in Orange Beach, Alabama.